Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has opened up on what it is like to work with manager Ange Postecoglou and about similarities between their career paths before joining Spurs.
Vicario signed for Tottenham in the summer from Empoli and the player's father later revealed how he and Postecoglou had bonded on a video call in which they spoke about how they had both worked their way up from the bottom.
With no game time at hometown club Udinese, Vicario dropped down to fourth-tier Fontanafredda in 2014 and then played for Venezia in Serie D before working his way up to eventually feature in Italy's top flight with Cagliari and later Empoli.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, went to work in Greece's third division after falling out of favour in Australia when his Young Socceroos failed to qualify for the 2007 U-20 World Cup. Back in his homeland, the Spurs boss ran coaching clinics while in charge of Whittlesea Zebras, eventually going on to manage his national team and in Japan before a move to Celtic in 2021 and then Tottenham last summer.
"Yeah, we do have that in common – we both started literally at the bottom," Vicario told FourFourTwo in an exclusive interview.
"Inside, maybe we both have an aim to never be satisfied and to work hard every day, because we saw what it meant to work at the lower levels. You just have to work hard every day – that's the one thing you can control."
Postecoglou has earned praise from fans and journalists for his frank and engaging press conferences and the Australian is clearly popular with his players, too.
"He’s such a big communicator – the way he speaks is unbelievable," Vicario said. "Of course he speaks about football, he analyses every game, but he also speaks about life.
"He tells us some stories that stay inside our dressing room but give you a different way of seeing football – what you do, the commitment you have to put in every day, because our life in football isn’t long and you must enjoy each moment.
"We have a great group of lads, a wonderful training ground and one of the best stadiums in the world, so we have to enjoy it. We’re at a brilliant club."
Read the full interview with Guglielmo Vicario in the current issue of FourFourTwo, in shops now, or BUY HERE WITH FREE DELIVERY
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