Nicolo Zaniolo had a season-long stint at Aston Villa in the 2023/24 campaign.
He arrived at the Birmingham club on loan from Galatasaray and returned to the Turkish club after that.
Some days ago, he joined Fiorentina on an initial loan deal with the obligation to buy, after a short spell at Atalanta.
The Italian, who picked up an injury towards the end of his time at Aston Villa, has now opened up briefly about his time in England.
In a chat with Sportmediaset, as relayed by Tuttomercatoweb, he spoke of how that injury problem ruled him out of contention for Euro 2024 and was therefore an especially painful experience for him.
He said: “[It hurt] A lot. I got hurt in the last match with Aston Villa, before a training camp that would have been the selection for the European Championship.
“It was a bad blow, but then I came to terms with it and at the European Championship I supported Italy.”
Zaniolo also stated that he spoke to Italy boss Luciano Spalletti before the injury and was assured of a spot in the tournament.
“Yes, we spoke before the injury, he told me how I was, if I was in shape and everything, I said yes. After the injury we wrote to each other, we spoke again and anyway nothing in the end he said that I’ll wait for you.”
The winger’s career has been plagued by injuries since his time at Roma, where he picked up an ACL injury.
During his time at Aston Villa, the 25-year-old played 39 times in all competitions despite other injuries issues.
That stint helped him get a move to Atalanta later and everything points towards him now being in a better spot than he was following an ugly exit from Roma.
Even if he could not play for the Azzurri at Euro 2024, he’s still very much in the national team picture.
