Riccardo Saponara insists he never thought about leaving Empoli to join Napoli – ‘I wanted to stay here’.
Mirko Valdifiori and Elseid Hysaj have followed former Coach Maurizio Sarri in swapping Stadio Carlo Castellani for San Paolo, but, despite interest from the Partenopei, the former Milan man insists he never wanted to follow suit.
“I’ve had a calm summer,” Saponara said in a Press conference.
Riccardo Saponara insists he never thought about leaving Empoli to join Napoli – ‘I wanted to stay here’.
Mirko Valdifiori and Elseid Hysaj have followed former Coach Maurizio Sarri in swapping Stadio Carlo Castellani for San Paolo, but, despite interest from the Partenopei, the former Milan man insists he never wanted to follow suit.
“I’ve had a calm summer,” Saponara said in a Press conference.
“I was only waiting for Empoli to officially redeem me [from Milan], because I wanted to stay here. I wanted to have a year of consolidation with Empoli after securing safety.”
Saponara will face his former side this weekend, but insists he bears no grudges toward the Rossoneri.
“The experience with the Rossoneri gave me a lot in terms of character. I think there are certain trains you should always board when they’re passing, and looking back I’d make the same choice.
“Returning to San Siro? It will be a match unlike any other. I want to do well, but not for revenge, just because of the stadium we’re playing in, against an opponent which always forces you to give something extra.
“They’re a team under construction, with some really top-level players. They won’t be easy to deal with, because the crowd will be behind them now.
“We’ll have to play at pace and avoid defending deep, because then we risk getting battered. We’ll ignore what happened on Sunday [Empoli lost 3-1 at home to Chievo], we’ll call on that anger, but we’ll use it in a positive way.
“We’ve been working well this week, we’ve done good things by talking and improving where we went wrong. In addition, we were the real Empoli for the first half.”
Saponara has been capped 22 times by the Italian Under-21 side, but never for the senior team, is he dreaming of an Azzurri call? “Like every player, I’d like to wear that shirt,” the 23-year-old admitted.
“But I think it just depends on the work I do every week and doing well with Empoli.”