As far as comparisons go, being likened to Vincenzo Grella is a pretty good one.

It started when then-Socceroo coach Graham Arnold called little-known Grosseto midfielder Carl Valeri a natural successor to Grella’s crown in the build up to the Asian Cup last year.

Being compared to the Torino hardman and established Socceroo certainly made people sit up and take notice of the 23-year-old who had been toiling away in relative obscurity in Italy’s Serie C1. Who was this guy with such a big rep? How did he end up in the Italian lower leagues? And where the hell is Grosseto anyway?

“No, I don’t mind the comparison at all,” says Valeri. “I take it as a compliment. Vinnie is a player I look up to because he took the path that I’m on. He started at the AIS and then went over to Italy to play his football, so to be called “Mini Vinnie” is an honour for me!

“To play his role in the Socceroos, it’s pretty big shoes to fill. But I’m not sure if we’re similar players. I think Vinnie is technically better than me at the moment, but hopefully I can get better and be at his level soon and hopefully play alongside him one day.”

Teaming up with Grella in the heart of the Socceroos is just one of many goals for the Canberra-born midfielder who has preferred to take a slow and steady apprenticeship at less fashionable clubs rather than settle for warming the bench for a glamour team.

After being picked up as an 18-year-old by Inter Milan, he was sent out on loan to regional sides SPAL and Grosseto and cut his footballing teeth in the down and dirty Italian lower leagues. It’s a route he’s comfortable with and one he feels has made him a better player.

“For me it’s important to play,” he notes. “I didn’t want to go back to Inter and be lost in the books of players they have – they have over 60 players under contract and that doesn’t include their first team squad. I didn’t want to get lost, I wanted to feel important in a team and I wanted to be pushed by a team. I knew that Grosseto was the right place to do that. And I’m still learning about the game every day I play.”

How was it growing up as a footballing kid in Canberra?
It wasn’t too bad actually. I played my football at Tuggeranong United which is a local football club [read about Tuggeranong on page 84] and I always dreamed of being a football player. But I never realised I was any good until I started making the ACT rep teams and I was selected for the U17 Joeys camps. I was put into the ACT Academy of Sport (ACTAS) with Ray Junna and that’s where I started to learn football. It was awesome because I was playing good quality football – I think I was about three years younger than most of the players I was up against and they were all good players in the Canberra football scene.

And the Canberra football scene is pretty good isn’t it?
It’s actually really good and it’s a shame that there’s no place for the younger Canberra players to go on to professionally. Pretty much, if you don’t make ACTAS or the AIS, then you’re limited in what you can do. It’s tough because I grew up with a lot of good players and there were a lot of guys who worked just as hard as I did and weren’t able to take the next step. Sometimes, I think if there was something for the players to go on to in Canberra, you would have a lot more pros coming through the ranks.

Your dad Walter was a big personality in the Canberra football scene as a player and coach. Did he have a big influence on you?
Unfortunately I didn’t get to see him play in his prime but he tells me that he was fantastic, which he tells a lot of people! But my main memory of him playing is me going to his games at the local league and kicking the ball around on the sideline. I don’t remember watching him too much. He was also my coach in U11s when I was 10 and [Perth Glory’s] Nikolai Topor-Stanley was in that team as well. He also coached at a pretty high level in the ACT, as well at ACTAS (ACT Academy of Sport) when it first started up. To have my dad as a coach was awesome, he’s always been helping me out as a player and has always been there – I went through some tough times, especially after the Olympics, but without him and the rest of my family I wouldn’t be on the path I am today.

So how does a young Canberran footballer end up getting picked up by Inter Milan?
Well it helped that I had an Italian passport as well! How it came about was that they had shown interest in me after the U17 World Cup – goalkeeper Nathan Coe and myself had both made the FIFA World XI from that tournament and they bought both of us at the end of the tournament. I was signed by Inter just before I turned 18 but I stayed an extra year at the AIS and then made the move to Italy.

Other than trips with the Australian teams, this was the first time I was away from home and it was a bit tough at first. I’m a very family-oriented kind of person so it was hard, but I spoke to my parents nearly every day and my mates every week so that helped. Also going over there with Nathan Coe really helped me a lot. But it was tough.

To be accepted by a group of Italians that are considered to be the best in the country – because Inter traditionally buys the best young talent – was hard, especially coming from Australia which doesn’t have a great footballing background. It took us a while to prove ourselves – actually it took me a whole year to get the confidence to play my best football consistently. So I struggled after the first year, but in the second one I came back with a different mentality.