Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni recently shared insights into the impact of Antonio Conte on his career development during an interview on Gianluca Gazzoli`s podcast `Passa dal BSMT`. Bastoni highlighted how the former Inter coach played a crucial role in his growth. Here are his statements:
I wasn`t getting playing time at Atalanta, then I had a good season at Parma and came back [to Inter] when Conte was there. There were many strong players – Skriniar, De Vrij, Godin – and I genuinely thought I would never play. I asked him to go on loan, I asked him 50 times, but he wouldn`t hear of it; he wanted to keep me at all costs. And from October, he started putting me in the team.
When asked what Conte saw in him, Bastoni responded:
He is a true football enthusiast. I am convinced he watched all my games at Parma; he is very focused and attentive to these details. In my opinion, he saw qualities that were needed at Inter at that moment, because among the entire defensive line, I was the only left-footed player, and playing a back three, he required that. He also knew that initially, I was absolutely not ready, as making such a big leap isn`t easy. But then he saw I had potential, that I could perform well, and then he did the most important thing, which was having the courage to throw me into the action.