From Zeman to Napoli: Santacroce and an ascent slowed down by injuries
Fabiano Santacroce, former defender, is launched by Zeman at Brescia and Napoli gains physical strength, but the troubles will affect his career.
Potential: a lot. Expectations: many. It’s a pity that Fabiano Santacroce had to deal with crystal knees, otherwise we would be here talking about another story.
Brazilian dad, Italian mom, Santacroce and gets his bones in Lombardy (in Como the first ‘pro’ vintage) and touches the sky with a finger when Zeman he decides to throw him into the fray close to the age of 20 in a Serie B Brescia-Cesena: it is April 23, 2006 and he is talked about a lot of good.
And to think that, as he himself revealed last autumn at ‘Grand Hotel Calciomercato’, his career could have been in cinema.
“My parents enrolled me in an advertising agency, I alternated sport with commercials and some extra films. I was also doing well, I starred in a commercial with Baresi and the players of the national team, she was a world that I liked. I made a music video with Zucchero and the actor. But football has always been in first place, choosing it was not difficult. “
Sense of anticipation, competitive anger, flexibility: Santacroce proves to be a talented defender, capable of acting both as a central and if necessary as a right-back. The perfect role? Right central of a rear to 3.
It is precisely in this position that the Naples, in January 2008 – on the wave of the excellent evidence provided with the Rondinelle in cadeteria – decides to aim for it, handing it over to the skilled hands of Edy Reja: it is Naples that is reborn, in the first year of Serie A after the bankruptcy. And after Hamsik in the summer, the winter window of that season brings two other Brescia jewels to blue: Daniele Mannini and Santacroce.
Fabiano in a square with very high decibels like the blue one the qualities shown in B, he is in the U21 round and reserves a rosy future also from a national perspective (the only call – without participation – will however remain the one with Lippi ct in the qualifying South Africa 2010 against Bulgaria and Montenegro): all very intriguing, too bad that physical troubles are around the corner.
In Santacroce first one meniscus jumps, then the other is injured: and here we are to tell of an ascent slowed down by injuries, around which – given a job with a dropper – in Naples start to turn uncomfortable rumors.
“I happened to get penalties because I was late for training – revealed in a recent interview with ‘Corriere del Mezzogiorno’ – Right, but I had a health problem: I didn’t stay up late at night, mine was a certified sleep disorder. I was taking pills, but I didn’t hear the alarm. While around it was said: he gets drunk, he takes drugs. After the meniscus injury I did eighty kilometers a day to go to a specialist center in Benevento for therapy, in the evening my knee was always swollen. Maybe I shouldn’t have governed myself? And who was supposed to tell me? “.
“I tried to explain but there were too many rumors about my party nights with the South Americans and by now I had been labeled. At first I didn’t even realize it. I had very few friends in football, Hamsik above all, on the pitch I was a star but in the I didn’t go out with hardly anyone in my private life. I used to go out in the evening but with my girlfriend and my old friends. Go and explain to those who considered my open smile and even cashier an admission of guilt. I always chose to shut up. For consistency. And I paid for it. “
In 3 and a half years in Naples, Santacroce will collect the misery of 62 appearances and will find himself at Parma, loaned with a redemption option in the operation that brings Dzemaili to the shadow of Vesuvius. Two vintages in Emilia convinced the ducals to take over the card outright, thus sanctioning the farewell to the Azzurri.
“At Napoli we were a very strong team, full of champions. From Lavezzi to Cavani and Hamsik, players with incredible talent – had Santacroce in 2021 at ‘Gianlucadimarzio.com’ – We started in the first year to have a good championship and in two years we made it to the Champions League. “
“A wonderful square. Beautiful, warm, and people feel the football and the match a lot. You feel important. I have always noticed a great attachment to the shirt and a great sense of belonging even from those who were not Italians. It is wonderful and this belonging, what does not happen everywhere, on the contrary … “.
From Parma onwards the slow descent of Santacroce begins, finding himself again in B with Padua And Terni and later in the third series in the adventures to Juve Stabiato the Wedge and to Virtue Verona. Too little for a profile like his, so much so that at 34 Fabiano via social media announces his retirement.
“I walked the fields for a long time, I don’t always go back to giving what I wanted, due to the many injuries I’ve had, but know that I gave my best and always with a smile. I smile thinking that I was able to wear that blue shirt at which every child who starts practicing this sport aspires to “.
“Thanks to everyone for this past life of mine, now I hang up my shoes and I will dive into something else, but always with the same passion and the same tenacity that made me stop in the field of extraterrestrials”.
Solarity, but also many regrets.
“Juventus have been following me since I was in Bresciabefore joining Napoli, there had already been contacts with my entourage even at the time of the blue shirt – he revealed in 2020 to ‘TuttoNapoli.net’ – Then Barcelona: Guardiola came to see me at the ‘San Paolo’ in a match. There were excellent conditions for my career. “
“I spent 4-5 years in hell. The biggest regret is the idea of who knows where I could get: I was in a great moment, several noble companies had come to see me, sorry I could not see where I had arrived without accidents “.
Santacroce today is a sports agent and goes around the stadiums in search of talentbut immediately after the farewell to football, the problems were not lacking.
“I went from twenty thousand euros a day to have ten euros a day in my pocket. To do the math in the pockets to manage two little girls born recently. It was not easy, my family of origin saved me as long as they could, my Barbara Petrillo has never stopped in the world of fashion and television. I have now, sure. But money wasn’t a problem when it was a lot, it didn’t when it ran out. Football has certainly made me lead a beautiful life, without deprivation. “
“I had no protection, no one who really managed me, making me understand the mistakes I made. That’s why I chose to start my adventure as a talent scout starting from the last ones. I realized a dream, I became an important footballer at 20 years old. And I did it on my own, I have a lot to teach on the pitch and off. “
Santacroce’s present and future are called ‘IDV Management’, an agency founded together with his friend and former partner at the time of Como Luca Di Mattia.
Chosen by Gol
“We meet many kids who try to immerse themselves in this world and we try to see as much as possible to allow anyone a chance – a SuperNews explained in the spring – because football must belong to everyone, more or less lucky “.
“My dream is to be able to bring this company to the highest levels but always trying to work in the same way, more as older brothers for the boys than as ‘experts'”.