Nicolò Zaniolo’s mistake | The paper

It’s never easy to be a footballer in Rome. For Rudi Völler it was “an enormous act of self-control, a meditative test”. This is how he described his five seasons at Rome to the German press: from the summer of 1987 to 1992: 198 appearances, 68 goals in total, the nickname of the Flying German. “A wonderful city, a very passionate fan base, so attached to the colors that they cannot conceive of an attachment less than theirs”, he summarized. Difficult once, even more so today, in a football where the gap between teams that can offer very lucrative contracts and others that may not be so munificent has widened. Above all, it was made easier by the greater weight that players have in the negotiations. Colors matter for those who see football from the outside, but for those on the pitch it’s a different matter. You need talent, but – apart from a very few privileged ones – it’s not enough. You also need professionalism, in the same way as any other job, only that in the others the public that judges you is much smaller and above all much less noisy and the possibility of receiving understanding if you go through a difficult period is a little higher.

Nicolò Zaniolo is going through a difficult moment. And not just in Rome. It is in that period of transition that many – all? – footballers go through, what sees them in the middle of the transition between the awareness of potentially having a great future and that of having to demonstrate, sooner or later, consistently, that they can really achieve that great future. It’s not easy to face this moment, especially it’s not easy to face it alone against everyone.

What is certain is that Nicolò Zaniolo slipped into this situation by himself. Or maybe he was badly advised, who knows. Certainly deciding to step aside, to exclude himself from the match against Spezia, made him pass in the eyes of the fans as a careless person and there is nothing worse for a fan. Zaniolo has rejected the renewal offer – his contract will expire on June 30, 2024 and he still has a year and a half left on his contract and, these days, it means that the player has a clear advantage in bargaining – he wants to leave, change team , told the club that he didn’t have the right concentration to play.

Pulling yourself out, admitting you’re not at your best mentally, not being afraid to prove fragile, would be a gesture of maturity. But that’s never the case in football. Usually not responding to summons is just a blackmail that is done to the companies to make one’s will prevail.

José Mourinho has tried to mitigate the situation, he used words full of understanding for the boy, he made it clear that there is always room for him, he made it clear that he is an important player. The Portuguese coach knows very well that he has a great influence on the fans and in this way he tries to safeguard the player. And protect yourself. Above all, try to make Zaniolo understand that there is a public plan and a private one, a place where you can aspire to improve your condition (contractual or professional) and one where instead it must be demonstrated to be capable of respecting a commitment. Because basically this is what a footballer should be: a professional capable of negotiating a contractual improvement (or a transfer) without showing listlessness or ending up in that vortex of disagreements and blackmail of those who are willing to do anything to get out of a place. That is, without doing damage to the team and to himself. And this everywhere. Especially in Rome.