Juventus centre-back Gleison Bremer revealed that he would like to play in the Premier League one day: ” It’s a very exciting championship.” The Brazilian defender has been among Juve’s most consistent players over the last two seasons, leading the Bianconeri to begin talks to renew his contract in the near future. Speaking with The Telegraph, Bremer explained why he would one day like to make the switch to England, but began by sharing the importance coach Walter Mazzari played in his career:
“He was like a father figure to me, I had a really rough first year as I didn’t have a lot of opportunities and it got to the time where I wanted to leave but Mazzarri had a speech, letting me know that he counted on me and telling me to have patience and to learn the tactical aspects of football.
“I came from football where defence was approached differently to Italy so he told me to learn the game and when there was a time when I got the opportunity. It was exactly how it went. After a year I got my opportunity and never stopped playing.”
“I have a couple of role models in England playing at centre-back. I watched David Luiz at Chelsea, a Premier League winner and a Champions League winner. But also Vincent Kompany in all the years he played at Manchester City.”
“I like La Liga and the Premier League, but the Premier League is a very exciting championship and I watch a lot of matches and they are very entertaining. One day I would like to play in the Premier League but right now I am focused on Juventus and winning trophies with them, we are one of the best teams in the world.”
“Being names after Andreas Brehme? My father watched Brehme play at the World Cup in Italy and there are three brothers in the family and we were all named after someone important, revered or admired. And so it was the case, Andreas Brehme was a player my father liked very much and I have that thought of him watching Brehme play for Germany.
“My journey is mainly my own, not many others have it. In Baia, they only had two major clubs in my city and I didn’t live near the city. Id had to travel a lot of miles and didn’t have the opportunity to enter a club and train with a club. At 14 I moved to Sao Paulo and at 16 got to play for Desportivo Brasil. Before that I played when and where I could.
“On the streets, I learnt how not to lose. I learnt how to be aggressive with football in the streets. I also learnt how to be a little bit sneaky. You can elude your opponents and sometimes the referee.”
“Playing for Brazil is like a duality. There is a great pleasure to wear the jersey because for every child there is always the dream of playing for the national team and I was no different. But also on the other hand there is great responsibility and great pressure.”
“The five stars come with a lot of pressure as Brazil has to win every match. People in Brazil want to see the Brazil of 2002 when we won the last World Cup. That is five World Cups since the last win and we know it is a very long time.
“We lost the World Cup. When there is a World Cup, we always look at it like it was meant for us to win. If we don’t, we have lost the World Cup. That it was Argentina who won it only carries more pressure and more importance to this match. We want to end the year in good fashion and want to win the next World Cup. This is a good match to know the two teams, our team against the current World Cup winners. It is always important and now this match is even more important after Argentina have become world champions.”
