Fabio Quagliarella believes Sampdoria was “in my destiny,” but looks back over his career at Napoli, Juventus, the stalker nightmare and having Jose Mourinho as a fan.
“I trusted President Massimo Ferrero, as well as myself. In 2007, Samp lost me almost without meaning to, but it was written in the stars that I had to return here. After that I had the stalker at Napoli, the chaos at Torino because I refused to celebrate and Samp was in my destiny,” Quagliarella told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Fabio Quagliarella believes Sampdoria was “in my destiny,” but looks back over his career at Napoli, Juventus, the stalker nightmare and having Jose Mourinho as a fan.
“I trusted President Massimo Ferrero, as well as myself. In 2007, Samp lost me almost without meaning to, but it was written in the stars that I had to return here. After that I had the stalker at Napoli, the chaos at Torino because I refused to celebrate and Samp was in my destiny,” Quagliarella told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I worked with Marco Giampaolo at Ascoli and 12 years later he is exactly the same. He makes sure the players follow him without having to be ‘worked’ too hard. I’ve known him for a lifetime, yet in my year-and-a-half at Samp, I think we spoke about twice.
“On the other hand, he has changed tactically a great deal. At Ascoli he was more of a fundamentalist, but has now realised it’s important to be versatile.”
Quagliarella has travelled all over Italy, but there is one Coach he didn’t quite get to work with.
“I’ve never felt so gratified. It’s also an understatement to say it was unexpected. The great thing about Mourinho is that he calls you by your first name: he makes you feel like you are almost his friend.
“The first time was in Udine, as I was outside the Inter locker room to exchange a jersey: ‘Come in Fabio! In fact, step on to the team bus and we’ll take you to Milan!’
“It happened again this summer, when there was a Samp-Manchester United friendly in Dublin. He was waiting for me in the tunnel. ‘Where is Fabio Quagliarella?’ Then Mou embraced me and welcomed me like an old buddy. He was so pleased to see me. Funny, isn’t it?”
Quagliagol had a brief experience at Juventus during the worst time of his life, sold by Napoli in order to get away from a stalker nightmare he kept secret.
For many years, he was the victim of a police officer called Raffaele Piccolo, who pretended to run an investigation into threats and harassment when he was the one behind it all.
“It’s not enough to call him a stalker, nor that he persecuted me: he tried to ruin my life. Seeing as nine years of a life are not crumbs and nobody can give that time back to me, nor fix the damage he did to my family, in this case I simply cannot forgive.
“If tomorrow he should come here on his hands and knees to beg forgiveness, I couldn’t care less. He asked for this, it’s only right he pay the price. Except he’s not.
“Being a policeman, he should’ve been punished even harder, instead not a day in prison or even under house arrest. He keeps walking around as if nothing happened. He’s been transferred, but continues to work. It’s a joke.
“I couldn’t really enjoy Juve because I was seen as a traitor by my people in Naples. Those years were the summation of my career: I had a lot, I could’ve had a lot more. Without the knee injury, another six months like the first six at Juve and perhaps I’d have had a different career path.
“I was cut out of the Europa League squad. In January, two days before the transfer window closed, I said I wouldn’t leave. So Antonio Conte replied: ‘Then you are bottom on the list of strikers.’ I didn’t deserve that.”