Inter's Rodrigo Alborno: I'm delighted that people compare me to Javier Zanetti

Inter’s new Paraguayan starlet Rodrigo Alborno has affirmed that he is delighted to be representing such an illustrious club, and he dreams of emulating remarkable team-mate Javier Zanetti and becoming a legend in Italy.

The 18-year-old sensation was first spotted playing in the South American Under-20 Championship, where he shone for the Guarani national team in Peru.

“It was one of the tours we made with the Under-20s … a scout from Inter was there and since then they started to track me,” he recalls in an exclusive chat with Goal.com.

It wasn’t long before the Italian giants swooped in to pluck the talented left-footer from Asuncion-based club Libertad, and a transfer was completed in the middle of 2011 with Alborno still shy of his 18th birthday.

Right now Alborno lives with both parents in Milan and is part of the ‘primavera’ squad, and is already forming a bond with the Neroazzuri’s South American brigade. “If I bump into [Javier] Zanetti, Ricky Alvarez, [Esteban] Cambiasso, [Ivan] Cordoba or [Diego] Forlan we always speak a bit,” the youngster explained.

The likelihood is that Alborno will be replacing one of those names in the not too distance future, as he explains, “The truth is they compare me a lot to Zanetti for our similar characteristics because we are always up and down [the pitch].”

It is a comparison that Alborno is certainly pleased with: “I’d like to emulate him because, as everybody knows, he is an excellent footballer.”

Javier my hero | Alborno hoping to become Zanetti's heir-apparent

Right now Alborno is not only playing as a full back but also a midfielder, while Inter’s coaches decide which position he will adapt best.

“I like playing in both positions,” asserts Alborno. “I feel fine in both positions but if I had to choose between one or the other I’d stay as a midfielder because that is the position I always played.”    

The youngster believes that the biggest difference between the football in Italy and that of Paraguay is the tempo, and in every sense. “The speed of the games, the speed at which they move the ball, the speed of the passes” are all features that the teenager has had to learn to live with. Another huge difference between South America and Europe is the climate. Alborno explained that in the coastal town of Viareggio it isn’t too cold, “but in Milan it is … the thing that hits me most every day is the cold here because I’d never felt anything like it before, but I’ll just have to get used to playing games with frozen feet!”

Rodrigo is fiercely proud of being Paraguayan, and made it clear that his international future lies not in Italy but his homeland. “I really would like to be in the senior national team, it's something I’ve dreamt about since I was a little boy,” he stated with determination.

Behind his good-natured exterior is that burning desire to represent the Albirroja. “I know that it all depends on me to make it a reality. I’m just going to keep working hard as I have been doing to earn a chance to be in the Paraguay national team.”