Hellas Verona defender Josh Doig sat down with Serie A ahead of Matchday 30 to speak about Scottish players making the move to Italy, flourishing in the Italian top flight, and the club’s fight for salvation.
From Scotland to Italy
Hellas Verona’s left-back Josh Doig is the latest in a new generation of Scots to have taken a leap of faith from the land of the brave to the Italian top flight.
“I think in Scotland it’s a done thing to just go down south to England and trying to work your way up from there but I felt for myself that football gives you a platform to go anywhere you want in the world and I feel Italy is one of the most beautiful countries there is and Verona tops that as one of the most beautiful city in Italy, so for myself coming here it was… the football is amazing and the lifestyle is amazing so it was a no brainer.”
Flourishing Left Wing-Back
The 20-year-old is flourishing in his debut Serie A campaign. The wing-back role seems to suit him to a T – Doig has set up four goals and scored two of his own.
“I really enjoyed it, it gives you that freedom to kind of go up and down all game which I love to do, it’s one of my main things my fitness, I’m good at running, so it’s been good to utilize that, if I can attack I’ll always do it, I absolute love doing it and in Italian football they have such an aggressive way to play so you need to be able to do that and also defensively you need always to be aware but I think I’ve learned more and more as the games went by.”
Serie A Salvation
After the last-minute victory over Sassuolo, Verona are just 4 points from safety. With 9 games remaining, that’s a realistic target. The Scots are a determined people – and this is a determined team.
“I think, you know, where we are it’s obviously not easy, it’s been a roller-coaster season but I think as Verona the whole of us and the fans and the team we are never going to give up, we’ll fight until the very end and I think as a team we’ve got to believe, we have got a real belief within the squad, the team is very tight, we are very close together. I think obviously we know where we are and we are not shy away from that but we know what the fans deserve and that’s fight until the very end and that’s what we’re going to do, we know that.”