Turin Transfer Market: Giovanni Simeone Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Details and His Conversation with Abate

In an interview with Sky, Giovanni Simeone spoke about the negotiations with River Plate and his decision to stay in Turin: “I had the chance to go there; I would have changed both my soccer career and my life… but Torino and I decided together that I was needed on this team, and I’m very happy to have stayed.”

My conversation with coach Ignazio Abate was also important: “I realized that my leadership is also needed to help the young teammates who’ve joined the team. Experience is key, and I want to prove that I can continue to do what I did last year. Abate is young, but he knows Italy very well from having played here. He knows how Serie A works; he has a lot of energy, and he likes to build relationships with the players. He listens a lot, which is a good thing: he tries to find the best way to make the players feel comfortable. When it comes to the field, he has ideas and a clear identity that he wants to carry forward game after game.”

Cholito hasn’t found the back of the net yet: “I don’t think about it too much, but I have to try in every game. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, and I’m familiar with these dynamics: there are games where you break the drought in an instant, or maybe you’ll have games where you don’t score. I know how it works.”

Among his teammates, Simeone had high praise for Comuzzo: “Pietro seems experienced but he’s very young; he still has a long way to go. Take the game against Fiorentina, for example: he did a great job of shutting down a player like Mastantuono. He really impressed me.”