Trotta

See below text of an interview Marcello did for the Fulham website - some nice stauff about his time at WWFC


Back in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, the small medieval town set just in-land from the sun-drenched Campania coast that Marcello Trotta calls home, a feeling of pride is swelling at the local export who is making his mark. Many among the close knit community had pored over reports of goals plundered in that distant and unfamiliar division known as “League One.” Casa Trotta was inundated with congratulations when such progress at the lower level yielded a bow in the Premier League.

Now there is even amicable grumbling at the realisation that Napoli, who command the regional support, might have missed out on burgeoning talent born and bred only up the road. “Santa Maria is quite a small place and everyone knows each other there, and I think most of them are proud of what I’m achieving,” says the teenage striker as he reflects on recent headway. “They text me, they phone me, they ask about the football, the food, the life over here… and now some of them, as Napoli fans, are saying they want me to go back and play for them. But I’m happy at Fulham. I want to make my name here.”

The Italian’s ambition is clear. At 19, this has been a breakthrough season for Trotta in the English game, a striker who had excelled in the Development teams having made real strides on the senior scene, first on loan at Wycombe Wanderers in the third tier and, over the campaign’s final months, in fleeting appearances in the Fulham first-team fold. There was a debut in the FA Cup tie at Everton at the end of January, and a top flight debut in victory at Bolton in April. Those glimpses of life in Martin Jol’s set-up have wetted his appetite for more, with the summer’s return home for once an inconvenience to interrupt momentum.



Trotta travels back to Italy to see family and friends armed with first-hand stories from Old Trafford and White Hart Lane, matches he watched from the Fulham bench. Next year he will hope to point to appearances on the turf at such glamorous arenas. Even so, this has been a start and real reason for optimism for a youngster who had originally arrived in this country three years ago armed with a passport, a pair of boots and not a word of English. Ensconced at Napoli’s academy from the age of 11, he had left the scouts drooling with his performances for Italy’s under-16s. Fulham were the ones who went on to secure his signature on professional terms, and so his was to be a foreign adventure.

“Napoli were disappointed to lose me, and tried to hold me until the end, but I’d made my decision to have a new experience abroad,” he says. “A new culture, a new language, a new type of football. I didn’t speak a word of English when I arrived – nothing – and made a few mistakes getting by, but it helped me grow. It was a big step, leaving my family and coming here alone. But it helped open my mind a bit. There was no point making a tough decision (to give up and go home) after only a few months. I knew there’d be tough times and, for a while, it was difficult.

“But it has been worth it now. I’ve developed here at Fulham, adding aggression to my game and being more decisive with my movement, always looking to help the team. That’s all good stuff to learn. Perhaps concentrating on my football helped me adjust. I had to focus on my game, so I didn’t tend to think so much about missing everyone back home.”

He has had to grow up quickly off the pitch, with progress on it accelerated over a spell with Wycombe. Gary Waddock’s side were struggling near the foot of League One, the tone already set for a troubled season, but the Italian briefly added bite to their ranks: there were six goals in his first four appearances, and eight in as many games. Waddock described his recruit as “a goal-scoring machine”, the hat-trick against Exeter netted gleefully in front of the Trotta family who had flown in from Italy. “A wonderful experience,” he says. “I enjoyed every day there: the games, the training, the team. It all helped me a lot.

“I’d been a bit scared at the beginning because it was my first time out on loan, and another step into the unknown. I didn’t know what to expect. But, in the end, it went well for me. It was so different from playing reserve team football, a completely different level. My game came on, and that was my target: to get experience and be ready to come back and get some chances.”

Opportunities were limited in a subsequent temporary spell at Watford – his impact at the higher level restricted to a 59-minute cameo against Southampton in a 3-0 home defeat – but, once it became clear the likes of Chris Iwelumo, Joe Garner and Troy Deeney would bar his way into the first-team, the spell was swiftly curtailed. “And the day after I came back to Fulham I was on the bench at Manchester United,” he adds. “I wanted to test myself in the Championship but I was not going to have chances at Watford. Sometimes you have to accept that. Maybe we will see what happens next season.

“I want to stay here at Fulham, but you have to see what the manager thinks is best for you. It’d be great to get some experience here, but next year you never know. If he says it’s better for me to go and play in the Championship on loan then fair enough. I will learn from that. Being involved here this season, even only a bit, has been so important. I want it to be only the start.”

This striker’s progress has only just begun.



Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/June/MarcellosJourney.aspx#ixzz1yzN8S5j9