Former player of Lausanne, Grasshopper, our section “In the retro”. With lovely anecdotes.
RTSsport.ch: Vullnet Basha, if there was only one image to keep from your career, what would it be?
JOINT WILLS: That of my debut in the Challenge League, at 16, with Lausanne-Sport. Everything seemed normal to me, but when I think about it, I tell myself that it wasn’t at all, starting at that age (laughs). It was amazing, actually! Yes, I was already training a little with the first team, but suddenly there were injuries, suspensions, and I was called up. I had no pressure. I went to Neuchâtel (editor’s note: April 14, 2007). I was given 10 minutes of play (editor’s note: 7, in reality). I knew how to seize my chance and I was able to stay there in order to launch my career.
RTSsport.ch: When did you feel the strongest?
JOINT WILLS: At Real Zaragoza, during the 2014/2015 season. Even though I had a lot of injuries there, as I did throughout my career, I had incredible confidence. Every time I stepped on the court, I knew I was going to play well. Zaragoza was crazy! Like in Krakow, there was pressure, passion, everything that has always helped me to transcend myself. And like in Krakow, people live for football. The club and the coach believed in me. I notably scored a superb goal from 30 meters… The experience was incredible. Unfortunately, we missed promotion in the last match, although my contract would have been extended in the event of promotion. This is clearly the biggest regret of my career.
RTSsport.ch: What was the most complicated moment of your sporting life?
JOINT WILLS: Without a doubt, my period at Grasshopper, during which I suffered and I really thought about quitting football. I was all alone in Zurich, far from my family, I didn’t understand anything German, I played little and I had difficulty adapting with all these stars around me, like Cabanas, Calla, Lulic, Smlijanic …I canceled my contract to come home. It was then that Neuchâtel Xamax, who wanted Swiss players, came to get me. It saved me!
During my time at Grasshopper, I suffered a lot and I really thought about quitting football. But Xamax came for me. It saved me!
RTSsport.ch: It was the Xamax of the Bulat Chagaev era, which would eventually sink…
JOINT WILLS: Yes, but basically the setting was perfect for me; I came back to my parents, I made the trips every day and everything was going really well. Mentally, it got me back on the right track. Above all, I was surrounded by wonderful players. People may not remember it, but this Xamax, frankly, had a crazy team to play for the top of the table! What could we have done without the worries?
RTSsport.ch: Have these extra-sporting concerns not affected you personally?
JOINT WILLS: At the age I was (editor’s note: 21 years old)you don’t think much, you don’t really realize what’s happening. Yes, we weren’t paid, but I lived with my parents, I didn’t have the same worries as others. What interested me then was to play, to take minutes, to do the job, to grow… I played alongside Victor Sanchez in the midfield. I was throwing passes at his throat and the guy controlled them with no problem. He made me a better player, like all my teammates from that era! The financial aspect didn’t affect me. It was later, now that I have 4 children, that I understood…
RTSsport.ch: Is there a career choice you regret?
JOINT WILLS: Aside from the fact that I’ve been too nice sometimes, there are two, to be honest. The first: I am 17 years old and Lucien Favre comes to pick me up so that I can join him at Hertha Berlin. I say no, because I think at the moment that it is better to gain experience in Lausanne and playing time in the Swiss championship. In retrospect, I think it was bad thinking… Second bad choice: in 2011, Pescara, then in Serie B, offered me a contract…
RTSsport.ch: The Pescara of Marco Verratti and Zdenek Zeman?
JOINT WILLS: Yes, absolutely, also with Lorenzo Insigne and Ciro Immobile. Coach Zeman absolutely wanted me after a one-week trial. But then I was coming out of my Zurich period and I didn’t feel “it”. Huge regret, because my brother Migjen was playing at Torino at the time and two teams moved up to Serie A at the end of the season: Torino and… Pescara. Conversely, Wisla Krakow was a very good choice!
Coach of Pescara where Immobile, Insigne and Verratti played, Zdenek Zeman really wanted me. But I was coming out of my Zurich period and I didn’t feel “it”…
RTSsport.ch: However, this is not what some had “promised” you…
JOINT WILLS: I signed for a year in 2017 and several of them told me: “But why are you going to bury yourself in Poland?“. In Switzerland, we don’t have a lot of information about this country, about its football, but I was totally adopted by the people, by the club, by the supporters! Everything I experienced and that that I still live with Wisla, despite the last two difficult years, is magnificent. The atmosphere and the matches are incredible. Like in Zaragoza, it lives football, it breathes football. The stadiums are full, the derbies are crazy. stinks of passion. The opportunity that was offered to me to stay (read box) pleased my wife and me. Anyway, you just have to come here once to understand why I’m still here. Wisla was perhaps my best career choice!
RTSsport.ch: Of all the players you played with, who had the most impact on you?
JOINT WILLS: I had the chance to rub shoulders with a lot of good players. Jumbled together, I’m going to cite Gennaro Gattuso, Yann Sommer, Yassine Bounou, Ricardo Cabanas, Jesus Vallejo, who was already our captain at 18 in Zaragoza. It’s crazy to be a leader like that at that age! In Sion, Osama Darragi was technically above the rest. And Jakub Blaszczykowski, who came to finish his career in Wisla, comes from another world!
RTSsport.ch: And which opponents impressed you the most?
JOINT WILLS: With the Swiss U21s, I found myself in front of Thiago Alcantara and Isco. It was just something incredible. These are the ones that made the strongest impression on me. Eden Hazard, too, was very strong.
RTSsport.ch: Who was the least friendly opponent?
JOINT WILLS: I remember a Servette player, Ndiassé Ndiaye, who did everything to warm me up during a Lake Geneva derby at the start of my career. He crushed my feet, said crazy things to me. In short, he did everything to get me out of my match. Even though I’m a calm person and I stayed focused, damn what he could have done to me…
Gattuso said: ‘Hey, coach, I ran for 14 years for Andrea Pirlo, because it was Pirlo, but I’m not going to run for Basha…!’ It struck me and above all it made me laugh.
RTSsport.ch: Is there a person you come across in the world of football that you would never want to see again?
JOINT WILLS: Yes, only one: Peter Hyballa, a German who was my coach at Wisla Krakow. A madman! I was injured and he asked me to grit my teeth and take medicine in order to play the important matches. I trained like crazy, but it made my injuries worse. I then suffered from it for 15 months and it made me miserable. He accused me of being a cheater, of not wanting to play for him, etc… He then left for Denmark and got fired straight away. His last experience, in South Africa, only lasted a month because he was involved in a sex scandal. Crazy, I tell you!
RTSsport.ch: What story have you never told?
JOINT WILLS: We were on training in Italy with FC Sion. Before a friendly match against Reggina, coach Victor Munoz reveals his system, with a 6 and two 8s. Me in 6, then Gennaro Gattuso and Gelson Fernandes in 8. There, Gattuso says: “Hey, coach, I ran for 14 years for Andrea Pirlo, because it was Pirlo, but I’m not going to run for Basha! So we’re going to change the positions…“And we actually changed the positions. It struck me and above all it made me laugh.
Arnaud Cerutti
