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Marco Verratti is 21 years old and being paid a whole lot of money for what he is good at doing on the field. That, of course, would be playing the game of football at a high level, something that saw him go from Serie B to one of the most sought after youngsters on the transfer market two summers ago.
There's another thing Verratti is showing he's good at — talking to the press. A lot.
And this isn't the kind of talking like coaches are required to do following a match, either. Do a 'Marco Verratti' Google News search and the first things you see aren't posts about how good he is or how he has been playing at Paris Saint-Germain this season. Nope, not even close to that. It's numerous posts about how much he loves life in Paris and wants to stay at the club.
Let's take a look at an interview he did with L'Equipe this weekend for proof of that very notion.
"When I was a child I loved the Bianconeri, but today I am happy in Paris," he told L'Equipe newspaper.
And here's the kicker.
"After all, PSG have one of the greatest projects in the world. If I were to go to Juventus now, it would without doubt be a step back.
"In Paris I have the possibility to win everything over the next few years."
(Quotes via Football Italia.)
Ah, okay. He likes where he is. The thing is, he said that he loves PS-G a week ago, too.
"Nothing can make me leave Paris Saint Germain. I am feeling very well here," he told L'Equipe.
Well, at least we know how he feels about the team that's signing his checks, right?
The thing that associates with Juventus is what we've known for a couple of years now — Verratti, on top of growing up a Juve fan, was a Juve transfer target before he went off to Paris in one of many big-money moves by the Ligue 1 champions the last few years. Oh, and the thing he said about Juve over the weekend, of course.
But "without a doubt be a step back" from Paris Saint-Germain to Juventus? I don't really know what exact line of thinking that comes from other than the need to just talk and talk and talk. There aren't any kind of transfer rumors in recent weeks linking him with a return to Italy — and possibly Juventus — like there were months ago. We don't know the line of questioning the made Verratti bring up Juventus, but there hasn't exactly been a reason for him to deny anything Juventus-related, either.
Or maybe Juve would be a "step back" because he wouldn't start over Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo next season. I dunno. Just throwing it out there.
So while we wonder why Verratti said what he said, we are also left to wonder why he feels the need to talk so dang much if he's just so happy in Paris as he says he is.
Here's the one thing Verratti should be asking himself: When PS-G adds even more players this summer to their already talented roster and playing time becomes even that much more of a battle between teammates, will he still be professing his love to Paris?
