The Genius of the Day: Davide Matteini

Picture: Il Tirreno

Davide Matteini is a 31 yo left winger and/or striker from Livorno, Tuscany, Italy, who in the past had been a promising prospect of Serie B, the Italian second tier, especially while he was playing for Pescara, but never managed to explode, and had a decent career in Serie B and Lega Pro (thid tier), plus 44 matches (just 4 from the beginning to the end) and 5 goals in Serie A, with Parma and Empoli.
He grew up at Empoli, that, after few loan spells in lower divisions, in January 2003 sold him to Palermo, that loaned him several times, almost every six months, to Serie B or Serie C1 (former name of third tier) teams, such as Livorno (the team he supports), Teramo, Padova and Crotone. During the Summer of 2005, when he was 23, he was loaned to Pescara (Serie B), and that was a turning point in his career, because he scored 9 goals in 33 matches, gaining the interest of Empoli, that signed him (on loan) for the following Serie A season, where David scored 4 goals in 32 app. (19 from the beginning).
Parma, another Serie A team, decided to sign him, paying about € 900.000 to Palermo, but the first half of 2007/08 Season was quite disappointing, with 1 goal in 12 matches, and January he was loaned to Vicenza, where he had a decent second part of season, scoring 5 goals.
Then he came back to Parma, that had just been relegated from Serie A, but in January 2009 he was sold for € 1.000.000 to Rimini, where he spent a disappointing season and an half, before moving to Cosenza in Lega Pro, where he played regularly, but scored just one goal.
During Summer 2011 he went to Reggiana, in Lega Pro I Divisione too, but, after 2 decent season, in Summer 2013 he became a free agent. Last October Tuttocuoio (Lega Pro II Divisione, fourth tier) signed him, but after three months he became free agent again.
Few days ago a new potential turning point arrived, Brunei DPMM FC offered him a $ 170.000 one year contract, that should be an average wage in Italian Serie B.
Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (DPMM FC), as you’ve probably already figured out, is a team from Brunei, whose Prince is the Chairman of the Club, but it plays in S.League, the highest Championship in Singapore, because it’s too strong to compete in the home Championship, that anyway exists; it’s more or less like Swansea City AFC, a Welsh team that plays in English Premier League.
Matteini went to Brunei, but it looks like he couldn’t adapt very well to a different lifestyle, and the cultural shock has been very strong, probably too strong, and after few days he told to an Italian newspaper that he wanted to come back home. He complained mostly about the lack of clubs, discos and entertaining places in Brunei, because of the strong religious (muslim) beliefs of the Country.
If these were the only issues, Mr. Matteini could look for a team playing in the same Championship, but based in Singapore, where the situation should be a bit different.
Anyway, according to last rumors, he finally should have come back to Italy.
The presence of another Italian player, Simone Quintieri, who played in Indonesia last year and is probably going to stay in Brunei, hasn’t been enough to persuade him not to come back home !

Here you are few quotes from the interview in the video:

“…it’s a small Island where everybody prays from the morning to the evening, there is no disco, no pub, no nightclub, everything is different from the West”
“…You have to be born here in order to live here, otherwise it’s very hard !”
“…if you’re paid $150.000-$170.000 but you get mad, it’s better to come back home…”
“…it’s because the lifestyle they have, it’s very different from ours, different from everything, I don’t care about money,  houses or things like these…also the food (is too different)…and during the night, at 3 am, a pray starts from the Mosque, it’s a disaster !”.

We want to inform you about two other facts on Davide Matteini:
- He appeared in a Italian TV show, not famous for its high cultural level, where several handsome boys have to conquer a beautiful lady’s hearth
- Few years ago, during the match Pisa – Reggiana, after scoring a goal, he celebrated taking off his jersey and showing a T-shirt of an ultras group of AS Livorno Calcio in front of Pisa supporters, who share a very famous and very strong rivalry with Livorno supporters: you can imagine how they reacted !