Josh Doig says attention from some of Italy's best doesn't phase him - although it could have been so different last summer with Rangers and English big guns after him.
The 20-year-old has surpassed 100 career appearances since making the move from Easter Road to Hellas Verona, where he has made an immediate Serie A impact. He follows a path tread most recently by Aaron Hickey and Lewis Ferguson by swapping the Premiership for one of Europe's top five leagues, and it's resulted in teams like league leaders Napoli, Inter Milan, Roma and Lazio being linked with snapping him up, not looking back since opting to go abroad ahead of UK options. Bologna and Torino are also 'understood' to have failed with deadline day bids last month.
According to The Times, Rangers were interested in his services at one stage, although they opted for Ridvan Yilmaz from Besiktas in summer 2022 for left-back depth. Premier League interest had also remerged and now there's more speculation to contend with, Doig isn't fussed, as his new home has been so welcoming, explaining: "The fans have treated me so well — even the city, the food, the people have been so perfect.
"The start of the season wasn’t the best, but with the squad of players we have now, I wanted to stay and help with the main focus of staying up. We’ve made a good start of it so far, so hopefully we can keep it going.
“It’s always nice to be linked with these big names. It’s obviously good for myself and my confidence, I’ve had it (intense speculation) a few times now in my career. I know to not look at stuff. If it’s for me, it won’t go by me.
"If it happens, it happens. I’ve not won any silverware yet in my career, but hopefully that will come. Just because of the situation we are in, every game that comes at the moment we need to be taking something. Every game is the biggest game of the season now and I think it will be like that for the next five months — it really motivates you to be fighting for your life.
“I hadn’t even realised I was hitting 100 [appearances] until my agent told me. It just seems to have come up so fast - I suppose it is decent going.”
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