SheffieldWednesday

Benito Carbone: ‘I never wanted to leave Wednesday. It was my mistake’

23-Oct-2022 07:00:31 | The Guardian

Arriving in Sheffield set the gifted Italian, now 51, on a path via Aston Villa and Bradford to being a huge cult hero in the game

Walking into a small cafe in Bermondsey, south London, Benito Carbone looks like the sort of man who has never made a mistake in his life. Only a certain type of person can pull off the pinstripe that adorns his tailored suit. But any illusions of pomp and grandeur are quickly swept aside: from the first handshake Carbone is disarming, warm – insisting that I call him “Benny” – and happy to admit that when it comes to mistakes, he has made a few.

Perhaps that is not surprising for a player who had 18 clubs across a career that spanned four decades, including spells at Torino, Napoli, Internazionale, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Derby County, Middlesbrough, Bradford, Parma and even Sydney FC. Remarkably, Wednesday are the only club he played at for more than two seasons and it is where he is most fondly remembered in England. And yet Carbone concedes that signing for the Owls was one of his biggest errors.