Borini: Why I cut my holiday

The 21-year-old became Rodgers' first signing as Liverpool manager earlier this week after previously working with the Northern Irishman at Chelsea and Swansea.

Having been a part of the Italy squad that reached the final of Euro 2012, Borini was told to report for duty at the start of August - but he was having none of that.

Instead he boarded a flight to Boston with our six England players and trained for the first time on Tuesday morning.

"I chose to come early because I think it's important to be with the team, especially because I'm a new player," Borini told lfctour.com. "I could have had a month but I didn't play at the Euros.

"I chose to come early to get used to the team and adapt more quickly. I am desperate to get started."

Borini has made no secret of the fact that Rodgers was a big factor in his decision to join Liverpool from Roma, and he spoke glowingly of the boss's management style.

"First of all he is a good person outside of football, and it's important to work with good people," he said.

"As a manager he is great. He knows what he is going to do every single day, he is very organised.

"You can see at the training ground, he gets there early and he really wants to work and improve every day.

"I think he is the kind of manager players love to play for. I love to play for him.

"We are very close. When he was working at Swansea, he'd text after I scored twice, and I'd text when he achieved good results with Swansea, when he beat the big teams.

"It's a good relationship as a friend, as human beings, and then as a working relationship."

Though arriving from Italy, Borini is not a stranger to English football having left his family aged 16 to join Chelsea from Bologna.

He grew to love the English attitude to football after a difficult initiation into life in London.

"I like the way the English people see football as a game and not as a job," the Italy international said. "I always wanted to play football because it was fun. It's not my job, properly. It's my fun.

"Football is my life. I chose to leave my family when I was 16 - that's the biggest choice I've made and it was the right choice because of the place I'm at now.

"It was very difficult at first. After three months I wanted to leave because I was really afraid, I was missing everything - my friends and family.

"I rang my family and they told me that it was what I had to do, that I had to go on and be stronger and stronger. After six months when I learned English it went from there.

"I am not bringing anyone this time. I'm alone. Always alone. I have always done it on my own so it won't be a problem."

After securing his first signing, Rodgers explained how Borini could operate in several different positions along the front line.

"That's true," said the man himself. "I can play anywhere up front. I prefer central because I have more space and can make more movements, but I can play for any occasion, on the right or left.

"That's good for me because I am not restricted. When I was at Swansea I played on the left wing as well."

Borini's first training session was with the England contingent on a separate pitch from the rest of the squad, completing a series of runs and passing sequences under the guidance of fitness coach Darren Burgess.

Our new No.29 got to spend time with Gerrard and co on the plane over - and he already knows Joe Cole from his time at Chelsea and Daniel Pacheco from playing against him while with Swansea.

"It was good, nice to be back and playing some football with the boys, with the English boys who were at the Euros," he said. "To play as a Liverpool player and see the fans outside was very nice.

"The England boys were really nice with me. The first person I saw was Glen Johnson. I spoke with him a little bit, and with Steven Gerrard as well. They were really friendly with me."

Borini will get a chance to say both hello and goodbye to his former Roma teammates on Wednesday night when Liverpool face the Italian side in the first football match to be played at Fenway Park.

"It will be nice but also strange because I'm on the opposite side," he said. "I can say hello to everyone, and goodbye, which I haven't been able to do."

Borini will have had just two days' training ahead of the game and may not be risked by Rodgers.

When he does make his Liverpool debut, he predicts it will be an emotional moment.

"I will feel a little bit heavy inside because of the trophies and the past here, and because it's important," he said.

"I didn't know as much about the history as I do now because I am young, but as soon as I saw the Champions League trophy at the training ground, that makes a big impression."