Benito Carbone: Why I left Inter Milan for Sheffield Wednesday, and the Owls who helped me settle

It was on this day 30 years ago that Benito Carbone was handed a bowl of sauceless spaghetti, with a man in a terrifying Luciano Pavarotti mask watching on.

Benito Carbone celebrates for Sheffield Wednesday. Image: Getty

October 14^th, 1996. David Pleat grinned widely as ‘Benny’ was announced as the Owls’ latest signing, a club-record capture from Inter Milan for £3m. He would become the first Italian to don Wednesday’s blue and white, and plenty was expected of the long-haired attacker.

The Premier League wasn’t the cultural melting pot that it is today, and Carbone was one of the first players from his nation to grace the division – he admits that it proved tough to settle at first.