Goran Pandev still hasn’t decided if he will continue playing or will retire at the end of this season. He did an interview for local genoese newspaper Il Secolo XIX where he revealed some important information regarding his future that concerns not only his current club, but the Macedonian national team as well.

photo by Genoa CFC: Goran Pandev

“In June I will decide to continue playing or not. Right now I’m only thinking about the match against Bologna. I am happy here, anyway, I will remain to live in Genoa. Currently I am in great shape, physically I feel like when I was young. The manager gave me his confidence and consistency. But this is not a moment to talk about my contract.”

Last year you were in similar situation and then you decided to stay for a far smaller wage.
“Manager Jurić called me and asked me to stay. I had other plans, but I never hesitated: Genoa is Genoa. The money aren’t important for me, here I have found motivation and I feel important.”

You have won everything in your career. Why did you decide to take a turn in Genoa in the first place?
“I did too many things in Italy: I got relegated with Ancona before I won trophies with Lazio and especially with Inter. The period in Napoli was important as well but this is the adventure that I wanted to do: the atmosphere at Ferraris has always been magical for me. This was a choice that I could never regret.”

Have the recent results resurrected Genoa’s ambitions?
“When I saw the signings during the summer, I thought that it would be an interesting season. At the beginning things didn’t go as planed and we found ourselves in the relegation battle. It is still not finished, but now we started to have fun.”

After the time at Lazio, you got reunited with Ballardini.
“I knew that at Lazio he was forced not to field me on order of president Lotito. When he came here we talked, but there was nothing to talk about. He gave me his confidence and an opportunity to play regularly. He managed to totally change our season so far.”