At least this does have some sort of happy ending, but the general story around Fabio Quagliarella and his big move to his hometown club is heartbreaking. Thankfully he’s gone on to bloom late on and stars for Sampdoria and Italy.
He truly broke through at Udinese before making the move to Napoli in 2009. He still managed to score 11 goals that season but he wasn’t at his best, eventually the fans turned on him and he was forced to move to Juventus.
The big problem that nobody knew was he was being tormented by a stalker. You can read the full details here, but it’s an awful story to hear. It turns out the person he trusted to help him was actually the stalker and used all the information to almost ruin him and destroy his career.
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It turns out that the striker wasn’t the only victim, and after a lot of legal proceedings Football Italia has reported the stalker was given a four and a half year prison sentence for his crimes.
Thankfully for Quagliarella, things have turned out okay for him and he’s been able to make the most of the later stages of his career. in 2017 the Napoli supporters unfurled a banner in his support. It was reported on by Marca, with the banner reading: “In the hell that you have lived in, enormous dignity. We will embrace you again, Fabio, son of this city,”
Last season he scored 26 Serie A goals for Sampdoria and even earned a recall to the Italy squad after a nine year absence. The general feeling is that the number 9 spot in the Italy team is being fought over by Immobile and Belotti, but if he could have another great season then there’s no reason he couldn’t push for a spot in the Euro 2020 squad.
It really is a shame that the greatest moment of his career was destroyed and he couldn’t establish himself at Napoli, but he’s shown incredible strength to keep going and fight through the torment and allegations.
If he could go out on top with international success that would be incredible, but he’s already had a fantastic career when you consider everything.