Inter owned midfielder Radja Nainggolan, currently on loan with Cagliari, spoke in the paper edition of Italian sport magazine Sportweek, Milano based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport’s weekly magazine, discussing coach Antonio Conte and his career with both Roma and Inter.
Firstly, the Belgian discussed the nicknames he’s been given and what they mean to him.
“If people appreciate me it means that something good, I’ve done, I’ve left a few memories. Yes, feeling defined in a certain way is a source of pride.”
He then elaborated one of the nicknames, Giant.
“I can only say that I’ve always done what needs to be done, on the pitch I’ve always given my all. My playing style did the rest. The strength, the desire, I could say the anger that I put into the game push people to see me as a giant.”
Nainggolan touched on where the anger comes from.
“Nobody gave anything to me. I had a difficult childhood, my mother raised me and my sister on her own. Playing in a certain way was an outburst and the way to make it clear that I’m never satisfied.”
He delicately touched on his wife, Claudia, and her diagnosis of cancer earlier this year, and if it affected his play on the pitch.
“I’m always the same. It’s a special, difficult time. Claudia is strong, she has great courage, she is trying to camouflage her emotions as best she can, she is keeping them under control perfectly, at home, especially with girls, she strives to be the same as ever.”
“Every now and then there are discussions because for a woman, hair loss is one of the worst moments during illness. If I’ve returned to Cagliari, it’s also for her. Here she has her parents, her friends, her favourite places. In this way she can better face the situation.”
The 31-year-old Belgian then discussed what experience he brings to the Sardinian side.
“I’ve played at Roma and Inter: teams that have the ambition to win, with strong, charismatic players with different personalities. The experience I’ve had in those clubs, with a certain type of team-mates, helps me to keep a group like Cagliari together, where the club and team environment is less complex and more familiar. We know that the goal is safety, but the group is healthy and motivated. And with these assumptions it’s easy to go further.”
The player also highlighted what he expects from his upcoming return to the San Siro with Cagliari in January.
“At Inter, I was initially booed. Rightly so, because I was always talking about Roma. But people don’t understand one thing: I’m not one to be friends with fans. I think the fan should support the team, not the player. I’ve always thought that becoming a favourite in Cagliari and Rome was the result of my commitment to the team. In short, after four and a half years at Roma it was clear that I felt an attachment to my former team that I couldn’t feel towards the new one. I didn’t feel like kissing Inter’s jersey as soon as I arrived. Those who do it to please the fans have little personality. It would be like meeting a girl and saying to her right away: you are the love of my life. It doesn’t exist.”
He expanded further on this topic.
“So, as soon as I landed in Milan, I said that the sorrow of leaving Roma was stronger than the joy of being at Inter. I couldn’t be in love with a club I’d been at for a day. The fans didn’t take it well. Then I met some of them, explained the meaning of my words and they understood. If I had to play three or four seasons in Inter, I’d probably say the same things I said about Roma. But not today.”
Nainggolan spoke about how his personality has affected his career and departure from Inter.
“I am who I am, I’ve always lived the same way. My mistake was to repeat at the age of thirty the same mistakes made at the age of twenty-five. I had to be more intelligent. But I try to live like a normal person. Nainggolan the footballer was born from the happiness of Radja the man.”
The former Roma midfielder revealed his thoughts on Inter coach Antonio Conte.
“Based on what I saw in the month we worked together, I think I could have given him something. He made us immediately understand the way and the spirit in which we had to play. And being able to pass on your ideas to the team in such a short space of time is only the prerogative of the greats.”
He revealed that he still enjoys football as much as he did on his debut.
“When I walk out onto the pitch, I’m happy, I feel young and I have fun. Outside, I realised that in the big clubs you see things that are very strange.”
Finally, Nainggolan elaborated further on the strange things he’s seen in big clubs.
“Things happen that could never happen in Cagliari, for example. A small place where there are no secrets. Elsewhere I’ve seen so much falsity. From inside the locker room things leaked that should never have been leaked. Once, in Rome, I had a small discussion with Manolas, a bullsh*t one, and yet the next day it was in all the newspapers. Inter’s the same. Even now, how does it turn out that in the half-time of a match Lukaku and Brozovic got their hands on each other?”
