Marek Hamsik tips Piotr Zielinski for stardom and admits Napoli “miss” Arkadiusz Milik after his injury.
The Partenopei captain is in his native Slovakia for the international break, and took the opportunity to speak to Polish outlet Prezglad Sportowy about his two Polish teammates.
“In our club, of course, Italian dominates but if Piotr or Arek say something in Polish I can more or less understand them,” Hamsik explained, conducting the interview in Czech.
“In the end our languages aren’t that different.
Marek Hamsik tips Piotr Zielinski for stardom and admits Napoli “miss” Arkadiusz Milik after his injury.
The Partenopei captain is in his native Slovakia for the international break, and took the opportunity to speak to Polish outlet Prezglad Sportowy about his two Polish teammates.
“In our club, of course, Italian dominates but if Piotr or Arek say something in Polish I can more or less understand them,” Hamsik explained, conducting the interview in Czech.
“In the end our languages aren’t that different.
“Did I help them to adapt? There was no need, these aren’t kids they’re already quite experienced players. Piotr has lived in Italy for several years now.
“Arek showed in the first matches that he’s a great striker, he scored goals in Serie A and in Europe. He immediately convinced the Napoli fans, and that’s not an easy task.
“Because of Gonzalo Higuain? That’s why Arek didn’t have time to slowly convince people. He had to start scoring straight away, and he succeeded.
“After selling Higuain [to Juventus] for big money [€90m], everyone was expecting us to sign a really top-class striker.
“The choice was Arek, and he immediately proved that club President Aurelio De Laurentiis wasn’t wrong.
“I’d heard of him, of course, I knew that he’d scored a lot of goals for Ajax, that he was playing in the Polish national team and getting good results.
“That said, I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle it right away, because the step-up from the Dutch League to the Italian one is huge. As you can see though, he had no problems with that.
“We miss him in the team. And I’m not just saying that because I’m talking to a Polish journalist, I was saying that to the Slovakians earlier too.
“Napoli’s recent results could have been better if we’d been more clinical, because we’ve created a lot of shooting situations that we haven’t taken advantage of.
“That confirms that we really need Arek, so hopefully he’s back on the pitch soon.”
Hamsik was then asked about Zielinski, and whether he deserves his reputation as an up-and-coming talent.
“Absolutely, he showed was above-average last season when he scored five goals in Serie A for Empoli last year.
“How do I remember that? I’m interested in football, I follow the game and pay attention to talented players.
“He’s a modern player, he plays quickly and isn’t afraid to take risks. Despite his young age, he’s already a class player and he has it all in front of him.”
Finally, the Slovakian was asked about making the move to Italy, and whether he’ll stay at Napoli when his career ends.
“If a talented footballer wants to grow, then they have to go abroad. I wasn’t afraid, I saw it as a great opportunity. Where I am now shows I made the right choice.
“I chose Brescia, my first club in Italy, because they have a good record with youth there. Then my only plan was to break through to the first team.
“The transfer was just the next step, but let’s remember that Napoli then were completely different to today, they were newly-promoted to Serie A.
“Now we have eight seasons of Champions League or Europa League football behind us. Napoli is a great club and I’m part of it there’s no reason to change anything.
“Will I stay after I retire? You can never prejudge anything. But I’m Slovak, and I think at the end of my career I’ll go back to my country. That’s my home.”