Interview by Valentino Della Casa.
A "bum" or a star, a flop or a champion. Mikael Silvestre signed with Inter when he was just 21 years old, as he was wanted by both Sandro Mazzola and Gigi Simoni to help strengthen the team's defense. Unfortunately, he failed to make an impact with the team. Silvestre played just 18 matches for Inter before he transferred to Manchester United in the Premier League, where he found his footing as a player and appeared 361 times in 8 seasons. He spoke with Valentino Della Casa about his experiences with the English club and playing for Alex Ferguson.
"Ferguson was like a father to me, I'm not joking. We're talking about a person that was in love with football and European football in particular. During my first training sessions he spoke about Marseille and PSG to help me feel at home. At the beginning, just listening to him was enough. He would tell you his story piece by piece, even from when he was a player. He knew that he wasn't strong. The best thing is that in the first years he would often be on the pitch with us, taking penalties and playing football. Little by little he began to delegate, he had a lot of other things to do."
The sensation at Manchester is that the group helps players grow, and this was certainly the case for Silvestre.
"I cannot not mention Roy Keane and Giggs as two who helped me. Players of an incredible level. But when I arrived at Manchester, two people in particular welcomed me: Wes Brown and Nicky Butt. I had signed just two days prior and was sleeping in a hotel. I couldn't play in Champions League until January, so they decided to come and take me on a tour of the city. They called me from the reception, asking me to come down. I responded with only a "yes," convinced that they'd come up. They waited for me for a half hour! But it's the language's fault...in Manchester the accent is strange."
Meteora o stella, flop o campione. Non sembra, ma il confine può essere sottilissimo a certi livelli. Estate 1998, quando Mikael Silvestre firmò con l’Inter aveva 21 anni. Era stato pagato 14 miliardi, lo volevano Sandro Mazzola e Gigi Simoni che ne appressava la duttilità in difesa, per rafforzare una squadra infarcita di campioni ma con un po’ di confusione. C’è chi pensava che sarebbe stato di passaggio, che non avrebbe sfondato. Giocò solo 18 partite, segnò una rete, venne ceduto subito: destinazione Premier, gli cambiò la vita. “E manco pensavo che sarei andato via”, confessa lui, che di anni ora ne ha quasi 42, a Gianlucadimarzio.com, “è stato tutto così improvviso”. Ha giocato “solo” 361 partite nel Manchester United in otto stagioni
