Paolo Di Canio lashes Lorenzo Lucca: "In Naples you look like a wren, in Premier so they eat you"

Lorenzo Lucca is not a first choice for Antonio Conte, who puts Rasmus Hojlund ahead of him in the hierarchies. The Piedmontese man’s situation certainly won’t improve with the return of Romelu Lukaku, a genuine pupil of the Napoli coach. To Paolo Di Canio, who for Sky on Christmas Day will tell the behind-the-scenes story of one of the top matches of the most spectacular league in the world, the Premier League, in his “Di Canio Premier Special – Chelsea vs Arsenal – Inside a London derby,” Sportal.it asked if it is not the case for the former Udinese player to change air in January, perhaps with destination England.

“No, at this moment no – he replied -If a player suffers in Italy with the physicality that Lucca has, where theoretically he should dominate, then in the Premier League he risks being eaten. He is almost two meters tall, but he is too soft in attitude, too soft. In England, height is not enough: if you’re not mean, if you’re not edgy, you don’t play. Peter Crouch, for example, was not only tall, he was also annoying, nasty agonistically. Lucca, on the other hand, often accepts contact instead of imposing it. Even a smaller defender, if he is aggressive, puts him in trouble. The problem is not physical, it is character”.

“An attacker of that type has to go him on the man, he has to strike before receiving the hit– added the former Neapolitan footballer, whose colors he wore in the 1993-94 season -. That’s what Luca Toni or Christian Vieri used to do for example: they would take up position, they would take space, they would make their weight felt. Lucca, on the other hand, often waits for the ball, tries to control it, and in the meantime comes the contact he doesn’t expect. That’s where he loses the duel. Antonio Conte, from this point of view, is perhaps the only coach who could really help him”.

Aldo Seghedoni

“Antonio can teach him those ‘dirty’ behaviors, that mischief that turns a normal player into a dominant one – Di Canio then remarked -Because we are talking about a two-meter boy, with also a good technique near the area, he knows how to kick. The potential is there. He is also paying for the transition from Udine to Naples. In Udine he was the totem, he took responsibility, sometimes even excessively, almost arrogantly, but the striker must be”.

“In Naples, on the other hand, when Lorenzo enters he looks like a wren among established players, he doesn&#8217t feel that he can be an equal and this blocks him. He has to find his own dimension. Either he wakes up mentally, or he risks never being able to be a permanent starter on a big team, even though he is still young. There is time, but he has to change his attitude. And quickly” the conclusion of the former footballer.