Luca Marrone has no regrets about his decision to leave champions Juventus for little Sassuolo over the summer.
Luca Marrone has no regrets about his decision to leave champions Juventus for little Sassuolo over the summer.
The midfielder joined the newly promoted outfit on transfer deadline day in a €4.5m co-ownership deal, which also saw Juve take a 50 per cent share in Domenico Berardi.
“The move is what I wanted,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport. “The project is what convinced me, they wanted me at all costs.
“I didn’t have any room at Juventus, whereas here I can play in my natural deep midfield role.
“Juve is part of my life, my family. But today I just want to think about Sassuolo. I have a contract until 2018, my future is open.
“We’re going for survival at Sassuolo and that would be like winning a third Scudetto for me. We’ll make it.”
Marrone’s growth in Turin was stunted by the presence of Andrea Pirlo, so much so that the youngster was even fielded as a defender by boss Antonio Conte last term.
“Pirlo is not my only role model, but Andrea has unique skills, it would be hard to imitate him,” added the former Italian Under-21 international.
“As a result, I model myself on Roma’s Daniele De Rossi who is more similar to me, even if I don’t score as regularly as he does.”
Marrone is starting to make an impression in the side after struggling with injury at the start of the season, but 19-year-old Berardi is grabbing all the headlines.
“I was lucky enough to get into the side after the club had got over their initial difficulties,” added the 23-year-old.
“Berardi is very young, he needs to complete his maturing process but he has out of the norm touches. I advise him to consolidate himself at this club.”