It was less than four months ago that Antonio Floro Flores was fighting to help Arezzo avoid relegation into Serie C1. Since then, the 24-year-old has moved on to join ambitious Serie A side Udinese, forming an all-Neapolitan attacking trident along with Fabio Quagliarella and Totò Di Natale. “I joined Udinese to break into top-flight football,” he claimed. “It was sad to see Arezzo relegated, but this is the time in my career when I have to test myself. I am eager to see how far I can get and I hope to repay Udinese’s faith in me.”
The likes of Marcio Amoroso and Oliver Bierhoff announced themselves as stars in Friuli and Floro Flores is using the latter as inspiration. “I was just a kid when Bierhoff was scoring lots of goals for Udinese and Germany, but it would be great to follow in his footsteps and, who knows, maybe overtake him,” declared the former Sampdoria player. Coach Pasquale Marino, who is an expert in attacking football, clearly has plenty of faith in the blond hitman after handing him a starting role in the early weeks of the campaign.
Floro Flores started his career in Napoli’s youth team, before stepping up to make his debut in Serie A. Under experienced Coaches like Zdenek Zeman and Franco Scoglio he was in the right place to learn how to improve his game, but since there was not enough space for him with the Azzurri he had to leave the Stadio San Paolo. Playing against his beloved team in Week 2 must have been an emotional experience, although the 5-0 thrashing they handed Udinese won’t have gone down well with him.
“I love Napoli because it’s my city and the team I always dreamed to play for,” said the forward. But a long time has passed since then, and Floro Flores, who is married and has two children – Aurora and Ginevra – has matured into a professional. Those three years spent at Perugia and Arezzo, where he netted 36 Serie B goals, helped him gain the experience needed to make the big step.
“I used to be hot-headed,” he confessed. “People can barely recognise me now, they cannot believe how much I have changed. The secret is my family.” Now it is time for him to strut his stuff, but that is not the most important thing. “Udinese will have to win as a team and we will all have to pull in the same direction to reach that target.” Fabio Quagliarella may well be Udinese’s star man, but Antonio could steal a headline or two from his highly-rated colleague.
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