They couldn't believe it. When word first began to filter through that Daniele De Rossi—a FIFA World Cup winner with Italy in 2006 and a bona fide AS Roma legend having played his whole professional career with his hometown team—was going to join Boca Juniors, the reaction of football fans in Argentina was incredulity.
"When Nicolas Burdisso—who was one of De Rossi's teammates at Roma and is now director of football at Boca Juniors—came out and said a couple of months ago, 'We're going to get Daniele De Rossi,' people laughed," says Sam Kelly, founder of the Hand of Pod podcast.