Egonu, friends and relaxation in Italy. And Milan is ready to pamper you

When on Monday Paola Egonu spoke first with coach Mazzanti and then with federal president Manfredi, it was the image of a girl who had had a good time. It seems that in the last few days she was also struggling to sleep and in any case her body mimicry during the matches of the European Championship was quite eloquent, often a frown, few smiles. The fact that she never came out of reserve status, not even for the third-place match, was her fatal straw and hence the decision to ask for an exemption from the national team. But confirming her attachment to the blue shirt. This obviously does not mean that with Mazzanti there are no incurable fractures due to what has happened in recent years.

Silence

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Now Paola is trying to go back a bit under the radar. Her agent, Marco Raguzzoni, has let it be known to many newspapers that for the moment she will not do interviews and that she prefers to stay calm, even more so now that her teammates are about to leave for Poland where they will face the Olympic qualifiers (played from 16 to 24 September). She wants to go back to her habits and to the Italian life that last year she had frequented less than her since she was in Istanbul at the Vakif. Yesterday she was in Busto Arsizio where her longtime friend Giuditta Lualdi plays, almost a second family for Paola. And in the gym in Busto you also met Julio Velasco, coach of the Lombard team from this year. In a few days, after a bit of relaxation, they’ll be waiting for you in Milan, where you’ll find an environment that is certainly less stressful and in any case one that you’ll want to pamper and protect. Something that has happened a few times in recent years, always so exposed to media pressure.

In Milan

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Not surprisingly, as he said a few days ago, when it seemed that the situation at the European Championship could end well, “I wrote Patience on my skin because I should use it more in my life as well as on the pitch. But I don’t always succeed.” Something similar and even more loud had also happened last year, after the World Cup. The departure for Turkey had helped her, now it will be the company of president Marzari to raise this curtain, also because Vero Volleyball is betting a lot on Paola’s arrival in what will be the great leap in quality in Milan. There won’t be any news for the national team at the moment: President Manfredi confirmed that he doesn’t intend to talk about the future until the Olympic qualifiers are at stake. He will address the coaching issue (who has a contract until 2024) only in October/November. Even if almost everyone in the industry is aware that the relationship of trust between athlete and coach has disappeared in a definitive way.