Due to battling with injuries while he was at Napoli, Sampdoria defender Lorenzo Tonelli has revealed that almost retired from football, but the move to Ligurian club has helped change his mental approach and training methods.
The 28-year-old joined the Doriani on loan from the Partenopei in the summer and he had been feeling low in confidence due to his fitness concerns.
“In the past I also thought about not continuing anymore because I was mentally shattered after some purely football situations,” Tonelli told Il Secolo XIX.
“Then I understood that if you beat yourself down from the events, you let go of your destiny. If you fight [and] you set goals, you create it.
“From the point of view of physical management here, I felt reborn because I have the opportunity to individualise a lot and allows me to get almost to the top of my game.”
Tonelli praised his former Empoli and Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri as well as Sampdoria tactician Marco Giampaolo for their possession based football philosophies and for improving him as a footballer.
“The style has changed my life,” he said. “All I have become I owe it to this way of playing.
“It is thanks to Sarri that I learned the concepts and thanks to Giampaolo that I found awareness in myself.”
