Donati: ‘I envy the Bundesliga players’

Lecce defender Giulio Donati ‘envied his colleagues’ from the Bundesliga and wants Italy to follow a similar protocol for the resumption.

After spending six years in Germany, the right-back moved to Lecce in December, as he had been without a club since he was released by Mainz 05 last summer.

Last weekend the German Bundesliga resumed play and the former Inter player agrees with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s tweet about following a similar protocol in Italy.

Lecce defender Giulio Donati ‘envied his colleagues’ from the Bundesliga and wants Italy to follow a similar protocol for the resumption.

After spending six years in Germany, the right-back moved to Lecce in December, as he had been without a club since he was released by Mainz 05 last summer.

Last weekend the German Bundesliga resumed play and the former Inter player agrees with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s tweet about following a similar protocol in Italy.

 “He is absolutely right. It’s the philosophy of the Germans, a way of thinking that I have also learned to know,” he told the Corriere dello Sport. “It’s not a coincidence that the Bundesliga was the first European championship to restart.

“We are stuck in chatter. In two and a half months in Italy, no clear strategy has been set for football. We are becoming a joke. Believe me, this situation of eternal expectations is mortifying for us and all those who work in football.

“We can’t postpone a decision every time, but that’s what is happening in Italy. We have no certainties about anything. In Spain and in England, they are ready to resume. In France they took the opposite direction, but they made one at least.”

The former Mainz and Bayer Leverkusen man has an option for a further year in his deal with Lecce expiring on June 30, but he admitted he was envious of his former teammates.

“I envied my colleagues,” he added. “I thought about their satisfaction in returning to the pitch.

“But talking about the championship resuming, we can’t only think about the players. There’s a whole movement that gives a job to a lot of people and it has to be put back in motion.

“I’m referring to the warehouse workers, various collaborators, staff members, all the people who have a normal salary. A football team exists also thanks to the work done by all of them.”

Donati wants to believe in the resumption and to help Lecce stay up, but the ‘lack of clarity’ has made the quarantine period even more difficult, according to the 30-year-old.

“The lack of clarity [has been the most annoying part]. And then it annoyed me that someone was smart enough was cunning enough to get on with the job, well, I just didn’t like it.

“I don’t know, if I have to be honest, I have less certainties than before. We have already wasted a lot of time. I hope so, of course. I hope our leaders follow the example of Germany.

“We haven’t been able to make a decision, let’s at least copy, that shouldn’t be difficult.”