Udinese sporting director Pierpaolo Marino was a guest on the summer edition of Udinese Tonight on Monday.
“It’s a long season, so we shouldn’t start worrying now. In 40 years, I’ve never worried about football in July and August. I’ve often seen teams win friendlies and then have a terrible season, as well as the opposite scenario.
“Lens finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season and they beat Paris Saint-Germain. They’re on the up in France. We wanted these types of friendlies because the opening game of the season is against Juventus and we wanted to face top teams during our pre-season preparations.
“Under [Igor] Tudor two years ago, we arranged some high-profile friendlies, including a 4-1 loss by Borussia Dortmund, but we then beat Milan in the league. Pre-season has to be handled in an intelligent way. You can’t always play against amateur teams if your first match is against Juventus.
“I’d like to mention [Gerard] Deulofeu, who is a key player for us next season. Last year, even though he wasn’t fully fit, he showed that he can be the difference-maker. We want him to recover well, so we have to take his recovery slowly. It’s going well and he’s feeling positive. We hope to have him on the bench for the Coppa Italia tie.
“I’ve heard and read all sorts of names during this transfer window. It’s a journalist’s game to come up with 100 names so that they might get one right. We want to bring in a striker to complete our attacking line-up.
“Our two friendlies have shown that [Nacho] Pussetto is in great shape and will be different from the player he was last season.
“We know that we have to sign some players to complete the squad. We want to do so carefully in a tough market with transfer fees that are sometimes excessive. We’re able to do so as we’ve sold some big players.
“It’s not easy to replace someone like [Rodrigo] De Paul in the transfer market, but we can try to replace his goals and assists among other players with different attributes. We’ll look for players who can help the team and ensure we don’t miss De Paul. The side hasn’t got weaker in other areas. I think [Marco] Silvestri is an adequate replacement for [Juan] Musso.
“You don’t judge a transfer window on 1 or 31 August. Sometimes teams are strong on paper after the transfer window, but they don’t produce on the pitch.
“We’ll strengthen the team in every department. My message to the fans is to stay calm. We still need to work hard on our preparation.
“We have another friendly on Saturday against Empoli. These games can help you improve technically and tactically. The new fitness coach is working hard with the players. We want to head into the Juventus match prepared as well as possible.”