Revisiting Walter Samuel's time at Roma

Walter Adrian Samuel was never a fan of the spotlight. Instead, he preferred to remain in the background, sending others forward to deflect the attention from him.

“I’m shy – I don’t speak much. Even doing an interview with a journalist for a newspaper gets my anxiety going. As for appearing on TV, let’s not even go there….” he once said.

And yet Samuel would always make himself heard on the field of play. Oh yes. He was a tough defender but a loyal one, with impressive character. Part of Roma’s Scudetto-winning vintage of the 2000-01 season, he is still one of the best central defenders to have graced Trigoria in the last 20 years.

Born in 1978, Samuel’s nickname became The Wall on account of the rarity with which he would let people get past him. A whole generation of strikers can attest that Samuel would start pressuring them – and letting them know he was there, as it were – from the very moment the referee blew his whistle to start the game. It was his way of saying, “if you want to score today, get ready for a battle.”

Now, after representing several top-level clubs in Italy and Europe, Samuel has bid the game of football farewell at the age of 38 following a two-year spell with Swiss side Basel.

Samuel has often spoken of his love for football – it has, after all, given him and his family a comfortable life – but the Argentine has always considered it to be a job like any other: “At home I never discuss football with my family. I don’t even stop to watch it on television. That helps me to give my all on the field.”

The young Walter arrived in the capital in the summer of 2000, instantly establishing himself as the undisputed leader of the Giallorossi defence. He was one of the first names on the team sheet for coach Fabio Capello, who would even play him in midweek friendly matches, such was his importance to the team.

Together with the likes of Aldair and Antonio Carlos Zago, Samuel became an integral part of a side that brought the Italian title back to Rome. “Minister of defence”, was the moniker bestowed upon him by one magazine, while rapper Brusco penned the line “he’s ready to give his life to avoid conceding” in a track recorded in celebration of Roma’s Scudetto win.

The man most ardently in favour of signing Samuel all those years ago was one Franco Baldini, the figure then responsible for transfer dealings. Baldini convinced club president Franco Sensi to sign the Argentine from Boca Juniors in spring 1999, stealing a march on other European clubs, on one condition – that he stayed at Boca for another year so that he could gain vital experience in the Copa Libertadores.

And so it was that Samuel lifted the most important club competition in South America before linking up with Roma the following summer. More trophies followed – a first Scudetto in 18 years and an Italian Super Cup, to be precise. Over the course of his four-year stay in Rome, Samuel made a total of 173 appearances, scoring 11 goals.

Samuel left to join Real Madrid in 2004 in exchange for €25m, but crucially decided to depart only after having renewed his contract with the club, ensuring that Roma benefitted monetarily from the sale of one of their best players at a time when the club’s finances were not at their healthiest.

In the 2009-10 season, Samuel was part of the Inter side that won an historic treble of the Scudetto, Champions League and Coppa Italia, adding the Club World Cup the following year.

Samuel might have been shy, but he was successful too – and boy did he prove that actions speak louder than words.