At the StarEmilia PenskeCars dealership, Virtus Segafredo Bologna’s new player Matt Morgan was officially presented to the press today.
Present at the speakers’ table were the host, Andrea Mantellini, CEO of PAGITALY, Luca Baraldi, CEO of Virtus Segafredo, and Paolo Ronci (General Manager of Virtus).
Andrea Mantellini: “This is a great pleasure and honor for us. I thank Virtus Segafredo for the long-standing partnership. Although the ownership of Penske is American we have kept the Italian headquarters here in Bologna. There is great Bolognese tradition, and the partnership with Virtus Segafredo is a winning one. We are very happy to be partners and hope to be partners for a long time to come, and I speak also on a personal basis, because I have been supporting Virtus since I was a child.”
Luca Baraldi: “Greetings and thanks to Andrea and the entire Penske Group, who have been involved in the DMV and logistics management of our players for many years. They are important and strategic partners, and they give us the opportunity to be close to the city, through them we reach many fans. And with them we do a very innovative communication, we use their experience in the digital world to convey the Virtus brand. For this I thank Andrea and all the staff, the marketing department is fantastic.
We are introducing one of the most representative players, and this is my personal prediction as a fan who has seen him in training, the one who will give us a lot of fun. Let’s hope he’s a crack.”
Paolo Ronci: “Matt Morgan arrives from the London Lions, after having played a very high level Eurocup. We have been following him, we think he is the right player to complete the outside department. He has characteristics that the coach wanted to match his style of play. He will test himself at a higher level, Euroleague, he had a very good Summer League, and fortunately he signed with us the night before to score 36 points.”
Morgan’s statements, “I’m super happy to be here, in a great organization. Going from a Eurocup club to the Euroleague is a big step for me, but everything is going well. I thank the fans, my teammates and the organization for making me feel comfortable. It is my first year in Euroleague, it will take a while, but I have many experienced teammates – Toko, Dani, Pajo, Beli from whom I have a lot to learn. It will be a long season, with ups and downs. But we have all the right cards to do well.
The main difference between Eurocup and Euroleague. My career is going fast, but I’m not scared. In this league there is a lot of physicality and a lot of experience. I will have to get confident in the first games, but challenges have never scared me.
The chemistry with Hackett and Pajola. It’s great, I’m learning a lot from them, I ask them a lot of questions, and I get the right respect. I can play point guard or guard, and my best thing is that I don’t need to have the ball in my hands all the time. And I’m also learning from Beli and Isaiah about shooting and how to move into the guard position.
I played against Banchi when I was in Le Mans and he was coaching Strasbourg. I saw that he has a really effective system, very creative for his guards. Here we can do the same things at a higher level.
Steph Curry is an incredible player definitely my idol, he is one of the reasons I have number 30, the other one is Breanna Stewart in the WNBA. My father is my role model, the most important person in my life is the reason I play basketball. I always ask him for advice whenever I need it.
London is a soccer city, but I think we did something special, we got a lot of attention. But nothing like here, you just walk down the street and they recognize you, they talk to you. I saw the warmth of the fans already at the first open training session, I can’t wait to take the field for the first time for the fans. They are great and they deserve it.”
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