Ask Mallorca striker Vedad Muriqi about his former club Lazio, and he’ll probably sigh a lot. The Serbian-born attacker has already got eight goals in 12 La Liga appearances this season for the Islanders. He also used to bang goals in regularly while playing for Fenerbahce and Rizespor in Turkey. But in two seasons in Italy, he was totally useless. What was the matter? He says everything was wrong at Lazio.The 28-year-old forward tried to explain what happened in Rome. And talking about his two painful years in the Italian capital, he didn’t try to pick nice words.”Lazio is one of the best clubs in Italy. They were playing in the Champions League at the time they made me an offer. I decided to go, but I got injured, and things didn’t start well. Days went by, I scored two goals and I thought I’d get some playing time. But they didn’t give me a chance to play. I also played 35-40 minutes while I was ill, but when I got well – they didn’t give me the opportunity.”##NAJAVA_MECA_6798407##Muriqi said that he even thought about ending his playing career. But his wife helped him through the frustrating times.”When I came home sad, I talked to my friends and wife. She is mentally stronger than me. She was telling me that I had to be strong and ready for when an opportunity would come.”The chances were few and far between. Despite working hard to get physically fit, Muriqi found himself out of the first-team picture time after time.”There were times when I doubted my qualities. There were two months when I was doing very well, and I thought I might be the player seen at Fenerbahce again. But I felt like shit there.”When the opportunity arrived to join Mallorca on loan in January this year, Vedat took it with both hands. He impressed at the relegation-battling club by scoring five goals. Such form earned him a permanent transfer worth around $8 million.The name at the top is hardly surprising.. but the name second isn’t 👀From being evacuated from Kosovo during the war to being booed out of Lazio, Mallorca’s Vedat Muriqi has an incredible story to tell ❤️Read here 📝 https://t.co/6JtmjZX8Nb#OptusSport #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/QPsmModyAd— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) November 10, 2022 The goals he’s been scoring all year made Muriqi a fan favourite in the town of Palma and around the island of Majorca. But the modest guy says he’s still not up to the standards of Cameroonian goalscorers Samuel Eto’o and Pierre Webo, two of the best players ever to represent the club.”I don’t think I’m an idol here yet. I’ve only been at Mallorca for seven months, but I hope I can finish my career here and say that I’ve been an idol for this fans. I’m still not as good as Etoo or Webo.”After seeing a lot of hardship during the war in the region of Kosovo i Metohija — and feeling like maziwa lala in Rome, Muriqi seems to have found a home.”I’m not leaving here. I’m dying in Mallorca.”Oh, please note, just in case, that the man of the hour never spoke a word of Swahili. We just needed words nicer than “shit” for our headline.
