Monday night, one day before the Coppa Italia game between Juventus and Udinese, Alessandro Nunziante was interviewed at Udinese Tonight. He talked about the team’s ambitions, his career which has just begun, how he has settled in to Udine and how talents grow in Italy.
As the interview began, Nunziante said that he is getting on very well at Udinese: “It’s great here. We have a nice group of goalkeepers; we’re all united, which is pleasant. Udinese has all kinds of facilities; I wasn’t expecting all of this. Before joining this club, I used to play for a team in the Serie C division, but even when I speak to my team-mates from the national team, I realise that what we have here can be found in few other places.”
The team’s latest game was a win over Parma, but the Udinese goalkeeper does not want to look at the table or the points per game ratio: “We don’t make these types of considerations. We always focus exclusively on our next match and give it everything we’ve got to get those three points. We’ll look at our position in the table once the season is over.” This is by no means a sign that they lack ambition: “We always try to look at who is in front of us rather than those behind us; that’s good for a team. There is always room for improvement. We can always perform better and achieve many great results.”
Nunziante joined Udinese last summer from Benevento, where last year he was the youngest starting goalkeeper in Italian professional football: “Last year I played for the U20 team, and I didn’t think I was going to take this great step. The team had been eliminated in the playoff semifinals and the club chose to invest in its young players. Many of us from the U20 team moved up to senior teams; they believed in us and we did our best to pay them back.” He immediately made his debut on matchday one: “It was an extraordinary feeling. I made my debut at home against Cavese, then we went to Catania. There were 20,000 people in the stadium. It felt like a dream.” Match after match, Alessandro kept drawing more and more attention to him, but that did not disrupt his performances: “I never felt the pressure. I had fun on the pitch; I did what I enjoyed doing. I would hear some transfer window rumours, but I wasn’t interested. I would give everything for myself and the team.”
Alessandro Nunziante knows that he can grow a lot at Udinese: “I have to improve a lot, but here we have excellent goalkeeper coaches who have us work very hard. They can teach me so many things that can help me fix my flaws. It is no coincidence that many successful goalkeepers played for Udinese. Players work well here and knowing this drove me to choose to join Udinese.” Nunziante’s decision was also influenced by Alex Brunner, who has recently returned to Udinese and immediately warned the player: “I was with the national team. Brunner called me and said ‘Get ready, because we’ll be working hard.’ I returned to Udine and immediately got down to it." He has also had the support of fellow goalkeeper Daniele Padelli: “He could be my father [laughs] and in a way you could say that about him. He gives me a lot of advice; he’s a wonderful person, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.”
Nunziante has yet to make his debut, but he’s happy: “I’m here to work hard. I’ll be very happy if I get a chance to make my debut, but I’m not in a hurry, I’m still young.” There’s another way to get game time, namely the Italian U19 national team. “I can play for the national team, which is crucial for me because it’s an additional incentive for me. This first year at Udinese is about learning, but I also need to play, and the national team is an opportunity for me to do just that.”
Alessandro is therefore one of Italian football’s rising talents. Another question he was asked was about the development of young players in Italy: “In other countries, young players are the foundation of every team. There’s a huge difference between Italy and Spain or Germany, not because we lack good players though. Young players need to be trusted more. Some of them could play in Serie A, but they don’t.”
Nunziante’s journey as a goalkeeper first began when he was just a child: “I started playing football at seven or eight for Juventus San Michele, a team from Foggia. Like all children, what I enjoyed most was scoring goals, so I played further forward, then they tried to have me play as a defender, but I didn’t like that. So then I told my coach: ‘I want to try playing as the goalkeeper.’ I took the gloves to training and I’ve never left the goal since. I’ve liked the position from the very beginning. I’m the goalkeeper even in summer when I play with my father and brother at the beach.” After Foggia, he joined Benevento and now Udinese, on the other side of Italy: “I like Udine; it’s a quiet city. Many things are different compared to southern Italy in terms of the climate and lifestyle. Here I can really stay 100% focused, since I can’t go out anyway because it’s cold [laughs]. The people of Friuli were very warm with me when I first arrived: they’re easy-going and sociable. I’ve already tried some of their traditional dishes, frico and polenta in particular. My parents come to see me when they can. It was easier when I played for Benevento; I’d see them more often back then. Now I might miss them more. This is the first year I’m alone; at Benevento I had some team-mates that kept me company. This change has helped me become independent.”
In conclusion, he was asked some straightforward questions on who his hero is: “[Gianluigi] Donnarumma. I have his poster in my room.” On the team-mate that made the strongest impression on him: “[Arthur] Atta is really good; he could reach very high levels.” And a promise on the upcoming game against Juventus: “We’re going to win it.”