Speaking with broadcaster Eleven Sports, Radja Nainggolan has admitted he is on a mission to prove to Inter that they were wrong to let him go this past Summer.

Inter dealt the 31-year-old to fellow Serie A club Cagliari on loan and he has started well with three goals and four assists in 11 appearances.

“I want to prove to Inter that they made a mistake. I am playing pretty well and Cagliari’s results are good too. It’s a great victory for me, even if I don’t want to celebrate too fast,” he said.

“As for the Belgium national team, I made a choice and I thought about it for a long time. Whether or not another manager arrives no longer matters. Before the last World Cup Martinez told me he couldn’t give me the role I had at Roma. After that I never spoke to him again.”

Next he spoke on the fact he smokes, something which Martinez was not happy with and seemingly played a part in his decision to freeze out Nainggolan.

“As soon as a label is attached to your forehead, it won’t come off. I read that cyclist Sven Nys could not believe I was smoking, but how can a cyclist say something about a football player? They sit on the bike for seven hours, I have to run for an hour and a half. It is not absolutely comparable.

“There are so many players who smoke. When we went out with the national team, I was often with six or seven other players but the only one the media saw was me.”

He also touched briefly on his family life: “I know take more responsbility toward my children. I am trying to be with them a little more now that my wife is fighting cancer. Fortunately, everything is going well for her.”