Ciccio Caputo refuses to give up on his dream of playing for Italy again and is targeting next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
The Sassuolo forward turned dreams into reality by scoring on his international against Moldova at the ripe age of 33 last October and wants more Azzurri game time going forward.
The striker turns 34 on Friday but insists that he’s here to be taken seriously by Roberto Mancini and wants to be selected for Qatar 2022.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the striker responded to a question about the World Cup and his involvement with, “absolutely yes. I won’t stop dreaming”.
“I’m hungrier and more determined than ever to regain my place,” Caputo added. “Mancini has said numerous times that I offer different things compared to [Ciro] Immobile and [Andrea] Belotti.
“However, it’s on the pitch that the talking is done and I’m better than ever. In the last two months I haven’t played much and that’s taken its toll a bit.”
The ageing striker then went on to talk about his fellow Neroverdi teammate, Giacomo Raspadori.
“Raspadori? Yeah, he can definitely improve and grow a lot,” Caputo said. “He’s 20 years old and has already won the European Championship – that’s no mean feat. In the last two months of last [Serie A] season, he did amazingly well.”
