Giacomo Bonaventura on playing with Andrea Pirlo, Al Shabab and hopes of moving to UAE

Former Italy international open to move to the Emirates after taste of Gulf football in Saudi Arabia

Giacomo Bonaventura joined Saudi Arabia's Al Shabab last season, helping them to a sixth-placed finish in the SPL. Getty Images

At 35, Italy midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura may be in the twilight of his career. But if there is one thing the former AC Milan, Fiorentina and Atalanta man has consistently demonstrated in recent years, it is that age is just a number.

In 2023, Bonaventura made history when he became the oldest player to score their first goal for the Italian national team, in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Malta. The strike came just a few months after he had netted for Fiorentina in their Europa Conference League final defeat to West Ham.

It was this type of contribution that convinced Saudi Pro League side Al Shabab to sign Bonaventura last summer.

For the Italian, the decision to swap Florence for Riyadh was a significant one – ending his 17-year stint in his homeland – the final decade of which was spent in Serie A.

“I think the first months it was not easy to adapt but now I'm adapted,” Bonaventura reflects in an exclusive interview with The National. “I mean football is the same everywhere. The environment can be different but we play the same 11 against 11, and the pitch is always green.

“I have enjoyed it a lot because I saw the passion of the people and the players, and all the people that work in football in Saudi, they want to improve. They want to create stronger teams, stronger leagues and I think you can feel this energy."

Bonaventura helped Shabab finish sixth in the Pro League and reach the semi-finals of the King’s Cup.

But after big changes at the Riyadh club, namely the departure of sporting director Domenico Teti and coach Vitor Pereira to Wolves in the middle of last season, Bonaventura is now on the lookout for a new club.

While he enjoyed his time in Saudi Arabia, the experienced midfielder says he is an admirer of the UAE Pro League and would love the chance to stay in the Gulf.

“I played all my career in Italy and I wanted to see something else,” says Bonaventura, who revealed that he turned down moves to both Chelsea and Atletico Madrid while he was at AC Milan.

“I was very curious about Saudi Arabia and all this progress that football is making in the Gulf. Not only in there but also in the UAE.

“I spoke a lot with my teammates in Saudi and some of them also played in the UAE and they told me some great great things about the cities, the football and the passion of the people. I would like to play there of course.”

Many of Bonaventura’s career highlights have come since turning 30 – with his maiden international goal for the Azzurri firmly among them.

“It's not easy to be selected in the national team when you are in your 30s because in Italy there are some great young players,” Bonaventura explains. “It was a great emotion for me to score that goal and in general to play for the national team is amazing.

“The blue shirt has been worn by the best players in history so every time you play with the national team it is a very big emotion.”

The midfielder has appeared alongside many of those names, with Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo both in the starting XI when Bonaventura made his Italy debut against San Marino in 2013.

“I played with him [Pirlo] a few matches in the national team and I loved him, the way he saw the game, and I loved his style of play. I have played with many great players – also [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, Buffon.

“As an opponent, one who I loved a lot in Europe and was there in Saudi Arabia was [N’Golo] Kante … I think he is one of the best in the world.”

If he does make it in the UAE, Bonaventura will get a chance to reunite with Pirlo who was named as the new manager of UAE second-tier side United FC.

As well as playing with several Azzurri legends, Bonaventura has also been coached by a couple in Gennaro Gattuso and Filippo Inzaghi at AC Milan.

“Of course it's amazing when you have an idol and then he becomes your coach; it's an amazing feeling. I always tried to understand and to take their mentality and to learn from them. It was a very nice experience to work with them.”

But of the 22 coaches he has played under, the midfielder picks out former Atalanta boss Stefano Colantuono as the most influential of his career.

“Colantuono made me a strong player, not only technically but also physically and tactically,” Bonaventura says. “He had a great impact on me but it's difficult to say one because I had so many and all of them I learned something from.”

Bonaventura is now keen to follow his own path into coaching, although he still believes he has plenty to give on the pitch too, particularly as a player in the Gulf with significant European experience.

“At Shabab, I tried to be a good example for my teammates because I have been playing for so many years and I know how to deal with some situations,” Bonaventura says.

“It's good to be a leader for the younger guys but I'm still also fit and not only an example for behaviour or for leadership but also I'm still challenging physically with them. I can still compete with them and I still have great motivation.”