“The knee wasn’t there” – Corriere.it

Gianluca Scamacca does not know his future but is impatient. And he tells himself in the first person about Locker room chronicles with a long letter in which he retraces, in particular, the not so happy last season in the Premier League (16 appearances, 3 goals). Roman doc, debuts in Roman dialect: If you’re afraid of being afraid, fear is great for you.

The striker born in 1999, currently at West Ham but hoping to return to Italy, perhaps to Rome, talks about the meniscus problem he had last season: During last season I played most of the time with a compromised meniscus. When I was well, I scored 5 goals in one month. Then the problems: first the left knee which hurt, then the right. I’ve been silent for months, but during. I was afraid I wouldn’t come back as strong as before — with Italy he did not take part in the victorious 2021 European Championships, but entered the blue stable circle immediately after — I was convinced in my head that it was nothing. I trained above the pain, I took medicines to not feel bad. Because she killed me running and feeling that the knee wasn’t there. I risked a lot, I couldn’t resist because if you take away my football, you take away everything from me. I can’t find alibis, because I’ve never looked for them.

In short, he was unable to accept the idea of ​​an injury and having to stop in his debut season in the Premier League (he was signed by the Hammers a year ago): I had intrapatellar edema that had arisen from the meniscus: when I had surgery, they removed a small piece of my body. went well, but it was a slap because it was the first injury of my life. I couldn’t move, I lived on crutches. It seemed de ann slow to me, slower than the others. Those who go slower have a better chance of observing.

And so the talent who at the age of 18 had played in all three teams in the capital (Rome’s youth team, and before that Cisco-Lodigiani and Lazio), observed: For the first time I had time to be silent. To think. I relived in my head the moments when I had been the weakest mentally. I would lay down and watch matches where I failed to give 100%. Or I sat and clicked on the videos with all the worst goals I’d eaten.

Thus learning to appreciate the negative moments, Scamacca explains that I have committed myself to imprinting those sensations within myself. I tried to turn them into armor. An armor that, he hopes, will also protect him from people’s judgments: I was judged for the tattoos – he was already three at the age of 16, when, just before signing his professional contract, he “escaped” from Rome to settle in Holland, at Psv Eindhoven – or for his blond hair. But that didn’t penalize me: if he had penalized me, I wouldn’t have been here! Come on guys… I have three passions: soccer, videogames and tattoos. I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke, I don’t get drunk every night… what should I do! It counts when you go on the pitch and if you spit blood.

Hence, an important promise for potential buyers: Know this: I haven’t shown my potential 100% yet. I’m super sure whoever takes me gets a deal. I think I just miss being in the right place at the right time. What will it be? We will only find out by living. Even if I have to score 20 goals next season, I would aim for 22 in the 20th season. I’m very hard on myself, very demanding. Ever since I was playing on the street. This summer I went to Sardinia to escape the heat of Rome. I have seen the sea twice, when the trainer gave me the afternoon off. Otherwise breakfast, gym, lunch, rest, then on the pitch. And then died in bed.