Napoli, Lukaku: "I'm happy here. And Conte knows me like no one else"

Naples, 16 January 2025 - For some, especially thanks to his passes and his game always aimed at helping the team, he is one of the best strikers of recent times, while for others he is a sort of eternal unfinished business made known more by some clumsy errors than by the feats and goals scored: Romelu Lukaku has always been very divisive and not even the first part of his experience at Napoli, which he spoke about to the microphones of Radio Crc, seems to be an exception despite the fact that positive feedback currently prevails on the scale.

The Premier League, Serie A and Conte

 The Belgian's chat started from these first months in blue. "This place is a very nice situation for me and my family: I'm having a lot of fun and I'm listening to the advice of my teammates to enjoy the city. Then the results help: we're playing well and the ranking is good and all these things are useful for my career, especially at a time when I'm looking for serenity and stability". We then move on to the personal idols of a striker who in turn has become a model for the young talents of the forward department. "I would say Didier Drogba, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Adriano e Nicolas Anelka: from each of them, since I was little, when I paid attention to their every play and goal, I tried to learn something. I even played with some of them and that's a great fortune, while another was my coach in National. With Adriano I spoke to him, while the only thing missing is Ronaldo". Never say never to close this circle too. In the meantime Lukaku, a true wanderer of the ball, seems the most suitable player to provide a comparison between Premier League e Serie A, two championships often considered antipodal and not in a flattering sense for our championship. "They are two tournaments that are getting closer. I was 9 years in Premier League and, with the current one, I am from 5 in Serie A: the gap has narrowed and this is confirmed by the recent results of the Italian teams in the European cups and of the same National, who won the Europeans only nel 2021. That says a lot, but obviously the economic difference remains: they really spend a lot there, but if we look at the pitch I feel like saying that the Italian teams have everything they need to compete with the English ones. On the pitch anything can happen, but if I have to find points of divergence I would say that here we are more tactical and there the referees whistle less". In short, nothing new under the sun, just as the innate feeling between the Belgian and Antonio Conte. "Everyone knows his value as a coach and as a person in my life, on and off the pitch. I can open up to him on a private level and he knows the sacrifices I make to be in this world. I can explain to him how I feel: his mentality and his way of experiencing football are perfect for me. He is always attentive to detail, he takes care of every movement and every defensive and offensive action. We are so prepared that you can't make mistakes. I like this responsibility and he is a coach who improves every player, making you a winner".

Towards Atalanta

 Music to the ears of an entire square that, in fact, is already hanging on the new coach's every word, of which Lukaku try to reveal some anecdotes. "I'll mention two. The first concerns theInter: we ran there in training and the day I arrived I skipped a block. He called me to the office and told me that if I did it again I would be out of the squad. We would soon play with Sassuolo and that dressing down gave me a great stimulus: from that moment, in which he wanted to give me mental strength, succeeding, we found ourselves even more. The second concerns the Napoli. When I got here - continued Lukaku - we looked into each other's eyes, happy to have found each other again. It was a nice moment, but then he immediately told me to go to work to try to do something good". And, with the standings in hand, with the leadership now, after the draw of theInter on Bologna, it's no longer just virtual, the Napoli he's doing something really great: all this despite that stumble in the first half of the season againstAtalanta, curiously the next opponent. "Since then they have become stronger and so have we. We still have a couple of days to prepare for the match, which will be very tough for both teams: we fight as a group and we have to show that we are very strong in every aspect, physically, mentally, with and without the ball. They have a coach like Gian Piero Gasperini that I respect a lot: it will be a great match for the fans. We will prepare the match well, but this diktat does not only apply to theAtalanta: every game for us is a final and it also helps us understand where we are at. Obviously there is a bit of pressure, but we are calm and we only think about ourselves". Also thanks to a mature dressing room led by many leaders, who Lukaku, himself a very charismatic character, tries to list. "I would say Giovanni Di Lorenzo, good at organizing team dinners, Juan Jesus, André Frank Zambo Anguissa e Alex Meret. I, on the other hand, thanks to all the languages ​​I speak, try to be a glue. We are a united group and if someone is in difficulty we all make ourselves available. All this is important to achieve our goals". Finally a mention of the Lukaku off the pitch. "I like watching a lot of games and spending time with my family, as well as listening to good music. Then I would like to get to know the city and the surrounding areas even better and to do that I could ask for help from my teammates who know them better than me".

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