Basel director Philipp Degen doesn’t consider on-loan Inter striker Sebastiano Esposito to be a behaviour problem at the club.
Speaking to German sports news outlet
Blick!, the director defended Esposito after the 19-year-old’s refusal to come on as a substitute in the Swiss side’s Europa Conference League group stage match against Qarabag.
The 19-year-old striker is aware of his mistake with the incident against Qarabag and wants to atone for it.
“He himself knows that this must not happen and that he is doing enormous damage to himself and the club,” Degen stated of the incident.
“However, something had been building up for weeks,” he added. “He had trouble with injuries for a long time and was very impatient.”
“He’s not a bad young man, in fact he has a great disposition and is very professional,” he added, “he doesn’t allow himself to get into trouble, he doesn’t go to parties.”
Degen went on that “When he’s in a good mood, he can decide matches. But he is also a boy who must be given close guidance.”
He added that “I want to have strong characters in the team, and not just yes-men for everything. Esposito has suffered enormously from the incident and has learned a lot. But he is not an enfant terrible.”
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Inter-owned Basel striker Sebastiano Esposito is sorry for recent controversial incidents he has been involved in with the Swiss club.
Writing to Basel fans in a message on his Instagram account, the 19-year-old emphasized that he must grow up after a red card against Grasshoppers and after refusing to come off the bench against Qarabag.
“This is not a particularly easy period for me, but I have to try to put it in the past by doing the right thing,” he writes.
“I apologize to everyone,” he continues, “the fans, the club (who made me feel at home from day one), teammates (who have become like a second family as I’ve been here), and my opponents.”
He goes on that ”It is always said that us young players must gain experience and I have understood that in these difficult moments we learn and grow, understanding mistakes and taking responsibility.”
“It is in these moments that, facing the difficulty with the right mentality, you can become great,” he adds.
Esposito continues that “It is useless to look for justifications: the anger and frustration about injuries, the lack of the ball at my feet, and the adrenaline of a goal, none of these justify inappropriate actions.”
“But they help to understand the roots of these incidents, to reflect, reason, and learn,” he adds.
“Moreover, they help to potentially improve, as a person and as a footballer,” he goes on. “The time has come to be a man, age is just a number and it won’t stop me from growing.”
He concludes, “Now I can only turn the page and work hard to build a better future. Forza Basel!”