Keen to develop his A-game
All Whites midfielder Matt Garbett played at under-19 level with Italian club Torino last season. This campaign, he is eyeing a start in Serie A. Phillip Rollo reports.
New Zealand had to wait more than a century for a footballer to play in Italy’s top-flight men’s league. This coming season there could be two of them.
All Whites midfielder Matt Garbett, a standout performer in New Zealand’s recent games against Costa Rica and Peru, has set his sights on becoming the second Kiwi man to play in Serie A after resigning with Torino on a new deal through to 2024.
Fullback Liberato Cacace created history as the first when he made his debut for Empoli in a 0-0 draw with Bologna in February after securing a move from Belgian club Sint-Truiden on transfer deadline day.
Garbett hopes to join his All Whites team-mate in 2022-23 in what will be his second year in Italy after playing for Torino’s under-19 team last season.
After inking a new deal, he will report to the first team when he returns to Turin for pre-season training and is ready to kick on with his club career.
‘‘I’m going back as a first team player,’’ Garbett said. ‘‘I’m a full first team squad member. I’m not involved with the Primavera squad this year.
‘‘This year Torino are going to be pushing for European spots so obviously it’s going to be a bit harder to break into that team but it all depends on how I do in preseason.
‘‘They’ll be taking a look at me and seeing how I go. But who knows what their plan is for me, I might go out on loan for six months and come back.
‘‘I don’t know what I’m going to be doing yet but I’m definitely going back for pre-season when I get back
and then we head over to Austria to do some pre-season there.’’
Garbett came close to a Serie A debut last season, being invited to train with the first team for the final four months of the campaign after impressing for Torino’s under-19 squad.
He made two appearances as an unused substitute for the first team, watching from the sidelines against AC Milan and Lazio.
‘‘When I signed I knew I was going to be going up [to train with the first team], it was just more a matter of time and when the time was right.
‘‘The AC Milan game, I was on the bench in that game first and it was the first time we could fill out the stadium. We were playing at home and we had about 5000 AC Milan fans and about 25,000 Torino fans, and the atmosphere was
unbelievable.
‘‘Walking through the tunnel you’d see the sporting director of AC Milan, Paolo Maldini, you’d see Zlatan Ibrahimovic and all of the big time players.
‘‘The second game was against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and there were about 40,000 people there. You had the slight hope that you might get on but just being involved and warming up was good, you know?
‘‘The coach could easily put 22 in the squad instead of 23 but him involving me just gave me the confidence and I know I impressed him through training.’’
Growing up in Wellington, Garbett played countless matches against Cacace when he was at the Ole Football Academy and the Empoli left-back at the Wellington Phoenix Academy.
The All Whites team-mates swapped shirts from their first seasons in Italy and Garbett said it would be awesome if they got to share the pitch together in one of Europe’s top five leagues in the near future.
‘‘I’m tight with him so it’s so good to see him doing well. It’s not often a player comes in just like that into Serie A and starts playing that many games, usually it takes time to settle but he’s gone in and started about five-six games.
‘‘He’s setting a pathway for other football players from New Zealand and showing that we can actually do it and play in one of the top leagues.
‘‘I’d love to actually play him. We’ve switched shirts already. He’s given me an Empoli shirt and I’ve given him a Torino shirt, but it would be great to come up against him.’’
Garbett has spent the past couple of weeks back home visiting friends and family and said he was still reeling from the All Whites’ controversial 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica.
He was at the centre of the controversy, with Chris Wood’s equaliser ruled out following intervention from the video assistant referee because of a foul Garbett was judged to have committed in the lead-up.
‘‘It still kills me because we should have won that game and I see videos every now and then on social media, but what can you do? It’s always going to hurt.’’
A former New Zealand under-17 standout, Garbett secured his move to Torino last season after a couple of years with Swedish club Falkenbergs, who he joined as a 17-year-old.
Torino finished 10th last season, four places higher than Empoli.