AC Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy has insisted that he is focused primarily on returning to full fitness and form for the Rossoneri after lengthy injury lay-offs.
The 22-year-old believes that his time out has injured has helped him to grow mentally.
“The first two of my seasons of my Milan career gave me the opportunity to grow a lot technically as a footballer because I was playing alongside great players,” said El Shaarawy to Sky Sport Italia.
“These last two years have really helped me to grow as a person because negative experiences like injuries really teach you a lot.”
“From Genoa to Padova and then Milan, everything happened quickly.
“To make the jump from Padova to the club with the most titles in the World was definitely something very nice and unexpected.
“I had to adapt quickly to this reality and I did well enough.
“Milanello and San Siro always seem to be on TV and it was a dream to move there.
“Kaka has always been my idol, Since I was 14-years-old people always compared me to him.
“For me he was also a great person and exactly as I hoped he would be the first time I met him.”
The Italian forward did reveal that he has received a large number of abusive comments on Social Media which do affect him.
“I have received lots of nasty messages about myself.”
“This hurt me and my family a lot.
“I know how passionate I am about my work and reading these things really hurt me.”
El Shaarawy also spoke of his objectives for the future.
“Obviously my aim is to return to being a great player for Milan and for myself.”
“My objective is to start playing well again and be a key man for the team.
“To hear of interest in me from other teams makes me very happy but at the moment I am only thinking about getting back to playing.”
The former Genoa man praised Rossoneri coach Filippo Inzaghi.
“It’s his first year at a great club, he needs time.”
“He puts in all the determination as a coach that he did as a player, he has clear ideas about things.”
