Borja Valero’s Florentine renaissance

When the cappuccino is served, there's something special about it. "My name was written on the froth of the milk," Fiorentina playmaker Borja Valero smiled. Shame the barista couldn't get his name right, though. "He got it wrong: it read 'Borca' with a 'c' rather than a 'j'." An honest mistake.

Borja had only just arrived in Florence following his move there in the summer. He wasn't yet a household name in Italy. That would soon change of course.

More than 300 supporters gathered outside the club shop in Piazza della Signoria last week ahead of a scheduled appearance to sign autographs and memorabilia. "I'd like to once again thank everyone for how they have welcomed me," Borja said. "I'm very happy to have chosen Fiorentina. I love Spain but my family feel at home in Florence."

Villarreal's relegation last season had led many of the team's more established players to consider their future on the Yellow Submarine. Borja was one of the most in-demand. Everton reportedly offered him the prospect of a return to England where he'd played a season with West Brom. They perhaps saw him as the successor to Mikel Arteta who had joined Arsenal on deadline day a year earlier and hadn't been replaced. It didn't hold a great appeal. He'd kind of been there and done that.

Fiorentina on the other hand represented something else. Their interest had piqued his curiosity. "I remember (Gabriel) Batistuta and Rui Costa's team," he told El País. "I watched them from Spain. I took my transfer to Florence as a new challenge. I wanted to contradict those who say that a Spanish player cannot do well in Italy."

This stereotype really set in during the mid 1990s and early 2000s.

César Gómez and a raw Ivan Helguera flopped at Roma. So too did Iván de la Peña and, most famously of all, Gaizka Mendieta at Lazio, whose move there was the sixth most expensive in history at the time, costing them €48m. Milan also got their fingers burned to a lesser degree on José Mari and Javi Moreno. And by the time Pep Guardiola joined Brescia he was in the twilight of his playing career. We were led to believe that such was the contrast in their styles of football that players from Spain could never flourish in Italy.

As an argument it didn't hold up to scrutiny. There had been success stories. High profile ones too, like Luisito Suarez, who is still the only Spanish player ever to win the Ballon d'Or. He was the brains behind Helenio Herrera's all-conquering Grande Inter side of the `60s.

Borja's name can be added to his and those of fellow compatriots Juan Santisteban, Luis del Sol, Joaquín Peiró, Víctor Muñoz, Ricardo Gallego and Martín Vázquez. All can call their respective times in Italy personal triumphs. Things weren't plain sailing, though. Not even for Borja at first.

"It wasn't easy to get used to it," Borja admitted to El País in October. "The pitches are different and tactics are the priority here. But there isn't the famous catenaccio."

Luckily, Borja had joined the right club. Fiorentina rebuilt in the summer. A new director of sport Daniele Pradè was appointed. He worked with the club's existing technical director, Eduardo Macía, formerly of Valencia, Liverpool and Olympiacos. They hired Vincenzo Montella on the back of his work at Catania where he'd made the team play like a "little Barcelona" and bought 18 new players suited to the project. Borja was central to it. He has played more games than any other player at Fiorentina this season.

"The quality of my team-mates [he name-checks David Pizarro] and the fact that Montella is a coach who likes to play 'alla Spagnola' [with] possession and short passes has helped me," Borja told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Just how well he has done maybe isn't all that surprising for those who watched him at Villarreal, but within this context and considering the resistance of certain stereotypes it's still quite remarkable. "I knew he was good," Montella declared, "but not this good."

Artist. Inventor. Architect. A Da Vinci on the pitch. He has made nine assists this season. Only Andrea Pirlo has played more passes than Borja in the current campaign.

They swapped shirts after Juventus played Fiorentina in February. However, Borja's team-mate, goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, a lifelong Viola fan who grew up in Fiesole, pulled it from him and threw it to the ground, an act for which he'd be criticised. Even in the fiercest of rivalries, there should be respect between opponents and Borja had Pirlo's on that night in Turin. "He's incredible, unique. It's great to have him in front of you so you can see him play up close," Borja said.

One could argue that in relative terms Borja has had the same impact at Fiorentina this season as Pirlo had on Juventus last term, though it's only right to also acknowledge the contribution of Pizarro.

If Fiorentina are the most improved side in Serie A this season, a full 18 points and 15 places better off than they were a year ago, then a share of the plaudits is owed to them.

Fourth in the table only three points south of the Champions League places on a run of three wins in a row with nine games remaining, you just hope the international break hasn't come at the wrong time for Fiorentina, that their momentum isn't halted by it.

At least they have Borja's full and undivided attention. Another Spain squad was named last week, this time for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Finland and France. Once again Borja's name wasn't on the list. "My misfortune," he said, "is to be playing in the best era of Spain's history."

When the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Sergi Busquets, Xabi Alonso and his former teammate Santi Cazorla are picked ahead of him, Borja can't complain. When Manchester City's Javi Garcia is, though, it does bemuse the onlooker, even if their roles within a team are admittedly different.

Others are in the same boat as Borja. But at least coach Vicente del Bosque has called him up in the past. Unlike Arteta, Borja can say he has represented his country at senior level. His debut in a friendly against the United States in the summer of 2011 while a huge honour was also his last appearance for La Roja. At 28, there's still time as long as he maintains his current performance levels.

For Borja, though, there is more to life than football. "The first question that I hear is always and only about my profession," he complained to Sportweek. "Are you happy with your role? Do you like the manager? How do you get on with your team-mates? What can you do to catch Juventus? How are you finding Serie A? It happens with people I've just got to know but also with friends who I don't see so often. It's boring. I'm a person, not just a footballer."

Politics is a favourite topic of discussion.

"Footballers have a right to hold and to express an opinion," he added. "We're lucky. We enjoy money and privileges but we have the obligation to know in what direction the world is headed. Because of our popularity we're also in a position to open the eyes of those who are either distracted of pretend not to see."

Spain's financial crisis and its impact on the country's people has made a deep impression on Borja.

"The reckless operations of the banks which were then saved from bankruptcy by public money caused disasters. But we've also made mistakes. For example, everyone in Spain thought the economic boom would last forever. They lived beyond their means and ate into their savings.

"Money has been wasted, not just public money, but private too. We ought be thinking about the people, not [football] clubs. Three or four people have killed themselves in my country in recent weeks because they haven't been able to pay the mortgage or the rent. We ought to be worrying about this. Football should come after."

It certainly puts a lot into perspective. As the former Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi once said, football is the most important of the least important things in life. Borja would no doubt agree.