TMW exclusive
The bad knee injury of Duvan Zapata It’s one of those that’s hard to digest. Firstly for the player himself, secondly obviously for Torino who lose their striker (and captain) for several months. “It’s sad when a player suffers an injury like this,” he underlines to the microphones of TuttoMercatoWeb.com the former striker now coach, Cristiano Lucarelli: “I can only wish him to be able to recover quickly as I did in 2012 in Naples, in three months I managed to return to the pitch. Having said this, obviously Toro loses a great striker, a great offensive player, but the team at this point will also have the possibility of being able to give space to other players, who we hope will be able to exploit the situation and demonstrate that they can replace Zapata, perhaps not with the same results but trying to limit the damage.”
Surprised by Torino’s start to the championship?
“Vanoli did an excellent job in the two-year period in Venice, I also faced him as a coach and I must say that he is a prepared, modern technician, he manages to give balance in the two phases. It doesn’t surprise me that he is doing well at Toro, obviously Juric must also be recognized for having left an important mark, very similar to his. This is why the club’s choice was intelligent, but only up to a certain point squad, he could have been included among the surprises of this championship.”
Let’s talk about the Serie A attackers, in particular those of Roma and Lazio: Dovbyk and Castellanos.
“Too many times in the past in Italy we have indulged in comparisons after just a few performances. To be evaluated in the best possible way in my opinion, a player must play at least one championship in Italy. Then in the end we can draw conclusions on the real potential of a footballer These two players have shown they have potential, then the difference between a champion and a good player lies in how many times during the course of 38 games he manages to demonstrate his value.”
Moise Kean started very well with Fiorentina. “I also saw it against Milan, if he manages to find concreteness in the last 20 meters he is a devastating player due to the physical characteristics he has, the physical strength he has, the speed he has. After Fiorentina-Milan, they will have to change the crossbar of the goal under Fiesole after the impressive stone he threw… He’s generous, credit must be given to him, but it’s clear that if he were able to materialize all the possibilities he has in the game a little more, he could certainly become a top player “.
Thuram is proving to be a further added value for Inter.
“He is the example of the speech I was making before about the attackers of Roma and Lazio. This year Thuram is confirming himself, last year we could have had the doubt that he had exploited Inter’s exciting season, this season – with a team that has something to fix – instead this boy is doing even better from certain points of view, a player with important potential.”
With Kean out due to low back pain, Italy now includes Retegui, Maldini, Raspadori and Lucca.
“In the meantime, we must congratulate Spalletti, who is not looking at the players’ identity cards and has 360° eyes, an act of great courage when you coach the Italian national team. He is proving to be someone who faces problems, should be praised. I hope these guys come out first and foremost for themselves, but also for the national team. I hope they become important elements for the national team. Especially if I think that years ago we argued about assigning the number 10 shirt to Del Piero or Totti that department suffers compared to the Italian tradition. I stayed out of the European Championships and World Cups despite scoring 70 goals in three years in Serie A, also winning the top scorer ranking, but there were very strong players and we could have left important players at home. Now that’s not the case. Maldini is demonstrating great things, Lucca is a prospect that I faced in Serie C, I wanted him in Terni when he was in Palermo, I was one of the first to say that he would have an important future. In my opinion he is still at 50% of his potential they are enormous, even from a technical point of view. If he understands what he can do, he will become very strong.”
And when will Lucarelli return to the bench? “This year I took it easy. Now it’s time to get back on track, I hope there will be some news soon.”