Aleksandar Trajkovski talked to the official channel of Palermo about his expectancees for the upcoming season in Serie A.
“Last season it was difficult for me it because it was my first year in Serie A. But I saw how the game is being played here and now I am well adapted. I expect my second season to be much better. I work hard for myself and for the team, I think we mustn’t repeat the results of last season as we must do much better.”
Trajkovski needed time to adjust to the Italian style of play as he came to Palermo last summer. He played in 32 of the 38 league games, but in exactly half of the games we started on the bench. Only 6 times he played the whole 90 minutes and managed to scored 3 times adding one assist.
“The result is what is important at the end. For me it is important that a player scores because after a goal comes bigger selfconfidence. If the team is strong, there will be more opportunities for scoring during a game.”
The 23-year-old attacker seems to like his new hometown so much that he even spent the summer vacation there.
“It is true that I spent my vacation here in Palermo because I like it here and I like the nearby beaches. I am here with my wife and we were joined by my sister and her husband. We had a great time relaxing.”
When Trajkovski came to the Sicilian capital, the Italian language was unknown to him. He had to start learning it quickly in order to be able to adapt well. Today he can communicate, but still has difficulties as seen on the video.
“It was difficult for me when I arrived here because of the language barrier. When I arrived here I immediately joined the team in the preparations and most of the time I was catching up the same words and eventually I learnt a bit of Italian. If you want to learn it, you will learn it. There are players that are here for a year and still haven’t learnt Italian.”
Palermo was underachieving last season and barely managed to escape relegation in the end of the season. One of the main reasons was the constant change of managers, a total of 9 changes were made with 6 different persons coming and leaving. Maurizio Zamparini, the owner of the club, is a well known controversial figure who has little patience.
“Last season we changed many managers. That was very hard for the team because the tactics was constantly changing. It was always different. Working under one manager and practicing always the same things while preparing for the games is, of course, much better for the whole team. If you change managers every two months it becomes very hard for the players.”
Alex waited untill the 16th round to score his first goal in the Serie A. His victim was Frosinone who got defeated 4:1 in that game. Later he added two more against Udinese and again against Frosinone in another two wins. He didn’t score many goals, but at least when he scored, Palermo always won the points. But his very first goal for the Italian club came in the Coppa Italia when his team suffered a humiliating elimination by the third league side Alessandria.
“I never count how many goals I have scored. If I score more, it is better for the team. I am concentrated on playing good. We are a unified team and the atmosphere within the team is very good. We are trying to prepare good for the beginning of the season.”
Trajkovski revealed that he is a good friend with Hungarian attacker Norbert Balogh. Since this summer he added a new friend in Ilija Nestorovski as the Macedonian national team player moved to Palermo after becoming a top scorer in the Croatian top flight while playing for Inter Zaprešić. Since Palermo sold Franco Vázquez to Sevilla and Alberto Gilardino moved to Empoli as free player, Trajkovski and Nestorovski are now the main attackers joined by Balogh andÂÂÂ Guinea-Bissauan international Carlos Embalo.
“Balogh came here in January, so we are together for half a year now. I know Nestorovski from the national team. I am good friends with these two and I think that they have the quality to play good here. Nestorovski arrived recently, while Balogh hadn’t played much last season so with these preparations we are trying to improve together. I came to know Embalo only now because last season he was loaned to Brescia. Anyway, all of them have quality and have big wish to show that on the field in Serie A.”
The interview is also available on the video bellow (in Italian language):