Former Inter Milan Striker Luc Castaignos: “I Was At Nerazzurri At The Wrong Time In My Career”

Former Inter striker Luc Castaignos looked back on his spell with the club and admitted that it came at the wrong time for him.

The Dutchman joined Inter from Feyenoord in 2011 but only spent a single season with the Nerazzurri, scoring once in eight appearances in all competitions, before returning to the Eredivisie with FC Twente.

In an interview with GianlucaDiMarzio.com, the current FC Magdeburg striker admitted that it was difficult to come to Inter at the back end of a hugely successful period for the club, as he was tasked with replacing iconic forwards Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito.

“At that age, if you don’t play so much, it’s normal to leave the team,” Castaignos conceded.

“When I played it was to replace forwards like Milito and Eto’o and those legacies weighed on me. It wasn’t the time just right for me to play there.”

Castaignos had been targeted by Inter in January 2011, before completing a switch in that summer, and revealed how his move to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza came about.

“Everything happened quickly. They wanted me to arrive already in January, but first I wanted to finish my season in the Netherlands.

“I was still young and I was scoring a lot. I took a risk because with interest like, that you don’t know if it will happen again.

“It was a wonderful experience in what was at the time the strongest team in the world. I love Italy, I’ve always liked it as a country. Life revolves around football there.”

The 30-year-old also revealed that former Inter and Netherlands midfielder Wesley Sneijder had made a big impact upon him when he signed for the Nerazzurri.

“Sneijder was untouchable for me He was dominant in everything he did, above all a master of free-kicks.

“When I arrived and signed, Sneijder was there with Piero Ausilio to welcome me. He immediately gave me a hand, he was very nice to me. In that locker room, we only thought about winning.

“I was very close with Joel Obi and Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian was already incredible at the time, he could do whatever he wanted. If he had played more, he would have done three times what he has done up to now.”