The new Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper is settling in quickly with his new team-mates and is looking forward to life under Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham's new goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario can get so angry during matches that he's been nicknamed Venom, but it's tough to see that off the pitch in a man who is housing a Ukrainian mother and son to protect them from the war in their homeland.
The 26-year-old stopper arrived from Empoli this summer to take on the mantle of Spurs' main goalkeeper after Hugo Lloris had held the title for 11 years. The Italian comes bearing a nickname taken from the often angry character who appears in Marvel's Spiderman comics and recently on the big screen.
"[The nickname] was made by two guys from DAZN in Italy, because they told me: ‘When you play on the pitch sometimes you get angry, you feel angry, so you feel like Venom’. Also Venom starts with v, Vicario starts with v," said Vicario.
Will he get angry while wearing a Spurs shirt?
"Yeah, maybe. I hope to do this not many times, because I think we have a big squad, so I trust in my lads," he said before explaining when he thinks you can tell his rage is boiling. "Maybe I shout, maybe…I don’t know. My facial expression can change in some critical moments of the game."
There is no anger right now within Vicario who has worked his way up from his days in Serie D to become a member of the Italy squad, one of the most well-regarded keepers in Serie A and now the new number one at Tottenham Hotspur, although he will wear his favoured number 13.
The goalkeeper's journey in football was appreciated by his new manager Ange Postecoglou, who has also had to work his way to the top the hard way.
"In the first time I met him he told me this thing," said Vicario. "I think it's longer. We started from the bottom to reach the top and for us I think it's a big success of courage. A big mentality. Coming up from the bottom is not so easy. I think it's a big challenge with myself and himself and I think we have to be happy for our process."
The new goalkeeper told football.london exactly what the Australian has asked of him.
"He told me that the keepers work with their feet and the construction is important for his football. So I need to work a lot to improve but I want to improve and also he wants an attacking keeper, like going out on the free-kicks and putting the ball on for the counter-attacks. I love it," he said. "I love to be like an attacking keeper, going out and putting the ball on is what I love to do."
On training under Postecoglou, he added: "It's so good. Good impact, good guys, good lads, good training. Everything is ok to have a good season I think. We have a big group, we work with intensity and I think we'll be ready for the first match in August."
Life on tour with Spurs in Australia and shortly Thailand and Singapore is something new for Vicario, who has never been transported around the world with his previous clubs or exposed to the global fanbase of a Premier League side like Tottenham.
You can see on his face what a new world it is and he must have to remind himself of how far he's come. In 2014 Vicario was on loan as a youngster from Udinese at Serie D side Fontanafredda and he was later part of the Venezia squad that would rise up the leagues from the same level.
"It was a long time ago [that first loan spell in Serie D]. It was like 10 years ago. I think I have to be happy with my process from growing up and what I can reach," he said. "For the moment I have to reach from now to the future. I want to work hard with the Spurs and I think I can find here the best environment to grow up and reach the best.
"Serie D to Tottenham is like a dream for me. I'm inside of my dream, I want to live my dream. It's completely different. It's my first time like this. I need to adapt because Spurs is a big club. We have many, many fans so it's different. It's my first time in my life. When I came back here from Serie D it was impossible to see it like this. Here there are many, many fans, many things to do and stay with the guys [on tour].
"In the past I tried to do all the best every season, every training to try and manage and be the best part of me. I think the process is good but it's not finished. I want to reach a lot of good things for Spurs."
Vicario will take on the role of Spurs' main goalkeeper with Lloris left in the UK to sort out his next move after publicly admitting he wants a new challenge after more than a decade in north London. His Italian successor spoke warmly about the welcome he received from the club captain.
"Hugo is still a Tottenham player. He was so kind with me when I signed. I think he's a great guy. He's one of the greatest keepers in the world. He won the World Cup and he's played many, many games in the Premier League and in Europe. So all the best for him and he's one of the best in the world," said Vicario.
"He gave me a warm welcome in the first training session. We worked together in the last few days. He's a good guy."
Vicario is looking forward to the pressure of being the man between the ball and Tottenham's goal and says it's something he has always thrived on.
"I love it. I love it. All kinds of pressure. You have to know that the pressure is on you alone - from the fans, from all the things, but I think it's good - it can improve your games, everything about you," he explained.
Vicario looked back to his childhood to remember his idols as a young goalkeeper after he made the switch from outfield player to being in goal.
"I started playing with the ball at my feet but at 10, 11-years-old I moved inside the box to the goal. I think it's the best thing I could do," he said.
"My heroes, I grew up with Gigi Buffon. My idol, the keeper who I have seen most is Samir Handanovic, because I was born in Udine and he played for Udinese and I saw him a lot of times as a goalkeeper."
So what was it like to hear praise from his hero Buffon, who said last season that "Vicario is doing things out of the ordinary"?
"I just say thanks to him. I just did this, and I think he's one of the best keepers in history, at all levels," he said. "He won everything apart from the Champions League and won the World Cup and many many titles with Juventus. I think he's one of the best. He's an icon for the keepers."
While Vicario's school-taught English is near perfect he admits he has to "improve my football English, it's different from Italy" as "I think the most important things are 'man on' and 'time' so the lads can play quickly".
For a sense of what the Italian is like off the pitch, he has helped give a home to a Ukrainian mother Hanna and her son Milan in the Vicario family house in Udine with his parents Monica and Michele in order to help the duo escape the conflict in their homeland. They all relied on Google Translate because Hanna and Milan do not speak English.
"They stay with me in Udine, with my family. They feel well. They are good now," he said. "Milan, he is 11 and he is my little brother. When I come back to Udine to see my family, I spend sometime with him. He is good. He is going to school, he learns Italian.
"I hope he feels good because in Ukraine now the situation is not so good with the war. So we try to give a smile to these people and I hope they don’t [have to] think to the situation of their country."
To see what the duo, who Vicario has told can stay as long as they want, are going through also gives the goalkeeper plenty of perspective when it comes to football and the game he plays.
"It’s a good thing for me. When I go to the pitches, thinking about them is important. It’s like a strength it can give. I am happy for this family.," he said.
Now he turns his attention to Tottenham and what can be achieved with Postecoglou and this squad, which includes a fellow Italian in 20-year-old Destiny Udogie, who played for Vicario's hometown club Udinese and he also calls a "little brother".
"The club has big, big potential. We have all the facilities to make the footballers, the professionals, 100 per cent. We have to trust what the club and what the manager says to us, but I think we are a great group of guys, a great group of lads, so we can work together and we can reach the top," he said.
"All the guys have welcomed me. All the guys were so kind with me, everyone. Good impact, good behaviour by everyone on the pitch, outside the pitch, and I am so excited to start playing this season for Spurs."
Guglielmo was speaking at a Tottenham Hotspur Global Football Development session with beneficiaries from Telethon, one of the largest charities in WA that raises funds to deliver programmes for sick, vulnerable, and disadvantaged children. The participants were also invited to the team's open training session in Perth from which all proceeds will be donated to Telethon.