“This year Torino are going to be pushing for European spots so obviously it’s going to be a bit harder to break into that team but it all depends on how I do in pre-season.
“They’ll be taking a look at me and seeing how I go. But who knows what their plan is for me, I might go out on loan for six months and come back.
“I don’t know what I’m going to be doing yet but I’m definitely going back for pre-season when I get back and then we head over to Austria to do some pre-season there.”
Garbett came close to a Serie A debut last season, invited to train with the first team for the final four months of the campaign after impressing for Torino’s under-19 squad.
He made two appearances as an unused substitute for the first team, watching from the sidelines against AC Milan and Lazio.
“When I signed I knew I was going to be going up [to train with the first team] it was just more a matter of time and when the time was right.
“The AC Milan game, I was on the bench in that game first and it was the first time we could fill out the stadium. We were playing at home and we had about 5,000 AC Milan fans and about 25,000 Torino fans, and the atmosphere was unbelievable.
“Walking through the tunnel you’d see the sporting director of AC Milan, Paolo Maldini, you’d see Zlatan Ibrahimovic and all of the big time players.
“The second game was against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and there were about 40,000 people there. You had the slight hope that you might get on but just being involved and warming up was good, you know?
“The coach could easily put 22 in the squad instead of 23 but him involving me just gave me the confidence and I know I impressed him through training.”
Growing up in Wellington, Garbett played countless matches against Cacace when he was at the Ole Football Academy and the Empoli left-back at the Wellington Phoenix Academy.
The All Whites team-mates swapped shirts from their first seasons in Italy and Garbett said it would be awesome if they got to share the pitch together in one of Europe’s top five leagues in the near future.
“I’m tight with him so it’s so good to see him doing well. It’s not often a player comes in just like that into Serie A and starts playing that many games, usually it takes time to settle but he’s gone in and started about 5-6 games.
“He’s setting a pathway for other football players from New Zealand and showing that we can actually do it and play in one of the top leagues.
“I’d love to actually play him. We’ve switched shirts already. He’s given me an Empoli shirt and I’ve given him a Torino shirt, but it would be great to come up against him.”
