Massimo Oddo starting anew in Germany

By: Francesco | September 5th, 2008

One of the Italians to move abroad this summer was World Cup winning fullback (and team barber) Massimo Oddo. The 32 year old right back had a nightmare season last year. He wasn’t himself at all, he played poorly, all his crosses ended up in Row Z, and he found himself left out of the national team set-up, missing Euro 2008. Oddo needed a fresh start, and with players like Gianluca Zambrotta and Daniele Bonera ahead of him in the pecking order, he decided to make a move.

He states his reasoning was he didn’t feel like an important player for Milan anymore, and it was a decision made by both him and the Milan management. But why Bayern? At first it seemed Lyon were all set to sign him. Oddo even admits that Fabio Grosso, Lyon manager Claude Puel, and president Jean-Michel Aulas were constantly calling him and telling him to move to France. He said he knew Bayern were interested because Luca Toni told him, and then one day Karl-Heinz Rummenige and Jurgen Klinsmann called him up and convinced him to move to Bavaria. He said the importance of a club like Bayern factored in.

Oddo made his first appearance for the German champions in Oliver Kahn’s farewell match and was praised by manager Klinsmann and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. Klinsmann said, “Oddo played an excellent match. He is adapated to our way of playing and knows how to pass and read the play”. Schweinsteiger said, “I already know how he plays from playing vs him with Milan and the national team and he is very good. Bayern added a lot of quality by signing Oddo.”

So with a new club and a new adventure, Oddo may finally get his career back on track and once began become one of the top Italian fullbacks.