Mod Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Carlo Cudicini Written by Valerie in June 2007 Carlo Cudicini was born in 1973. Goalkeeping was in his genes, his father was Fabio Cudicini, the Black Spider, who kept goal for AC Milan among others. But this didn’t mean that anything came easy for Carlo. As a junior, he played for Italy at U18 and U21 level, but his senior career was less rosy. He was signed by AC Milan in 1991, where he played 2 Champions League matches, before going on loan to Como in Serie C1 to gain experience. At Como a serious wrist injury soon kept him sidelined for 18 months. He then moved to Prato (Serie C2) before being sold to Lazio, back again in Serie A. The injury jinx struck again however, this time cruciate ligaments keeping him out for 6 months. After tha Serie B again with Castel Di Sangro (1997). He had made an impact however. Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli was looking for a backup to Ed de Goey and Luca’s old friends at Lazio recommended Carlo. In 1999 Carlo came to Chelsea on loan, and was eventually signed in 2000 for £160,000. A bargain! He became first choice when De Goey sustained a serious injury. Carlo was fast and agile, and a terrific shot-stopper, keeping out several penalties in vital matches. So far, he’s kept 84+4 clean sheets in 188+5 appearances, (which places him second to Peter Bonetti who claimed 208 clean sheets), and, as at June 2007, he has saved six out of the twelve penalties he has faced as a Chelsea goalkeeper. He was voted Chelsea Player of the Year in 2000-2001, and goalkeeper of the 2002-2003 season by the Professional Footballers Association. When the England national team was struggling to find a good successor to David Seaman, Carlo’s name popped up more than once. He had been in England for five years and was eligible for a British passport. He would walk into the England team and take the number one shirt effortlessly. However, Carlo didn’t play along and kept his Italian nationality, despite having never been selected for the Italian national team. Carlo was injured again in 2002. There had been attempts at finding a good back-up goalie, but all signings were unsatisfactory (Mark Bosnich snorted himself out of contract; Marco Ambrosio stepped in for Carlo with unimpressive result and Jürgen Macho managed to injure himself in pre-season and never played a match). Claudio Ranieri should get the credit for signing Petr Cech in 2004. He dislodged Carlo as first choice keeper and Carlo was used mostly in Cup matches, hence not playing enough League matches to earn himself a champions medal in either 2004-2005 or 2005-2006. Rumours about leaving Chelsea in search of more playing time were rife. Not many Chelsea supporters will forget Reading away in October 2006. We lost Cech after 5 minutes due to a disgraceful challenge by that c*nt Hunt, and replacement goalie Carlo didn’t finish the match in fit shape either after a mid-air collision between another c*nt, Ibrahima Sonko, and Carlo left the latter unconscious. With Carlo sidelined for several weeks, and Cech out for several months, third goalkeeper Henrique Hilario became first choice between the sticks. Having been back-up to Cech, and not becoming automatically first choice again after regaining fitness, renewed speculation flared up about his departure. Still popular with the fans for his service to the club, we recognize his talents and would wish a place in a starting line-up for him. But Carlo has found a new hobby, flying, and he has more or less confirmed to Shed End paparazzo Andy that his attention is shifting from football to being a pilot. His contract runs until summer 2009. How long will he stay? In January 2009 Chelsea announced that Cudicini had been allowed to join Tottenham Hotspurs on a free transfer. The less said about that the better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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