Contrasting worlds of Italian strikers

Last week, I went down to the Fulham training ground at Morspur Park, previously owned by London University, to speak to Vincenzo Montella, the new idol of Craven Cottage.

The 32-year-old striker on loan from Roma has enraptured the fans with his goals.

How ironic that at this very moment, another Italian international striker, though with only two caps by contrast with Montella's 20, another who cut his teeth with the unfashionable Empoli club - Massimo Maccarone - should he on his way out of English football.

Leaving Middlesborough, who paid 8 million pounds (Dh58.4 million) for him, for Siena, reportedly on a free transfer.

A further co-incidence, Maccarone made his debut for Italy against England at Leeds in 2002, a game I saw, in which Montella came on as substitute to score both Italy's goals in a 2-1 win.

He remembers the game happily, he told me, both because these were his first goals for Italy - the initial one "a fine one" the second from the penalty spot right at the end and because the win was against England. It was a foul on Maccarone that led to the penalty kick.

Montella is, he says, extremely happy in London, not lest because here the footballer is treated as a normal human being rather than, in Rome where "people don't think footballers are real people". His acquisition on loan represented a huge coup for Fulham's young manager, Chris Coleman.

I asked Montella why he had decided to come to London. He replied that he didn't want to move to another Italian club mid season and that the idea of being in London attracted him.

Unless Fulham's flamboyant owner, Fayed, digs very deep into his pockets, I cannot see Montello staying beyond the end of the season, but meanwhile, even when not match fit, he has already with his coolly taken goals made such a difference to the Fulham attack.

Watching Manchester United lose to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, one yet again wondered about the tactical wisdom of Alex Ferguson. Why play one-paced 35-year-old Henrick Nilsson, however technically talented, alone up wing, and keep Wayne Rooney in exile on the flanks?

In midweek Arsenal's largely reserve team held Spurs 2-2 at White Hart Lane. There were two goals, an own goal and a bad first-half miss by Brazil's muscular Julio Baptista. But with Robin Van Persie out for weeks, the Gunners will need Baptista all the more.