Messaggio da leggereda ShearerTheLegend » 09/09/2013, 18:23
La carriera di Baines è sempre stata condizionata, influenzata da una certa fragilità caratteriale. E ahime purtroppo è un limite.
(tratto da un articolo dello scorso Gennaio)
Another issue is Baines' mental state. At each stage of his career he's been hit by crippling shyness, particularly with Wigan. "We won promotion to the Premier League and, straight away, I was thinking, ‘Where am I going to go now?'", he told The Guardian in 2007. "I should have been celebrating but I spent a large part of that summer worrying about what it would be like spending the next year on the bench and in the reserves."
It was the same situation when joining Everton. "I was worried about what the established players would think of me. I thought they would look at me and wonder what the hell some lad from Wigan Athletic was doing there," Baines recalls.
The same happened for England. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, he was set to be Ashley Cole's understudy at left-back, but fluffed his lines in a pre-tournament warm-up against Mexico. "Did I enjoy the evening? Not really, no," he admitted. "Everyone wants to be a part of England, to come away and play, but I have always found it really hard, even when I was teenager, being away from home, I have always struggled with it."
Fabio Capello took the inferior Steven Warnock instead, because of Baines' concerns about homesickness. Six months later, he turned down a move to Bayern Munich. "We cannot force him to join us," said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. "He would rather live in Liverpool than Munich, and that's that."
Would he rather live on Merseyside than anywhere else? Baines chose Wigan - a 40-minute journey from his hometown - rather than Wolverhampton when released from Liverpool, then turned down Sunderland to wait for a move to Everton. Such obstacles haven't prevented Baines from becoming a top-class footballer, and he has overcome his homesickness to become a regular part of the England squad. But for England, it was no financial risk to take a gamble - when £10 million or more is involved, it's a different situation.
Ultima modifica di
ShearerTheLegend il 09/09/2013, 18:36, modificato 1 volta in totale.