Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli believes Inter are the favourites for the title again this season, but the Bianconeri are “a great team” who “shouldn’t hide.” Speaking with Tuttosport, the Juve midfielder spoke about his childhood as a Juventino, the potential move to Arsenal, playing under Thiago Motta and his tenure at AC Milan:
“As a child, I didn’t have a specific idol, but only one dream: to become a Serie A player and play for Juve. A dream realized thanks to myself, my family, and God. I admired Del Piero, Nedved, and Totti. When I first saw Pavel here, I was emotional. My whole family supports Juventus. I like watching matches, Champions League, but also Serie B matches. I love football, I watch other players. I’m a football fanatic and in recent years I’ve followed Kroos a lot, he’s an incredible midfielder.”
“I remember the first time I went to train with Allegri’s first team at Milan, I was 16-17 years old, there were Kaká, Robinho, and there was more hazing. Now we’re more relaxed. The important thing is that respect is never lacking. It’s right to put your foot in during training, respecting the rules. But now it’s different. We older players must demand from them but within a certain range.”
“I’ve matured a lot, as a person and as a player. In these three years, I needed to be more consistent. I always question myself first, so I have another year to improve. At this moment we have more possession, the data shows it, so I touch more balls. It’s a different way of playing that I’m happy with. Thiago Motta? The first impression he gives you is his very strong personality. And in a club like this, it’s useful. He impressed me a lot, I have to be honest. He’s meticulous in his work. There’s a different methodology in training too, we work more on high intensity. Anyway, in the end, only one thing matters here: winning.”
“We did better against Napoli than against Roma. Conte’s team closed up. Then we talked about it: we should have tried to be more vertical and enter the opponent’s area more. But it’s normal, we’ve just started a new journey. Shooting on goal is an aspect I need to improve, but I play in a position that doesn’t primarily require seeking goals. I’d like to be more decisive, but if I need to maintain the team’s balance so someone else can score, that’s fine too.”
“The new players? They’re all strong, so I can’t say that one stands out compared to the others. But there’s one aspect I want to highlight: all the new players have impressed me because they’re really good guys. From them comes the spirit of wanting to be better.”
“Do I ever think about Arsenal wanting me when I then chose Juve? No, but since I love watching matches, I watch theirs too and I respect their coach, Arteta.”
“Leipzig? They’re a good team that wants to keep possession with many interesting young players. But we need to think about our game: we shouldn’t make too many calculations, many of us are young with little Champions League experience, so we should also experience it with lightheartedness. It’s not just tension. We need the attitude we had with PSV.”
“Coaches? The most peculiar is definitely De Zerbi because he’s the craziest, he knows it too. But this craziness is also his gift, it helps him achieve great results. Allegri is also a great coach.”
“The Azzurri? ou shouldn’t ask me. After the disappointment of the Euros, I focused even more, also to achieve this goal of the national team.”
“Scudetto? I believe Inter remains the favorite, they’re the most complete. But there are many good teams, like Milan who had a great derby, Napoli, and we are a great team, we shouldn’t hide. But let’s take it one step at a time.”
“Torino in first place? Of course we have to congratulate them. I know Vanoli well because I had him in the youth national teams and he was already a great coach then. He’s had a good journey in Serie B and when he coached me, I thought he would definitely go far. I hope Torino obviously doesn’t stay on top all year.”
“What kind of match do I expect on Saturday? It’s nice to play at Marassi, the goal is to win and I want to send a hug to Malinovskyi for what happened to him.”
