Maurizio Sarri underlined his ‘conflicting’ relationship with the media, new signing Marcos Antonio and transfer target Marco Carnesecchi.
The 63-year-old Italian coach was attending an event in Tuscany yesterday with Fiorentina defender Lorenzo Venuti, where he answered a number of questions from both the media and the fans. Recent reports suggested that Sarri is frustrated with Lazio’s slow work in this transfer window.
Speaking via La Lazio Siamo Noi, Sarri first discussed the difficulty of having a healthy squad in the world of modern football.
In modern football it is impossible to start with a full squad. One year there is the Nations League, one year the European Championship, one year the World Cup.
Usually you start the training camp with ten players and ten Primavera, the rest always arrives later on. It would be nice to have everyone from the start, but almost no one can do that.
He underlined the various strengths of new arrival Marcos Antonio, Lazio’s first and so far only signing this summer.
Marcos Antonio is a young guy, the possibility of signing him opened up, unfortunately due to some very unpleasant situations. We had a 35-year-old player in that role who was expiring and so we thought of this solution.
He has to acclimatise to Italian football, he’ll need a few months but we’ll gladly wait for him. He is very young but he already has two years of experience in the Champions League, I think we can use him.
The 63-year-old Italian coach also provided an update on the deal for Atalanta goalkeeper Carnesecchi.
That’s a matter for the sporting director and the club, we’ll see what they choose in the end. I’ve already said what I had to say.
Sarri then discussed his relationship with the media and how he views football journalism.
It’s a bit conflicting, once there were only two or three journalists following the team, now there are radio, TV and websites. The level of professionalism has changed, especially with the sites run mainly by guys without culture or experience.
However, I have no prejudices and I respect everyone, answering anyone’s questions. Today after a match, a coach has to do 18 interviews with different media, it’s heavy. After a victory it is clearly easier, after defeats it becomes more difficult.
We coaches would like to reduce the number of interviews, but the goal of journalists is different. Today’s players are used to listening to outside messages, so when I go to a press conference I try, if the question is not obvious, to send them a message.
The level of questions, however, is often not so high, before a match we talk about everything except football and I miss doing that.
Finally, Sarri responded to a fan, who asked if Ciro Immobile or Cristiano Ronaldo was better.
I can’t answer that question, but having them both wouldn’t be bad at all!