Italy legend Gianluca Pagliuca reveals he played one season at Inter wearing a Tottenham shirt but replacing their logo with the Nerazzurri’s.
The 56-year-old is one of Italy’s most iconic goalkeepers. He played 206 games in Italy’s top flight winning a legendary Scudetto with Sampdoria in 1990-91 and the UEFA Cup with Inter in 1997-98.
He was also Italy’s goalkeeper at USA ’94, where the Azzurri finished runners-up after losing the Final on penalties against Brazil.
In his latest interview with Gazzetta.it, Pagliuca revealed his obsession with football shirts, revealing that he would also call kit suppliers to design personalised shirts for him.
“I didn’t want to wear ugly shirts. I was never unhappy with the jersey I had,” he said.
“Nowadays, I see a lot of goalkeepers wearing the second or third kit and it’s not nice. I think keepers’ shirts should be colourful and reflect the personality of the goalkeeper. Zoff only wore black or grey shirts, but others such as Albertosi or Castellini wore bright colours.
“I love the Premier League and I watch a lot of English football,” Pagliuca continued.
“I liked Tottenham’s goalkeeper’s kit so much because the colours remembered me of Aston Villa, the team I support in England. It felt like I was playing for Aston Villa.”
During his first season at Inter in 1994-95, Pagliuca wore Spurs’ goalkeeper’s kit while playing for the Nerazzurri.
“I called those at Umbro [kit supplier for both clubs] asking them to have the same shirt. They sent me three or four with Tottenham’s badge which we replaced with Inter’s. Nowadays it would be impossible to do something like this.”
The former Italy international played for Sampdoria, Inter, Bologna and Ascoli in Serie A and retired in 200607 after playing 23 games with the Bianconeri.
He collected 39 international appearances with Italy, conceding 27 goals.