He’s been seen as a leader ever since he first walked into the Udinese dressing room. He showed his strong personality in the team’s friendlies over the summer, and his goal against Milan on his Udinese debut was just rewards for his stunning start to the season. While Adam Masina is currently out with a knee injury he’s still got a smile on his face. On Monday he was a guest on Udinese Tonight and spoke about his first few months in Friuli:
“As for our great start to the season, I was hopeful things would go well. One of the reasons things have gone the way they have is the fact that I knew many players here, and the others I quickly bonded with. I didn’t expect to start the way we did but we were hopeful.
“Andrea Sottil has worked a lot since the beginning of the season, instilling in us the mentality of being able to adapt and rotate. You can see how much he cares about the team and every single player. This is a great starting point for success.
“I was really happy with my start to the season, but as for my injury, that’s just football for you. Now I’m focused on my physio work so that I can get back playing as soon as possible. We’ve not set a date yet – we don’t want to force things along.
“The injury was a hard pill to swallow. Knowing I was going to miss the World Cup with Morocco meant I had an incredibly tough fortnight after it happened. Yet it’s out of my hands. Fortunately I’ve got a great family beside me. I’ve changed my mentality and I’m now just focused on getting back playing.
“Even though I’ve had to watch some matches from the stands, I’ve appreciate the curva singing throughout the 90 minutes.”