“As I child I went to San Paolo with my dad, I watched hours and hours of videotapes of [Diego] Maradona. That shirt was everything,” said Fabio Quagliarella in an interview with Corriere della Sera back in April. It must have been a dream come true then, when the striker secured an €18 million move from Udinese to his hometown club Napoli back in 2009. There, he would forge a deadly partnership with Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, scoring 11 goals in his first season back home.
But it was soon to turn sour, and love from the Partenopei supporters became hatred as he moved on to Juventus after just one season with Napoli. Little did they know at the time, but Quagliarella was the victim of a stalker, a police officer that was trusted by the family but a man that was all the while secretly sending him death threats and spreading false accusations of being involved with the Camorra mafia in Naples.
“My father received threatening messages. They told him that someone would shoot me in the head or that they’d blow up my home with a bomb,” he told Le Iene. “The stalker, being a police officer, was regularly in my home and he was running the whole thing. He asked us to take some people’s fingerprints, and kept saying: ‘We’re nearly there, just a little longer…”
His only option was to move away, and it is only recently – after his stalker Raffaele Piccolo was jailed for the crime – that he has finally been able to explain to the Napoli fans why he left. “I dreamed of staying forever, becoming captain, winning…” he said. “Sometimes I play Sliding Doors and see myself alongside beloved idols like [Marek] Hamsik or [Lorenzo] Insigne.”
Before the news of his nightmare was made public, Quagliarella had to disguise himself due to fear of violence every time he returned home, something that must have caused incredible pain over something that was through no fault of his own. Rather than wallow in his misfortune however, the 34-year-old has picked himself up, dusted himself down and found a new place to call home at Sampdoria in his second spell with the club.
Blucerchiati boss Marco Giampaolo has done well to nurture the veteran, bringing the best from a forward with an already proven goalscoring record. “Giampaolo is meticulous in his planning – he’s a great coach and we’ve developed a nice understanding in terms of the way we see the game,” Quagliarella told Sport360. “He expects a lot but always stands up for his beliefs. That’s important because he conveys positivity to the team even when results aren’t going our way.”
The striker fired in his 100th career goal last term in a season where he scored 12 goals and provided four assists for team-mates. His advancing years have not stopped him from continuing in the same manner this term, and his headed goal against Inter on Tuesday was his sixth of the campaign already.
As well as a near comeback from 3-0 down against the Nerazzurri, the scores finishing up at 3-2, Sampdoria demolished Crotone 5-0 at home last weekend. The Blucerchiati have now only been defeated twice in their nine opening matches, and their veteran Neapolitan is a key part of their close-knit setup. His Italian top flight experience – alongside his ability to finish chances – is invaluable to Sampdoria, as his record proves. Indeed, Quagliarella has played against 40 different Serie A sides, and scored against 35 of them.
“Could I still go to Napoli? I’m really happy at Samp, the fans are magnificent,” he revealed. “They understood the deep meaning behind my words about Napoli.”
He may only have one true love, but Sampdoria and Marco Giampaolo make up a genuinely “magnificent” club that are helping Fabio Quagliarella to recover from the hurt that love sometimes brings.
