Exclusive: “I’m Playing The Best Football of My Life” — Simy Nwankwo
Nigerian and Crotone striker, Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo was the recipient of the Italian Serie B golden boot with 20 goals that helped his club gain promotion to the Serie A.
In an interview with Daily Times Sports, Simy talked about the season, gaining promotion, coronavirus, team and personal achievements as well as the future.
“First, I have to say thank you for the congratulatory message. It was a tough season, a really tough one, football-wise and the global scene. It affected everybody negatively, even the football world. But we came around it. It was difficult with the lockdown and then the restart, but we kept positive. We kept the faith, kept on training and working and when the opportunity came after the restart, we took it boldly and went for it,” Nwankwo said, also referencing the coronavirus pandemic that shut down football for months.
The coronavirus made sure most football leagues were stretched into an unconventional almost-a-year season, the longest for all currently active footballers. “It’s a tough league, tough one. I think I just had the toughest and longest season of my career so far, but I’m glad it ended in praise.”
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“The results collectively are more important for me than the individual ones. As a team, we achieved what we set for ourselves at the start of the season, then matching it up with the golden boot was quite impressive and fantastic for me on an individual level,” he said, prioritising the club achievement while also admitting it was fantastic for him to win the individual honour.
The 2020/21 Serie A season, as communicated by the management of the league, will commence on September 19. Simy looks forward to the season with expectations and what the team would do: “Now we have to get ourselves a very small holiday and then proceed to the new season’s preparation which is already around the corner. We would go into it and prepare and then play, play our hearts out and be the best we can and then hope for a good season ahead.”
“For the future we just have to keep working, nothing changes, work the same way, with humility, hard work, patience because it would be a tough tough year. Coming up in a tough league like Serie A from the Serie B is never easy for the team, and we don’t expect anything less,” the Nigerian international further said about what is expected of playing in Italy’s top football league by the team.
“I am enjoying myself, I am playing the best football of my life. I live in the present, the future I believe would take care of itself. So let’s see how it goes,” Simy Nwankwo concluded about his personal future.
