A t least somebody loves Joe Hart. Whereas he was frozen out of
Manchester City at a speed that would surprise even gelato
manufacturers, the England international was met by rapturous
crowds on his arrival in Turin on Tuesday. The new Torino goalkeeper
wore sunglasses that Marcello Mastroianni would have been proud of and
posed, perhaps inadvisedly, with a T-shirt celebrating the club's Granata
Ultras. Welcome to Serie A, Joe.
In choosing to join Torino Hart becomes part of a select, if not always
successful, group. The 34th British player to sign for an Italian club since
the second world war, Hart follows in the footsteps of not just John
Charles but also Jay Bothroyd. While David Platt made his reputation in
Serie A, Des Walker almost contrived to blow it. And for every cult hero
– a Trevor Francis or Paul Ince – there is at least one who has left with a
good riddance. And yes, that includes Paul Gascoigne, described by one
Italian journalist as "one of the worst buys since the war".
Before making the decision to move Hart
consulted his friend and former City team-
mate Micah Richards. The Aston Villa
defender spent a season at Fiorentina two
years ago and loved it. "He asked me about
Italy and I told him it's probably the best
country you can go to," Richards told the Guardian. "It was one of the
best experiences in my life. Obviously I got to live in Florence, an
amazing city, but the people were really welcoming, really nice, and
made me feel right at home."
One of the biggest things Hart will have to contend with, says Richards,
is the change in footballing culture. "It's a lot different to England," he
says. "It is much more tactical – everyone knows their jobs. In Italy they
will always play an older player who has more experience than a younger
one who wants to express themselves. Every day in training you work on
tactics, you work on shape. On the other hand it's not so physical. It
helped my game, though. I like to get up and down but they helped me to
know when to hold my position."
The former England international Tony Dorigo, who played for Torino in
the 1997-98 season, knows better than most what Hart is getting into. He
says it is not just the culture on the pitch that Hart will have to adjust to.
"It's really intense, extremely intense, it's absolutely crazy," he says. "I
remember once when we lost a match at home and the following day the
fans stormed the training ground. We had to fly somewhere else to train
and then stay there for the entire week. The fans give you great power
when they get behind you, but you feel the pressure all the time."
Dorigo, now a pundit for BT Sport's Serie A coverage, believes that Hart
will be busy in his new role. Although Torino competed in the Europa
League last season they finished a disappointing 12th in Serie A. This
summer the manager, Giampero Ventura, left to replace Antonio Conte
as the Italy coach, with Sinisa Mijhailovic replacing him. "It looks as if
they will end up getting rid of three of their four best defenders this
summer," says Dorigo. "So Hart will get plenty of work. Torino are a
club that have to change a lot. They get good players but they have to sell
them too."
Torino's association with British football runs longer than most, dating
back to the 1960s and the signing of Joe Baker and Denis Law. Two of
the most promising forwards in Britain, Baker and Law were also only 21
years old. The pair acquired a reputation as young men about town.
Constantly followed by paparazzi, Baker famously assaulted one then, on
another fateful night, crashed his Aston Martin into a statue of Garibaldi.
He and Law survived the crash but their careers in Italy were soon over.
John Foot, in his history of Italian football, Calcio, describes the careers
of British footballers that went a similar way, from Jimmy Greaves to
Gascoigne. Greaves had gone to Italy only because of England's
maximum wage and, as soon as the rule was overturned, felt homesick.
Gazza, meanwhile, was known not only for his drinking and tendency
towards injury but also for his bad manners, notoriously answering one
journalist's question with a big burp.
The problem, as Foot sees it, was with the fact that such high standards
had been set by British football's first great export, John Charles. The
Gentle Giant who played for Juventus for six years from 1957-63 is still
remembered fondly in Turin.
"John Charles remains the model against which all foreign players – and
especially British players – have been measured," says Foot. "He was an
exemplary figure on the field and off the field where he was known for
being modest, generous and 'good'. No other British player has come
close." Foot adds a coda, observing that another well-mannered export
also left a good impression. "My advice to British players in Italy is
don't get drunk. It's bad publicity and conforms to stereotypes. One
person who was quite good there was David Beckham."
But Hart is part of a mini-revival of Britons looking for an Italian job.
Ashley Cole, Nathaniel Chalobah and Richards have played in Serie A in
the past three seasons and, at the time of writing, Ravel Morrison
remains on Lazio's books. For Richards this trend will continue. "It's not
that people don't want to go away," he says. "But you're in your comfort
zone in the Premier League. But now that more Champions League
places are going to be guaranteed [from 2018-19] I think loads of players
will want to give it a go."
Dorigo, meanwhile, has one final piece of advice for England's number
one as he embarks on a new chapter in his career. "Move to Moncalieri,"
he says. "It's a beautiful village 10 miles outside the city. And when you
wake up, the first things you see are the Alps."
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