Exclusive interview with Sassuolo's Lana Clelland
"I think in Italian, I dream in Italian. Italy is home now."
Italian Football Newsletter columnist Mark Gordon sat down with Scotland international Lana Clelland to find out about her life in Italy.
Lana Clelland moved to Italy to turn professional for the first time in 2014 with Pink Sport Bari. What began as a footballing opportunity has turned into a life changing move for the striker, who is now in her eighth season in Serie A Femminile. “I think in Italian, I dream in Italian. I just get treated like an Italian and I actually struggle when I go away with the national team because of all the different accents. Italy is home now. I love it here.”
Clelland has been in great form this season as her Sassuolo side continue to impress near the top of the table. I first spoke to the 29-year-old in the summer of 2018, when she had just put pen to paper on a deal that saw her move from Tavagnacco to Fiorentina. “My mum said to me after I had been in Italy for a few years that she didn’t think I would come home. At that point I had every intention of moving back to Scotland. It wasn’t until I lived in Florence that I just fell in love with the city. It’s the most beautiful place in the world and certain parts of it give me butterflies in my stomach when I see them. Florence is my favourite. After football that is where I will live.”
Arriving in Bari as a 21-year-old, Lana knew little of the country she now calls home. Learning a new language was an obvious challenge but one problem the Scot encountered may come as a surprise to some. “The hardest thing at first is obviously the language but the second most difficult thing was the food. I know everyone will read this and think ‘Italian food is amazing, what could be the problem’ but you can’t eat pizza and pasta every day when you’re a professional footballer. I used to be a really fussy eater and I really had to step out of my comfort zone to try new things. When my mum comes to visit now and I cook her a meal she can’t believe it.”
The Scotland-international is now at her fourth club on the peninsula and she credits the Italian people for making her feel welcome as she struggled to settle in to her adopted home country. “I’m so appreciative that I got the opportunity to come here and that I stuck it out. I could easily have gone home during my first five months at Bari. The language wasn’t coming that easy and when I moved to Tavagnacco, I really grew as a person off the pitch and it was down to the people there. The people you meet along the way help shape the person that you are and I definitely feel like I’m a better person for having moved to Italy.”
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