Nicolo Barella makes playing for Inter and the Italian national team look almost easy, according to his former coach at Cagliari Massimo Rastelli.
Barella is expected to start again for Antonio Conte’s side when the Nerazzurri face Udinese at the Dacia Arena tomorrow.
The 23-year-old midfielder has earned rave reviews in the Italian media for his performances this season, both for the Nerazzurri and Italy, and Rastelli is just the latest in a long line of people to sing the praises of Barella.
“Saying it now is easy but when he was 19 he already showed great personality,” Rastelli, who was in charge of Cagliari between 2015 and 2017, told Italian news outlet TuttoMercatoWeb’s radio station TMW Radio.
“This is the quality that makes it clear how far a player can go in football.
“Barella has shown that he has cut his teeth and has improved year after year.
“He has always made wearing an important shirt like that of Inter seem so natural, but that goes for the national team shirt as well.
“It’s as if he’s been at Inter for years.”
Barella joined Inter in the summer of 2019 from Cagliari and he has grown exponentially under the watchful eye of Inter coach Antonio Conte, a man to whom Barella recently revealed he owes a lot.
This season Barella has been ever present for Inter with him appearing in all 25 of their games played thus far.
He has scored two goals and provided eight assists for his teammates, with one of each coming in last Sunday’s Derby d’Italia win over Juventus.
