Alessio Romagnoli admits his lifelong dream was ‘not to play in Serie A, but to play for Lazio’ and he has been working on following the footsteps of his idol Alessandro Nesta for several years.
The centre-back is from Rome and has always supported the Biancocelesti, even though he started his career in the Roma youth academy.
After a loan spell at Sampdoria, he joined Milan for €25m in 2015 and was finally able to wear the Lazio jersey this summer as a free agent.
“I think my childhood dream has finally come true, because it was not to play in Serie A, but to play for Lazio,” said Romagnoli on the official Lazio website.
“My grandmother, who I was very close to, was a Lazio supporter, and so is my father. I think this is the greatest emotional moment of my sporting life, but also my life in general. Wearing this jersey really is a childhood dream come true.”
The Italy international has never disguised his status as a Biancocelesti fan, even when playing for rival clubs.
He even tried to always choose the Number 13 because that was the shirt worn by his hero Nesta.
“I think Nesta was the best defender of all time. Nobody can ever represent what he did for Lazio and Milan, it cannot be repeated.
“I got to meet him via mutual friends and again last year in Milan.”
Romagnoli refused a contract extension at San Siro and was released as a free agent this summer, but the reports of a move to Lazio have been long in the background – and he admits there was truth to it.
“Every time I played against Lazio, I would tell (director of sport Igli) Tare: ‘There are two years left. There’s one year left. There are six months left… If it’s possible, we’ll see.’
“I always said that I wanted to play for Lazio and didn’t want it to be too late in my career. Ciro Immobile and Danilo Cataldi have been calling me practically every day!”