Bindero
10-10-2006, 12:51 PM
The first 10 years of my pro career have flown by so I thought I'd reminisce about my meteoric rise to the top of world football!
It all started when I'd just turned 17 and was signed by my hometown club of AS Roma. I spend the first year working hard on the training ground and learning from the experienced players in the squad like Totti & Montella.
The team had a poor season finishing in mid-table. I got my chance towards the end of the season and what a start!...My debut was against Lazio and boom!!! I scored as we won. Roma had a new icon! Well thats what the Gazzetta dello Sport said, I try not to listen to the press, however, i've learned to use them for my own good!;)
The next two years were phenomenal, the team came together and I played almost every game alongside Totti up front. We took the Serie A title home in 2007 and 2008. After that we set out sights on Europe and in 2009 we reached the pinnacle of our success as we added the Champions League to out third straight Scudetto! All this before my 21st birthday!!!!
In this time I also made my Italy debut but it was too late to stop the Azzurri missing out on Euro 2008! However our qualification for World Cup 2010 started well but more about that shortly.
The summer of 2009 saw offers flood in from around Europe, I made a tough decision. After 4 years of success with Roma I decided to move on for a new challenge.
Barca & Real came calling and it was the former that most interested me and for just over 24 million I was on my way to Spain to play alongside Ronaldinho, Messi et al.
Barca had fallen on tough times having two previously poor seasons and I wanted to take them back to the top of Spain & Europe.
My debut season was excellent as we stormed to the top of La Liga and stayed there, taking back the title from Real and beating them home and away! Barca was back!!!
However it was about to get better for me as I fired the Azzurri to victory in South Africa and our first World Cup since 1982!!! Could it get any better than this?:dance:
Back in Spain and we had a poor start to the season and were mid-table by Christmas, our solid defence had crumbled!!! In the Champions League were were doing well but that came to a shuddering halt at the hand of our city rivals Espanyol! They beat us in the semis and then went onto lift the trophy, the Catalan fans were not impressed!
We finished in 6th place and missed out on the Champions League for next season but in the summer we signed some good players and there was plenty of optimism at the Nou Camp.
Indeed season 2011-2012 started great and we were back on top at Christmas and I was having my best season yet with 44 goals in 21 games. With only 6 months left on my current contract I requested a new one expecting to get an offer that would match the offers I was getting from other clubs. However, i was offered only a small rise so I decided to end my stint in Spain and head for pastures new.
Arsenal came along with a great offer of 100,000 a week double my Barca wage and I was off to London for 34 million.
I forged a lethal partnership up front with Jose Antonio Reyes and we won the Premiership in 2012.
Euro 2012 was another great tournament for Italia as I led the attack with Francesco Tavano. However, a knee injury in the semi ruled me out of the final and the boys lost on penalties to England (of all teams!) Gutted:doh:
My first full season in England saw me score 60 goals as we won the league again. I also won my second European Cup in 2013 as the Gunners beat Leverkusen in the final.
2013-2014 was even better as I hit 76 goals, with Reyes getting 40 himself!! We reclaimed the Champions League...Arsenal were back as force to be reckoned with!
Italia headed to World Cup 2014 with high hopes of reclaiming the crown, however, our defence was just too inexperienced and were were downed 3-1 by eventual winner Argentina. I did take home the Golden boot though with 9 goals!
My first child was born the day after the defeat so a bit of a bitter sweet moment!!
Another league title for Arsenal in 2014-2015 and an improved contract for me - 170,000, add that to 20 million a year from Adidas and 6 million a year from Lucozade and I certainly wasn't short for cash!! We failed in Europe and the FA Cup still eluded us a we lost to Crewe.:wall:
So here I am in March 2016 at 27 years old. Arsenal have sewn up their fifth straight title and this month we face Real Madrid for the Champions League & Manchester City for the FA Cup to complete the first treble since Man Utd in 1999.
I'm also looking forward to Euro 2016, my Italy team have a great chance, more experienced than two years ago.
Finally, i've decided to move on from Arsenal after the World Cup however, i've not released that news yet! Its been a great 4 1/2 years with the Gunners.
Here are my honours:-
Roma 2005-2009 83 apps, 129 goals
Serie A - 2007, 2008, 2009
Coppa Italia - 2008
Champions League - 2009
Barcelona 2009-2012 70 apps, 116 goals
La Liga - 2010
Arsenal 2012-present 147 apps, 255 goals
Premiership - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Champions League - 2013, 2014
World player of the year - 2012, 2014, 2015
Italy 42 caps, 94 goals
World Cup 2010
Golden boot 2014
Sorry, this was only meant to be brief!
Here's to the next 10 years!!!
:D
It all started when I'd just turned 17 and was signed by my hometown club of AS Roma. I spend the first year working hard on the training ground and learning from the experienced players in the squad like Totti & Montella.
The team had a poor season finishing in mid-table. I got my chance towards the end of the season and what a start!...My debut was against Lazio and boom!!! I scored as we won. Roma had a new icon! Well thats what the Gazzetta dello Sport said, I try not to listen to the press, however, i've learned to use them for my own good!;)
The next two years were phenomenal, the team came together and I played almost every game alongside Totti up front. We took the Serie A title home in 2007 and 2008. After that we set out sights on Europe and in 2009 we reached the pinnacle of our success as we added the Champions League to out third straight Scudetto! All this before my 21st birthday!!!!
In this time I also made my Italy debut but it was too late to stop the Azzurri missing out on Euro 2008! However our qualification for World Cup 2010 started well but more about that shortly.
The summer of 2009 saw offers flood in from around Europe, I made a tough decision. After 4 years of success with Roma I decided to move on for a new challenge.
Barca & Real came calling and it was the former that most interested me and for just over 24 million I was on my way to Spain to play alongside Ronaldinho, Messi et al.
Barca had fallen on tough times having two previously poor seasons and I wanted to take them back to the top of Spain & Europe.
My debut season was excellent as we stormed to the top of La Liga and stayed there, taking back the title from Real and beating them home and away! Barca was back!!!
However it was about to get better for me as I fired the Azzurri to victory in South Africa and our first World Cup since 1982!!! Could it get any better than this?:dance:
Back in Spain and we had a poor start to the season and were mid-table by Christmas, our solid defence had crumbled!!! In the Champions League were were doing well but that came to a shuddering halt at the hand of our city rivals Espanyol! They beat us in the semis and then went onto lift the trophy, the Catalan fans were not impressed!
We finished in 6th place and missed out on the Champions League for next season but in the summer we signed some good players and there was plenty of optimism at the Nou Camp.
Indeed season 2011-2012 started great and we were back on top at Christmas and I was having my best season yet with 44 goals in 21 games. With only 6 months left on my current contract I requested a new one expecting to get an offer that would match the offers I was getting from other clubs. However, i was offered only a small rise so I decided to end my stint in Spain and head for pastures new.
Arsenal came along with a great offer of 100,000 a week double my Barca wage and I was off to London for 34 million.
I forged a lethal partnership up front with Jose Antonio Reyes and we won the Premiership in 2012.
Euro 2012 was another great tournament for Italia as I led the attack with Francesco Tavano. However, a knee injury in the semi ruled me out of the final and the boys lost on penalties to England (of all teams!) Gutted:doh:
My first full season in England saw me score 60 goals as we won the league again. I also won my second European Cup in 2013 as the Gunners beat Leverkusen in the final.
2013-2014 was even better as I hit 76 goals, with Reyes getting 40 himself!! We reclaimed the Champions League...Arsenal were back as force to be reckoned with!
Italia headed to World Cup 2014 with high hopes of reclaiming the crown, however, our defence was just too inexperienced and were were downed 3-1 by eventual winner Argentina. I did take home the Golden boot though with 9 goals!
My first child was born the day after the defeat so a bit of a bitter sweet moment!!
Another league title for Arsenal in 2014-2015 and an improved contract for me - 170,000, add that to 20 million a year from Adidas and 6 million a year from Lucozade and I certainly wasn't short for cash!! We failed in Europe and the FA Cup still eluded us a we lost to Crewe.:wall:
So here I am in March 2016 at 27 years old. Arsenal have sewn up their fifth straight title and this month we face Real Madrid for the Champions League & Manchester City for the FA Cup to complete the first treble since Man Utd in 1999.
I'm also looking forward to Euro 2016, my Italy team have a great chance, more experienced than two years ago.
Finally, i've decided to move on from Arsenal after the World Cup however, i've not released that news yet! Its been a great 4 1/2 years with the Gunners.
Here are my honours:-
Roma 2005-2009 83 apps, 129 goals
Serie A - 2007, 2008, 2009
Coppa Italia - 2008
Champions League - 2009
Barcelona 2009-2012 70 apps, 116 goals
La Liga - 2010
Arsenal 2012-present 147 apps, 255 goals
Premiership - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Champions League - 2013, 2014
World player of the year - 2012, 2014, 2015
Italy 42 caps, 94 goals
World Cup 2010
Golden boot 2014
Sorry, this was only meant to be brief!
Here's to the next 10 years!!!
:D