“I’m broken without work. Nainggolan? If you put 7-8 shots in front of him, he drinks them all»- Corriere.it

“I have a neurasthenic desire to return, without football I am a halved man”. They are the words of Walter Sabatini guest of the Gazzetta dello Sport on Twitch. He talked about everything, told anecdotes and retraced his career. “Now I feel torn to shreds. It is not a mere professional question, but an existential one. I’m broken without a job,” he continued. Sabatini commented this season, with a look at Roma, in the Champions League fight after winning the Conference League last season: «I don’t understand how he can sell out. These are things that should happen when a team puts on a show, instead they only happen because people trust Mourinho».

And speaking of his experience in yellow and red, Sabatini has something to say about Nainggolan, today at Spal, in Serie B: «I love Radja like a son, but he’s a criminal, he’s someone who if you put 7-8 shots in front of him he drinks them all. For him, life is a game, but he has good feelings. He is an exhibitionist, his companions should have helped him more, they shouldn’t have indulged him but marked him tightly. He has always had everything he wanted, on the pitch he is a top-level player. What I saw him do in Rome I haven’t seen in other players. Paredes? He is letting me down, every time I see him on the pitch I get a fit of rage, he is having unbearable indolence ».

Napoli is flying, beyond the defeat against Lazio at Diego Armando Maradona on Friday 3 March: «It’s scary. You have to be blindfolded not to see that he plays the most advanced and European football by detachment among the teams that play the round of 16. From Kvaratskhelia I was surprised by the extraordinary impact he has in every game, he doesn’t go on a roller coaster: you give him the ball and he undertakes with courage, shamelessness and I would even say with arrogance. Operation at Sabatini? Yes. I’m not an envious man, it’s not a feeling that belongs to me, but in the case of Kvaratskhelia, yes, I would have liked to take it myself. Spalletti? It’s the best ever, there are no arguments to be made. I don’t just look at his management, look at how Napoli plays: a harmonious, beautiful, broad, deep football. It’s really difficult to find a team that expresses a quality made up of geometries and synchronies, the coach’s hand can be seen in a cheeky way that can be found at any time». And again on the Napoli coach, with whom Sabatini worked at the time with Roma: «He always gets a result at home. A coach is not good only if he wins the Scudetto, but if he follows a virtuous path and from this point of view he cannot be attacked. We can talk about his character, but not too much: he is direct, determined. Friendship conditions me but I can’t think of any negative observations». In short, Napoli have no rivals: «I thought Inter did better, but I don’t think the problem lies in the relationship between Inzaghi and the players. Simone is a young man, perhaps he is led to a joyful confidence with them, but he does not mean renouncing authority. At Lazio he coached great players of depth and personality. Raphael Leao? He can become a champion, he has all the stigmata. Maybe he lacks a bit of determination, what Kvaratskhelia has instead: he points the defenses to go and break the goal, not for exhibitionism. But he has all the characteristics to become great. He must be pampered, surrounded by affection, because his talent is best expressed in these conditions. Milan will never miss all of this, Maldini and Massara know perfectly well what emotional commitment to make. Ricky is a former student of mine, I’m not going to tell him what he has to do ».

Sabatini also has time to talk about his latest experience at the Salernitana, ended not without controversy: «We clashed over something that could be avoided, it was my mistake and not Iervolino’s. I regret, because I have never been loved as much as in Salerno and it is a love that I have returned. I really feel this feeling for the city and for those people who still write me messages of all kinds today. It’s really very important to me, it keeps me close to reality: today’s football isolates you, the Salernitans nail me to my character and I’m grateful for that. I slept very little, the thought of demotion distressed me in a way that is difficult to describe. I don’t wish that on anyone. Then the 7% mantra emerged which stabilized the mood of the whole square, it became of an entire people. I’m a madman, if I remember my life I think I’m the only professional capable of turning down both Inter and Roma in eight months. Is there a moron more moron than me in the world? I do not think so”.