Riccardo Pecini knows Geoffrey Kondogbia. The current sports director of Sampdoria’s youth sector, right arm of Carlo Osti, was sporting director of Monaco when the French midfielder arrived from Seville to the Principality in the summer of 2013, and today he was interviewed by Tuttosport.
Pecini, do you see the same Kondogbia at Inter as in Monte Carlo?
“Not yet. He can be more proactive and less shy. I still think he’s a little restrained on the pitch. He has the highest technical capabilities. He also means physical means: he always improves in the second halves.”
A very large room for improvement?
“Absolutely. Mind you, he has done well, but I would say that he can give more because I know what he did at Monaco. So far his rating is 6.5, but it can safely get to an 8.”
Could it also be a result of the position: he was more used to playing in a midfield of two?
“No. Even in Monaco he was used often in a midfield of three as a central midfielder.”
Is the 38 million spent by Inter to blame, an evaluation that could put pressure on him?
“No. Kondogbia has personality. He won’t let that affect him, and then I think, making a parallel, the 20 million spent by Monaco to sign him from Seville as a 20 year-old was more money, when he was still hardly known. Geoffrey was not distracted then, he will not be now either. He’s a boy of few words, but he’s determined for his club.”
So what can be the cause of a performance, which for the moment, is not yet at the top?
“Young foreigners when they arrive in Italy, they always need three to four months to settle in. Even at Monaco he needed a similar adjustment period. I believe that from next January we will see the real Kondogbia at Inter.”
Source: fcinternews.it
