Seydou FiniExcelsior’s right winger, is a player who is still owned by Genoa, having moved to the Netherlands on loan. In an interview with Sky Sports he recounted the emotions he felt on his debut with the Grifone: “I felt on the moon, I realized my lifelong dream. But now I’m focused on my team, we want to return to the Eredivisie immediately”.
But he lived a life with the Genoa shirt on.
“I joined the rossoblù at seven years old and it was love at first sight. Sampdoria also wanted me, but I had no doubts. As a child I did everything for these colors: a fan, then a ball boy and sometimes I accompanied the players in I too have a love breakdown. The year before I made my debut I was a ball boy in Genoa-Bologna. At the end of the match I asked Badelj for shorts and he gave them to me: I was very excited. A few months later we shared the locker room from teammates: I felt in heaven.”
With Excelsior 6 games, one goal and 3 assists.
“I’m settling in well, they’re focusing a lot on my qualities: dribbling and speed above all. They want me to always try to beat the man. It’s a league with a lot of talent. We’re all young, the average age in the team is 22. We play a fast and fun football: lots of spaces and lots of one-on-ones. I was amazed by the attention to detail: we have double training three or four days a week and we prepare the match to the millimetre, with videos and analysis. We guys feel little pressure and a lot of confidence . Do you make a mistake? Try again: they don’t judge you for a mistake.”
How would you rate your experience at Standard Liège?
“If I settled in quickly in Holland, I owe it to the experience in Belgium. Living alone and away from home in those months wasn’t easy: I felt a little homesick, but it helped. I learned to cook example (laughs, ed.). Yes, nothing complicated… but I now know how to make pasta with sauce well. I only recently started cooking, but football has always been my obsession. I grew up watching Cristiano Ronaldo play and listening rap music. My favorites? Drake and Kanye West.”
Who are your idols?
“CR7 is a model and one of the best ever. Then Mbappe, when he won the World Cup at eighteen years old, left me speechless, I thought: ‘I want to be like him'”.
Are you aiming to be called up by Spalletti?
“Making my debut in the senior national team is my biggest goal, whether in a World Cup or in a friendly. Meanwhile, I play in the U19s and I feel good: the blue shirt has the same weight at every level and must always be honoured. And then I also played in U21, where I was impressed by Cher Ndour of Besiktas and Alessandro Bianco of Monza. Cher is impressive because he has the technique and speed of a short player, but he is 1.90 meters tall. Bianco instead impresses with his football intelligence: he manages to solve very complicated situations with incredible ease.”
What can you tell us about Genoa?
“I care a lot about Genoa and I hope I can do well with those colors in the future, it’s a club that works very well with young people.”
The last to make his debut was Honest Ahanor, born in 2008.
“I’ve known him since he was little, he’s a good boy and in Genoa we all knew he would make it. In recent years the club has launched many young people: Ekhator, Boci, Accornero, Lipani and so on. Gilardino is far-sighted: in the past he coached me in the Primavera and we never lost a match with him. He was a true striker, he explains movements and techniques to us attackers when I am superficial in front of goal: he encourages me to be bad, to always look for the goal.”
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“I hope that my name can be remembered worldwide. I would like people to say: ‘He is Seydou Fini, he won such and such a trophy’. Doing it with Genoa? It would be nice, but in football you never know: for dreaming and smiling are enough for me.”