Abel BALBO
Moreover I didn't quit the school until I was 17 and I achieved my high-school degree.
At that point many things happened just by accident.
My sister was hired by a lawyer called Nudemberg and when she told him that I was going to Buenos Aires for a tryout with Indipendiente, he said he was the vice-president of Newell's old Boys of Rosario and that I could have a tryout with them either.
I was very lucky because without reccomentadions our tryouts mean almost nothing and nobody is going to watch you.
On the contrary I was acquired by Newell's and I played with their juvenile teams until I was ready to reach the major team.
I wasn't a prodigy but i scored many goals: 32 in 15 games during my last season with the juvenile team.
For this reason (forwards can be sold for more money than midfielders) I was moved ahead, and at the age of 21 I became part of the major team.
Since then I really started shooting ahead, I had to face great players but nevertheless I still kept on scoring bunches of goals, and some of them were crucial to win the Argentine Title.
At that point Italian's Club Verona proposed me to sign with them along with Canniggia and Troglio and for me that was a sort of nice shock: in just one year of Serie A I won the Argentine Title and an Italian Club was proposing me to move to a League that is the dream of any Argentine player'.
However you didn't arrive in Italy immediately?
'Right.
I was very happy and my family either, but Verona's coach Bagnoli rejected me and I was lent to River Plate.
That season I scored 12 goals, I reched the national team and another fluke happened.
Udinese's manager Mariottini came in Brazil during the America's Cup to sign Sensini and was also impressed by my performances.
Therefore, a few weeks later, when Verona had to give up me (already having the three foreign players allowed), Udinese immediately decided to sign me.
Udine revealed itself to be the perfect place for a young foreign player to mature and to get acclimatized to a so hard championship like the Italian one.
I stayed there 4 years and I scored more goals than I hoped'.
So many that seeing you in Serie B made quite a noise.
'That was the hardest part of my Italian experience, however Udinese's President Pozzo knew that trading me after a so poor season (only 11 goals) wouldn't be a good bargain.
He decided to wait for better opportunities, knowing that I could produce much more.
He was right and when he traded me to Roma he was widely repaid'.
At some point there were rumours about you moving to Inter.
'Yes, there was an agreement with Inter's President Pellegrini, but they already had 4 foreign players (Pancev, Sosa, Sammer and Shalimov) and only 3 were allowed to play at the same time.
I didn't want to seat in the stands and so I decided to go to Roma'.
Which are your qualities and your faults?
'I can score goals from everywhere and by many different ways.
However, sometimes, like many forwards who play in Italy, I lack continuity.
As a man I have so many faults that it's impossible to mention just one of them.
I'm usually very punctual, but Rome with its traffic is ruining also this aspect of myself'._
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