Although Tomasi only spent one season in Tianjin Teda, and although tomasi came to China at the end of his career, he still gave Chinese fans a close taste of what is called defensive art.
How did a former Italy international, a player who won the Serie A title with Roma, come to China?
Verona started
Damiano Tomasi was born on 17 May 1974 in the small Italian town of Verona.
Since his father was a brilliant marble craftsman, Tomasi's childhood dream was to become a great craftsman like his father.
Still, the Tomasi family is an avid fan. As Tomasi spent more and more time playing football, his hobby finally became his ideal.
At the age of 18, Tomasi officially became a member of the Verona team.
In the 1993-1994 season, in his second season in Verona, Tomasi finally made his debut on the team. This season, he made 9 appearances.
In the 1994–1995 season, Tomasi was a major player for Verona, making 32 appearances in the season.
In the 1995-1996 season, Tomasi continued his good performances, making not only 36 appearances but also scoring 4 goals.
Such a performance caught Roma's attention and recruited Tomasi into the squad in the summer of 1996.
That summer, Tomasi also won the European Youth Championship with the Italian youth team.
Rome became famous
In his first season with Roma, Roma coach Bianchi placed Tomasi on the right side of the team.
In the second season, Zeman came to Roma, and Tomasi's fate changed. Zeman transformed Tomasi into a defensive midfielder.
Tomasi once said: The most important coach, and my favorite coach, is definitely Zeman.
Although the transition process was not easy, Tomasi seized the opportunity and successfully transformed into a good defensive Chinese Super League.
By the time Capello entered Roma, Tomasi had become the number one player on Capello's list, believing that "he was more important than Totti, Batistuta and Montella". This year, Tomasi also won the league with his teammates.
Teammate Antonioli had this to say about Thomasi: "In the year we won the title, he had an incredible season – he was everywhere, all the time. Tomasi will be taken care of throughout the game, but he always keeps going with the ball.
Tomasi, who has always played steadily, suffered the biggest crisis of his career in 2004. During the pre-season warm-up, Tomasi was seriously injured and was even thought to be leaving the green field.
Tomasi missed a full season for this. At the end of the season, Tomasi's contract with Roma also expired.
Tomasi offered to renew his contract with the club at the lowest salary in Serie A. In this regard, Tomasi gave the explanation that he loves football but does not want to burden the club.
In the 2005-2006 season, Tomasi not only made a successful comeback, but also played 38 games for Roma in all competitions, scoring two goals.
At the end of the season, Tomasi officially left Roma, where he had played for 10 years. Over ten seasons, Tomasi made 262 appearances for Roma, scoring 14 goals (league stats) and becoming the team's vice-captain.
After leaving Roma, Tomasi played for Two Seasons for Levante in La Liga and played 44 games for the team. In the 2008–2009 season, Tomasi joined Queen's Park Rangers, but only half a season later he terminated his contract with the club.
TEDA's midfield core
In early 2009, Tianjin Teda suddenly received a trial request, and this trial request officially came from the famous former Italian international Tomasi.
Free to join, with an annual salary of 350,000 euros, a player of this level signed at such a cost, which is called the price of cabbage. But Mr. Tomasi himself said one of the reasons he came to China was because he wanted to learn about Chinese culture.
As soon as Tomasi arrived at the team, he quickly became an indispensable player for Tianjin Teda. As a defensive midfielder in the team, Tomasi has become a strong barrier to the team's backline with his excellent anticipation ability and ferocious steals. At the same time, he also has a good ability to shoot and transfer the ball.
In the 9th round of the 2009 season, Tianjin TEDA played shanghai Shenhua at home. In the 19th minute of the match, the TEDA player fouled and gave the opponent a free kick near the penalty area. At the moment when the opponent took the free kick, Tomasi stepped back from the wall to the goal line and pushed the tricky free kick out. This has also become the most vivid interpretation of Tomasi's defensive art.
At the same time, his professional attitude has also become a model for the team.
This season, he played 29 games for the team, becoming the team's most trusted player. At the end of the season, the team wanted to renew Tomasi's contract, but Tomasi chose to retire.
In 2011, Tomasi became president of the Italian Footballers Association, a position he held for 9 years until his departure in 2020. During this period (2015), he also made a brief comeback to join San Marino side La Fiorita.
In fact, although there are many micro-words about the Golden Dollar Football in the Chinese Super League, the introduction of big-name players is not the original sin. What's more important is what kind of big-name players to bring in. If the Chinese Super League is full of big names like Tomasi, then why not?