I’M DYING TO GET BACK HOME ...TO ITALY
Doig admits Verona feels like his permanent base now as he thrives playing in Serie A
Josh Doig has settled in so well to the Italian lifestyle he can see himself playing in Serie A for the rest of his career.
The former Hibs star joined Verona in a £ 3million move last summer and has enjoyed an excellent debut season in the Italian top flight.
Doig captained Scotland Under-21s in their midweek defeat to Sweden and the young Scots face Wales today in another friendly in San Pedro del Pinatar on the Spanish coast.
His form has already led to him being promoted to the senior Scots squad in September for the win over Ireland.
And Doig, 20, feels he’s improving rapidly ... even though Verona are emb r o i l e d in a relegation dogfight. He said: “It’s so different culturewise but I have absolutely loved it and embraced it so much.
“I really feel like it is home now.
“Whenever I leave my house in Verona, it does kind of feel like leaving home. “I am enjoying it, it’s been amazing – even though I’ve not got my mum to do my washing! “Moving out of Edinburgh was hard enough. But leaving your country and living by yourself abroad was a huge shock to the system at f irst. It makes you mature and I think I’m a better person for it.
“It’s been quite diff icult footballwise and can you see where Verona are in the league. We just lost to Sampdoria so that was a big blow.
“But we are not out of the race yet and there are still 10 games left to avoid the drop.
“It’s difficult because it has all been so new for me. I have never been in that position before. It really motivates me. “At Hibs, we were usually in third or fourth place. It’s different fighting for your lives. You don’t want to have a relegation on your CV. But we have to deal with reality because we are where we are in the league – and there’s no getting away from it.”
Doig believes the Italian game has helped him because he’s had to grow up on the pitch quickly.
And his performances even led to praise from an unusual source.
He said: “Jose Mourinho just said to me good luck for the season after we played Roma. It was a surreal moment.
“Things like that are what it’s all about. I am so lucky to be doing it. It was a cool thing to happen.
“I’d say my most di f f icult opponent so far has been Manuel Lazzari of Lazio. I played against him in my third game in Italy.
“That was when I realised I had to switch on a bit more defensively because he just ran me all over the pitch. I got a shock to the system and the previous manager (Gabriele Cioffi,who was sacked in October) sat down and showed me what I needed to do better.
“He helped me with positioning and showed me where I needed to be to stop the runs.
“There’s a lot of video analysis in Italy. Three days in a row before training we are sitting watching tapes to see what we could have done better defensively.
“Hopefully, we can come out the other end and learn from it, especially being a younger player.”
Doig also loved his experience with the full Scotland squad, although he accepts he could be in for a long wait to get back in Steve Clarke’s squad.
He said: “The first day there I was like a fan boy. I was just sitting there looking at our players. It was an amazing experience just to be there. A massive honour.
“It will be extremely hard to get into the team but I will just bide my time.”
Meanwhile, Under-21s boss Scot Gemmill expects a tough game against the Welsh today in the heat of a midday kick off.
He said: “Wales are in a good place with a big budget. They have been doing wel l and have obviously invested well.
“It’s another big game to look forward to and it will be another challenge because it’s a lunchtime kick-off and it will be very hot.
“But they will need to be able to cope in a different climate and it will be a good experience.”