The journey that brought Guglielmo Vicario to the Premier League can be traced back to Fontanafredda. Or more precisely, the nightclubs in the small town in northeastern Italy, where the semi-professional football club here has a “tactical meeting” before the match as is traditional practice.
Vicario wasn’t good enough to make it from the academy to Udinese’s first team, so he traveled 100 km to join Venezia and played football with pawnshop owners, loan officers and builders in Serie D. His team is trying to survive relegation and they often go to the bar to “get drunk” every time they have a strategy meeting on Friday night for Sunday’s match. That’s what happened exactly 9 years ago.
“Most of my teammates are bricklayers, pawnbrokers or loan officers. They do normal jobs, they are not professional players, but I greatly respect what they do, because they both play football and work to make a living. It was a huge effort because they also had wives and children. It’s not easy to do both at the same time.
We practice 4 times a week and compete on Sundays. So on Friday night, we would all go to the bar and eat and drink all Saturday and then go out on Sunday. That meeting felt like an important moment, when everyone was together and had a great season. It was the club’s first season in Serie D. And we successfully survived relegation. A big achievement for us and a very important experience for me,” Vicario said.
It can be understood that Vicario started his career at this Venezia flyweight club, with staying in Serie D also a great success. Here, he was nicknamed Tegoina (Green Bean). “I came here when I was 18 years old. I am very tall and very thin. I wear a green suit. So they call me Green Bean,” he said.
After that, Vicario played for Cagliari and Empoli, before coming to the attention of Tottenham and the Italian football recruitment team of sporting director Fabio Paratici. By the summer of 2023, Spurs have brought to the Premier League a goalkeeper with personality and skills.
From an early age, Vicario was used to adapting quickly, as he did at Fontanafredda, a world away from the glamorous life of academy football. He also adapted very quickly to Tottenham when replacing Hugo Lloris this season, and has yet to make a mistake leading to a goal.
Spurs have certainly won the summer battle in terms of goalkeeping. In the summer of 2023, MU also went to Italy to buy goalkeeper Andre Onana. However, the Cameroonian goalkeeper made a series of serious errors that led to goals. Meanwhile, Vicario’s price is much cheaper than Onana.
Sunday night, at Old Trafford, Vicario – who is nicknamed Venom – made a strong impression. Even though he conceded twice, he made countless interventions and saves, helping the home team leave with 1 point. He loves his new club and has vowed to fight with all his might to protect it.
I don’t know if it’s due to his habit of “drinking alcohol”, but there are times when Vicario’s actions seem a bit… too drunk. For example, he added the hashtag “Living The Dream” on social media posts, and said he would take blood to… write an application to join Tottenham to make his deal come true.
“I’ll walk here if I have to,” he said, “And yes, take my own blood to write the contract. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t miss. So I was ready to walk from Italy to the UK. Or run! And if I didn’t have a pen or anything, I would bite the tip of my finger and use it to write and sign every document.
This is my dream. I said from day one, I want to live this dream every day and make it come true. But I have to keep working, and what I have done until now has only focused on what the coach wants and requires. Even if he told me to jump into the fire, I would do it.”
Vicario’s progress at Spurs has been recognized by the Italian national team. He was called up to the national team under the reign of head coach Roberto Mancini and aspired to follow the example of his great compatriots Dino Zoff or Gianluigi Buffon, Vicario’s idol since childhood.
