Perrotta: The forgotten Brit

There will be no three lions on his shirt and no singing of God Save the Queen but by birth,Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta is as English a...

There will be no three lions on his shirt and no singing of God Save the Queen but by birth,Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta is as English as David Beckham.

Perrotta first kicked a ball on a school playground in his birthplace of Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester. His Lancastrian youth was cut short when his parents Francesco and Maria decided to return to southern Italy in 1982 with their five-year-old son and his brothers Gianluca and Max.

8216;8216;My father was in England for work and as a consequence I was born there. I have a few memories of Ashton but they are just flashes,8217;8217; Perrotta told Reuters at Italy8217;s hospitality centre close to their Euro 2004 training ground in Lisbon. Had the family stayed in Ashton, Perrotta could have made his mark in the same North West schools football scene as his contemporary, England full back Phil Neville, who was born just down the road in Bury. Instead, it was in the Calabrian city of Cosenza where Perrotta began to play organised football before joining the region8217;s top side Reggina.

The 26-year-old central midfielder, whose simple but highly effective midfield work has made him a regular starter for the Azzurri, has long since lost his English language skills. 8216;8216;Unfortunately I forgot it all but the strange thing is that when my parents decided to move back to Italy, I could only speak English and not a word of Italian,8217;8217; he says.

As a promising young player, who earned a move to Juventus in 1998, Perrotta even had a slim chance of earning a call-up to England8217;s youth set-up.

8216;8216;There was a timid approach many years ago but nothing concrete, and nothing came of it,8217;8217; he says. With his aunt and uncle having also returned to Italy there was no longer any link with the country of his birth. 8216;8216;I like English football though and I enjoy watching it on television when I can,8217;8217; he says.

Juve are noted for picking up young talent from Italy8217;s poorer South and Perrotta was one of many who failed to make the grade in Turin. After making just five league appearances in his first season he was loaned out to Bari.

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Back in the South he was part of the team relegated to Serie B, yet Perrotta kept his place in the top flight by moving to Chievo to enjoy their first season in Serie A. He quickly established himself at the heart of Luigi Del Neri8217;s side and Trapattoni was impressed enough to give him his Italy debut in a friendly in November 2002 against Turkey. Reuters