Chelsea starlet reveals reasons for Italy move amid Pompey bid for return
Tino Anjorin has revealed his reasons for moving to Italy as Pompey pursued a Fratton return for their title winner.
The midfielder last month agreed a three-year deal with Serie A outfit Empoli, after spending the 2023-24 season on loan with the Blues.
John Mousinho made it clear he was keen to bring the Poole-born talent back to PO4, but with Anjorin in the last year of his agreement at Stamford Bridge, a switch to Tuscany was the route followed.
The 22-year-old felt the challenge was the right one for him, as he aims to embrace the Italian game and culture at the highest level.
Speaking at his Empoli presentation, Anjorin said: ‘The opportunity to come here arose a few weeks before the transfer window ended, I spoke with director Gemmi and coach D'Aversa: the expectations and the objectives to be achieved went hand in hand, I thought this was the perfect situation to be in.
‘I like Empoli, here in Italy there is a completely different culture and I would also say the food, I am happy to be here.
‘From a tactical point of view it is the best league, in general it is definitely among the top five leagues in the world. The tactical aspect is something I want to improve in my game and this is the opportunity to do it.
‘The names and teams in this league speak for themselves, it’s ridiculous. The tactics side I want to take away from the game, I want to be a genius.
‘Before arriving I spoke to (Chelsea’s) Carlo Cudicini, who was my loan manager and a teammate of the coach, he spoke highly of Empoli, that I could be happy and that I could grow with the team. This was important for me. Empoli and I want to grow together.
‘The methodology is quite similar to England even if here we run a lot. The coach wants me to dominate midfield. He knows that I can cover every role in the midfield so his requests can change from match to match: he can ask me to play higher and be more offensive or to play lower and build and give rhythm to the game, therefore to dominate it from the back.’
Anjorin has endured extensive injury issues in his career with a hamstring hampering his time at Fratton Park, though he recovered from the problem and finished the season strongly.
He has been gearing up for his next assignment after linking up with his new club under boss Roberto D’Aversa, with Empoli unbeaten three games into the Italian season.
A visit from Turin giants Juventus comes next, with Anjorin now ready for action.
He added: ‘Unfortunately in my career I have had injuries and what I have learned is that in addition to having big goals you also have to have smaller ones to achieve as soon as possible otherwise you can overstretch yourself.
'The main goal is to get the best possible placement with Empoli and now, from a personal point of view, it is to be fit, strong and robust to play 90 minutes game after game.
‘The training sessions here are more physical, it is also true that last week there was a break for the national teams while this week will lead up to Saturday's match
‘So I’ve trained once this week building up to Saturday after work last week to build towards the game.
'This week is interesting because I’ve not done a week building towards a game here. I can imagine that we will work more on tactics, this also happens in England because we are focused on the match.
‘We’ve been building my fitness. It’s not down to me if I play, but I feel strong and good.’