EXCLUSIVE OGBONNA: "I want to stay in England for as long as possible; Good luck to Hart in Torino"
ON LIFE IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE:
“I’m very happy here as I think it’s the best football in the world. That’s why many of the top coaches and players want to come here, but it’s tough believe me, playing at this level week in week out is very hard but I’m still excited about playing in England. I have two-years left on my current contract and I want to continue my adventure".
ON THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SERIE A AND THE PREMIER LEAGUE:
“The physical aspect of the game in England surprised me even though I had watched many games on television. It’s so fast here and you have to rely on your teammates more as you cannot cover all the parts of the pitch, it’s all box to box and the pace doesn’t stop and the fans always want you to go forward with the ball. It’s less tactical than Serie A for sure but that’s not really a comparison, you just have to look at the quality of the coaches who are in the Premier League”.
ON HIS AMBITION TO EXPERIENCE ANOTHER LEAGUE AND A NEW CULTURE:
“I’ve always been ambitious and I always believed that if I was to leave Italy then my first choice was England and now I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity and I’m really happy about it. I want to remain in England for as long as I can”.
ON HIS FOOTBALLING HEROES:
“There were a lot of players I looked up to, people like Maldini, Nesta and Thuram, players who had so much quality. I wouldn’t really single out any one person as I there were so many players I admired”.
ON THE EARLY DAYS AT TORINO:
It was difficult at first; I was young and went to play in the youth academy at Torino. I was living in southern Italy so to move away from my parents and head north was a huge change for me but it was a dream for me, I’ve only ever wanted to be a footballer and I was living my dream and that is what you have to try to follow. If you remain focused, you can achieve your ambitions”.
ON THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE IN HIS CAREER:
“I’ve played for some great coaches like (Alberto) Zaccheroni, (Giampiero) Ventura and (Antonio) Conte but I’d say the most important person for me has been and still is, my mum. She has always supported me and given me the confidence and even now, she still makes me feel strong and she almost like my mentor”
ON THE MEN HE’S PLAYED UNDER:
“Every coach I’ve played under gives you something different, they all behave differently and stamp their own personality on the team. (Slaven) Bilic is a fantastic reader of a situation that was my first impression of him. I’ve always taken in the advice of all the men I’ve worked under, Conte taught me to be a footballer, Zaccheroni nurtured me as a youngster and (Gianni) De Biasi gave me my big chance”.
ON RE-UNITING WITH VENTURA IN THE NATIONAL TEAM:
“Actually, he’s very similar to Conte, maybe a bit quieter but he has the same beliefs in how he wants to play. Ventura has made some slight alterations to the style of how we play and now he can continue the good work that Conte put in place whilst at the same time, stamping his authority across the team”.
ON MAKING THE MOVE FROM TORINO TO JUVENTUS:
“It wasn’t hard for me to make the switch to be honest, I can understand that the supporters were not happy but I never promised that I would stay at Torino for ever. I will be forever grateful to them for giving me my chance in football but I’m an ambitious player who wants to keep improving. I have no bad feelings towards the supporters of Torino”.
ON HOW LONDON COMPARES TO TORINO AS A CITY:
“Actually, it’s very similar. You can go to the restaurant or the park and no-one disturbs you. In Torino I managed to live a pretty normal life with my friends and it’s the same here in London”.
ON PLAYING AT THE NEW OLYMPIC PARK STADIUM:
“Remember when I was at Juventus we moved into a new stadium and what I felt then was exactly what I felt at our new home here and that is the crowd. The noise levels are so different and although Upton Park was a very intimidating place for teams to come and play, having over 50,000 people at the new venue every home game is amazing. Our fans have always been the 12th man and I’ve no doubt that they will be at the Olympic Park”.
ON THE START TO THE SEASON:
“I don’t think we are playing so much differently to the start of the last campaign, but results have not gone our way and we need to stay compact and not panic. We have some injuries but we can still take positives from the games we’ve played so far and there is no negativity amongst the players. If we stick together I’m sure things will improve”.
ON DIMITRI PAYET:
“He’s an incredible player and he’s shown what he can do on the big stage too. All last season people were asking if he could produce his club form for the national team and you only have to look at what he did for France in the Euro’s this summer. When I first trained with him he did a piece of skill that absolutely blew my mind and I thought to myself wow, we have a real player here. West Ham is a great environment for him as it allows him to demonstrate his ability week in week out. He will only improve even more in my opinion”.
ON THE CURRENT STATE OF SERIE A:
“Juventus are just so far ahead of everyone. I mean when I arrived the first thing that struck me is the winning mentality throughout the whole club. It’s not just about the players at Juve it’s about the club. This year in Italy there can be only one champion for sure. It’s also disappointing to see the stadiums only half-full but I think the problem is the new style of football coverage. In Italy you can pay your subscription and watch any Serie A match you want every week. I think in England people are still encouraged to go to the stadiums”.
ON JUVE & THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
“It’s so different to the domestic championship. You don’t need to win all your games to progress from the group stages and it’s possible to lift the trophy by only winning 60% of your games. It’s all about keeping your focus and I think Juve has a good chance this season and I wish them all the best in their pursuit of the trophy”.
ON HIGUAIN:
“Everyone keeps saying that he’s overweight but whether he is or isn’t, he keeps scoring. I don’t think he looks much different to last season at Napoli and nobody talked about it then. Now he’s at Juventus it seems to be a big deal but just look at his record that tells you everything you need to know”.
ON JOE HART:
“I wish him all the luck in Torino. I don’t know the real reasons behind his situation at Manchester City so I don’t want to say too much. He will enjoy living in Italy I’m sure but if you are asking me whether it will improve him as a player, well, I’m not a goalkeeper! He will get out of it as much as he wants to”.
ON EURO 2016:
“If we’d have won the game against Germany we would have won the tournament for sure. We were so disappointed to lose on penalties as no other team in the competition wanted to face Italy I can assure you. It was one of the biggest disappointments in my career so far”.
ON THAT TWEET:
“Look, I always tweet the teams results whether we win, lose or draw. I thought we lived in a world where we had freedom of speech. Because the team is not getting the results right now I think people are reading something into it that is simply not true. Whether I play or not, you will see that I always post up the result of the game. You can think whatever you want but I have done nothing wrong”.
Interview by Steve Mitchell @barafundler
Interview by Steve Mitchell @barafundler
