LIVERPOOL’S newest signing, Fabio Borini, has spoken at length about coming to LFC, his new boss, team-mates and why he cut his holiday short.
Borini was part of the Italian squad at the European Championships earlier this summer and, as such, was entitled to be on leave until August 1st.
However, rather than taking the extended break, the 21 year old striker decided instead to board a plane to Boston, along with the club’s England internationals, to join up with the rest of the squad nine days early.
Speaking to lfctour.com the former Roma man divulged:
“I chose to come early because I think it’s important to be with the team, especially because I’m a new player. I could have had a month but I didn’t play at the Euros. I chose to come early to get used to the team and adapt more quickly. I am desperate to get started.”
It has been widely reported that the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager was a key factor in persuading the Italian international to sign for the Reds, a fact which Borini readily confirmed.
“First of all he is a good person outside of football, and it’s important to work with good people,” he said. “As a manager he is great. He knows what he is going to do every single day, he is very organised.
“You can see at the training ground, he gets there early and he really wants to work and improve every day.
“I think he is the kind of manager players love to play for. I love to play for him.
“We are very close. When he was working at Swansea, he’d text after I scored twice, and I’d text when he achieved good results with Swansea, when he beat the big teams.
“It’s a good relationship as a friend, as human beings, and then as a working relationship.”
Unlike other Italian imports, Borini is well versed in English football culture and, following an initial breaking-in period, having left his family in Italy at the tender age of 16, he has grown to be very at home with the English attitude to football.
“I like the way the English people see football as a game and not as a job,” he said. “I always wanted to play football because it was fun. It’s not my job, properly. It’s my fun.
“Football is my life. I chose to leave my family when I was 16 – that’s the biggest choice I’ve made and it was the right choice because of the place I’m at now.
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“It was very difficult at first. After three months I wanted to leave because I was really afraid, I was missing everything – my friends and family. I rang my family and they told me that it was what I had to do, that I had to go on and be stronger and stronger. After six months when I learned English it went from there.”
“I am not bringing anyone this time. I’m alone. Always alone. I have always done it on my own so it won’t be a problem.”
As Rodgers explained following the capture of his first new signing, Borini is a versatile forward who can play across the front-line, something which the striker verified:
“That’s true. I can play anywhere up front. I prefer central because I have more space and can make more movements, but I can play for any occasion, on the right or left.
“That’s good for me because I am not restricted. When I was at Swansea I played on the left wing as well.”
Borini, who already knows Daniel Pacheco and Joe Cole, had a chance to chat with Liverpool’s England contingent on the plane over, a pleasant experience according to the young forward.
“It was good, nice to be back and playing some football with the boys, with the English boys who were at the Euros,” he said. “To play as a Liverpool player and see the fans outside was very nice.
“The England boys were really nice with me. The first person I saw was Glen Johnson. I spoke with him a little bit, and with Steven Gerrard as well. They were really friendly with me.”
With Liverpool due to face Roma in Boston this evening, Borini will have a chance to say arrivederci to his former team-mates as he embarks on his Anfield career.
“It will be nice but also strange because I’m on the opposite side,” he said. “I can say hello to everyone, and goodbye, which I haven’t been able to do.”
Fabio Borini seems to be a perfect signing for Rodgers and LFC. A, young, quick, versatile, clinical forward with a reputation for being a workaholic and having a fantastic attitude. With a bit of luck Liverpool fans will be seeing his, now famous, warrior celebration, many times over in the seasons to come.
You can catch Neil on Twitter @Neil1980 and on his blog http://itsallinthegameblog.wordpress.com/
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