Paolo Maldini told England international 'you'll be succesfull in Serie A' following brutal clash

EXCLUSIVE: Paolo Malidni was very impressed with what he saw from an English striker.

In his sparkling career, the Italian proved himself as one of the toughest defenders to have ever graced the game, impressing fans with his clean tackling and tactical awareness, en route to winning seven Serie A titles. Therefore, it goes without saying that his approval doesn’t come lightly.

Paolo Maldini praised Jay Bothroyd after a Serie A match

In 2003, Jay Bothroyd left Coventry City to play under the Italian sun for Perugia. And it didn’t take him long to make an impact, with Paolo Maldini going out of his way to have a chat with the striker following his third match for the club, which ended 1-1.

In an exclusive interview with Sporf, Bothroyd reminisced: “It was funny because that whole day was a blur, especially when I saw the AC Milan team coming out. I was like, ‘How are we going to beat this team today’? There was Cafu, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Kaka, Andriy Shevchenko, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso. It was unbelievable to line up against a team like that.

“From my personal point of view, it was an opportunity to prove to myself how good I was to be playing against one of the best defenders in the world at the time, but now, one of the greatest defenders ever.

“It was a really good challenge. I had a good game. I remember, he came up to me afterwards and said, ‘Listen, you had a really good game, if you keep playing like this, you’ll be successful in Serie A’. So, that was great. Mixing it against some of the best ever is a memory I hold onto and will tell my kids about when they get older.”