Liberato Cacace didn't miss a single match through injury across three seasons at Empoli. He's been at Wrexham one year and has already suffered four separate setbacks. That contrast tells you almost everything about why his debut season in the Championship went the way it did.
The New Zealand international arrived last summer as Wrexham's record signing — £2.97 million from a relegated Empoli side — and the expectation was obvious. Here was an established Serie A left wingback joining a club making its first Championship appearance in 43 years. He was supposed to be a cornerstone, not a patient.
A brutal education in English football
He managed 13 appearances across all competitions. His longest uninterrupted run was five games in late autumn. He impressed on the opening day against Southampton, then pulled a thigh issue four days later. Returned against Millwall, lasted 77 minutes, and picked up another knock. Rinse, repeat, three more times.
The physical adjustment is part of the story, but Cacace has been refreshingly honest about why. "Italy is so tactical, it's like a chess game," he told The Unused Subs podcast. "Here, the pitch is so open, you are running so much at a high speed, it is almost like who is the fittest team that can score." A body trained for positional, low-tempo Serie A football simply wasn't ready for the relentless vertical running demanded of a wingback in the Championship. That's not an excuse — it's a genuine physiological reset.
At 25, he has time. And the education he's received this season — learning his body's limits, adapting culturally, recalibrating expectations — could make him a different player next term. Wrexham's promotion odds will look a lot more interesting if the left side of their attack finally has the player they paid for.
The ambition that brought him here
Cacace had options when he left Empoli. Cremonese came in, freshly promoted to Serie A. He chose Wrexham instead, partly on the advice of former teammate Liam Henderson, partly because of where the club is going. "That is why I signed here: to play in the Premier League," he said flatly. "I really want to do that with Wrexham."
That's not PR. A player who turned down top-flight Italian football to chase Premier League football through the English pyramid with a club backed by Hollywood money is making a calculated long-term bet on himself and the project.
He'll spend the summer at the World Cup with New Zealand before returning for pre-season. If that tournament gives him match sharpness and confidence, Phil Parkinson gets a left wingback in the kind of form Wrexham have never actually seen from him. After one season of promise and frustration, next year is when the investment either justifies itself — or doesn't.
