Inter defender Francesco Acerbi has made it clear that he wanted to leave Lazio this summer as he joined the Nerazzurri.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, the 34-year-old also defended himself from those who have criticized him over the past couple of seasons.
Acerbi joined Inter on loan from Lazio on the final day of the summer transfer window just gone.
However, in truth the defender had looked on his way out from the Biancocelesti long before then.
Acerbi had never quite fit into the team under coach Maurizio Sarri, and he also found his relationship with the Lazio fans souring.
Meanwhile, there was significant skepticism regarding the former Sassuolo defender from some quarters of Inter supporters as well.
However, the 34-year-old has always defended himself and done his work, and he has enjoyed a solid first month and a half in an Inter shirt.
“Honestly, I arrived here and settled in very well even in a difficult period,” Acerbi said, “but I always was and still am very calm, as are the rest of the guys.”
“We need to put aside the problems with the past,” he continued, “we needed to find compactness, now a team that plays like Inter are supposed to is showing itself.”
“Now we have to keep playing like this until the end of the year.”
“I have always shown for eight years that I give everything when I play,” Acerbi said.
“Here I am at Inter, playing alongside some excellent defenders who had also had great seasons under Conte, but I have the respect because I give everything even if one can sometimes make mistakes.”
Of his exit from Lazio, Acerbi said that “I was not left out of the squad because I wanted to leave, sometime you have stops and starts in football, what happened happened.”
“Now I’ve been at Inter since the last day of the transfer window, but I came here completely calm and sure of who I am.”
Asked if the criticism he’d been receiving was part of the reason that he left Lazio, Acerbi replied “No, that has nothing to do with it.”
“It was for other reasons, not to do with the fans.”
“Then they attacked me on a personal level, which was shameful,” he said.
“I remained silent, but I’m more of a man than those people who pointed fingers at me as though I was struggling on purpose,” he added. “I just laughed.”
Of his best position, after playing on the left of the back three this afternoon, Acerbi said that “I prefer the centre of a back three. I can also play on the left, but central is good for me.”
Of jeers from the fans “The boos and insults, even on social media, can really hit home.”
“The important thing is not to listen to it and go your own way, then you won’t have a problem.”
