Napoli winger Matteo Politano feels that he is a “different player” now compared to when he was at Inter Milan.
The 31-year-old spoke about his time at the Nerazzurri in a press conference after Napoli’s 1-0 Serie A win over Empoli, as reported by FCInterNews.
Politano spent a total of one and a half seasons as an Inter player.
The Italian international joined the Nerazzurri from Sassuolo in the summer of 2018.
Politano was a regular in the Inter starting eleven for his first season at the club. He nailed down a spot for himself under then-Nerazzurri coach Luciano Spalletti.
However, in Politano’s second campaign at Inter, he found playing time harder to come by.
In the summer of 2019, Antonio Conte took over as Inter head coach.
And Politano never quite fit into the former Chelsea and Juventus coach’s system of play.
Therefore, in January of 2020, Politano joined Napoli, initially on loan and then permanently.
Napoli Winger Matteo Politano: “I’m A Different Player Now Than At Inter”
Politano found plenty of success at Napoli.
Particularly after Luciano Spalletti took over as Partenopei head coach, Politano became a regular starter in Campania.
Politano played a big role as Napoli won the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years in the 2022-23 season.
Last campaign was a disastrous one for Napoli as a whole.
And then over the summer, Conte arrived as Partenopei coach. This naturally raised one or two questions about whether Politano would be able to find a role under Conte.
But so far this season, the 31-year-old has managed to feature regularly in the starting eleven, as he has quite evidently gained the trust of his coach.
Politano looked back, “When I worked with the coach at Inter I was playing a different role than what he wanted.”
“But as you get older, you become more aware of things,” the 31-year-old said.
“Today I’m a different player,” Politano said. “At Inter I preferred attacking to defending.”
“But now I try to contribute to the team in both phases.”
