2023-09-19 15:55:00
With nearly 145 matches in Ligue 1, he is a regular in the French championship who joins OGC Nice. Arriving in 2013 at PSG for the birth of the QSI project, the man with a pronounced Italian accent but perfect French is diving back into ambitious new specifications. Already lucid about his role as locker room manager, the European champion goalkeeper with the Squadra Azzurra in 2021 knows what needs to be done to reach the summits.
What interested you in the Nice project?
Once I had the first discussions, I started thinking about it. I knew the environment having faced OGC Nice many times. It was a good challenge for me, a good place. It’s a great project that this club is implementing.
Did your last injury (Achilles tendon) at the end of last March make you want to stop?
I experienced Spinazzola’s injury at Euro 2021, he told me about his pain and when I was injured, I felt that same pain. It took him more than a year to come back so for me I thought it was over, because at 36 I couldn’t stop for more than a year. And finally a few days later, I found the desire to work again and come back. In addition, I didn’t have exactly the same injury so my surgeon spoke to me about 4 months or 4 and a half months off and I resumed training with Fiorentina in July.
So you are 100%?
Physically, I am ready. I trained with the Fiorentina goalkeeper coach before arriving and what I missed the most was training with the team. The more I train with the team, the more I gain confidence and rhythm. I no longer have any apprehensions, every day I feel better and better.
You come here to only be number 2?
The sports director has already spoken about my situation. But now, football has evolved there is no longer a number 1, 2 or 3. There is a group of goalkeepers and we all work together. During the training week, we are all at the same level and we work in the same way, which helps the young people progress. There is Marcin (Bulka) who plays and my role is to push him and Teddy (Boulhendi) so that they go as far as possible, that’s my job. It’s not going to bring me anything besides playing 20 or 10 more matches in my career, on the other hand I want to feel important in the development of the project and that’s the case here.
It’s a bit of a big brother role that you adopt, is that how you see things too?
I am a football player first and foremost. But I remember myself at 24 or 25, I also watched the older ones to learn. They were my references, even in their behavior off the field, they were examples for me. Everywhere I went, there were people who made me grow. So if I had this example, I must also inspire something. It is a cycle that must continue.
Did the fact that the staff was mostly Italian matter?
No, because if he wasn’t Italian it would be the same thing. We have a young coach with whom we speak Italian, it’s a good thing and I like it. But what matters most is how he wants to play.
This victory against PSG last Friday, is it an achievement or rather the start of something?
The great teams win and immediately afterwards they think about what’s next. We have to work as if we had lost three to zero in Paris, we have to keep this rage and this taste for work. For a project to last over time, you have to work hard all the time. The objective is to maintain a very good level of play and assume our strong identity. We want to continue to press the opponent high and have a lot of possession of the ball. Especially now that we have beaten Paris, the other teams will be waiting for us around the corner.
Have you had other contacts besides that with OGC Nice?
Yes. Some clubs wanted someone ready straight away, but at the start of the summer I wasn’t sure of my condition. Other projects didn’t appeal to me and as soon as I had the opportunity to come to Nice, I only wanted to come here. So I worked, I passed all the tests and today here I am.
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