Former Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini received a rude awakening in British football when he joined the Blues in 1999.
Having joined Chelsea, initially on loan, from Castel di Sangro, before making the move permanent for £300k, Cudicini arrived at Stamford Bridge as back-up to first team goalkeeper Ed de Goey.
Gianluca Vialli wanted to utilise the entirety of his Chelsea squad while playing a pre-season friendly in Northern Ireland, though, which helped Cudicini realise the physicality involved in British football.
Ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Cudicini’s rude welcome
Cudicini in goal for Chelsea in 2000 (Image credit: Getty Images)”My Chelsea debut was in a pre-season match against Omagh in Northern Ireland. I came on in the second half, and with my first touch I got knocked down by a big Irish striker, hitting my nose,” Cudicini recalls to FourFourTwo.
“I was half-asleep on the floor with the physio and the doctors talking to me, and I couldn’t understand a single word. Gus Poyet came over and said, ‘Hey, Carlo, welcome to British football’, which still makes me laugh.
Cudicini playing for Chelsea (Image credit: Getty Images)”I recovered quickly enough and made my official debut in a Champions League qualifier at Skonto in Latvia, playing the last 15 minutes of the second leg, then I made my league debut on the final day of the season. I’d arrived.”
After spending nearly the whole of the 1999/00 season on the bench, behind De Goey and sometimes elder statesman Kevin Hitchcock, too, the Italian then started to play more regularly after a full year in England.
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In 2000/01, Cudicini started 23 Premier League games compared to De Goey’s 15, while he then managed to retain his place after the signing of Mark Bosnich in 2001/02.
Though Petr Cech’s arrival relegated Cudicini down to back-up goalkeeper, he clearly managed to adapt quickly to the physicality of the British game – a far cry from the Italian style he arrived from towards the end of the 1990s.
