Nacho Ferri looks more at home with every game at Feyenoord. Ayase Ueda's successor underlined his quality on Sunday with a hat-trick in the 7-0 win away to PEC Zwolle.
"Personally, I didn't think my first league matches here were that good. But things are getting better and better and I want to keep developing myself," said the ambitious forward in an extensive interview with Feyenoord One.
For a while, Ferri did not know whether he would be credited with a hat-trick from the emphatic win in Zwolle. "Because first they said yes, then no, and then yes again. Yesterday morning it was finally confirmed. So I kept having doubts, but in the end I got my hat-trick. I've now received the real match ball. I'd already taken the ball with me, just to be safe. It was my first hat-trick as a professional footballer."
Asked to pick his favourite of the three, Ferri pointed to his second goal against PEC. "The second goal against PEC Zwolle gave me the most satisfaction. I thought that was a wonderful team goal. It was a fine move. I'm a physically strong player who likes to go into duels and work for the team."
Within the Feyenoord squad, the Spanish forward has struck up the strongest bond with the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking players. "With Mika Mármol, Javi López and Gonçalo Borges, because of the language. It's very important that you can speak in your own language. That's why we're very close."
Growing up, Ferri mainly admired Cristiano Ronaldo. These days he studies other strikers more closely. "Now that I'm a bit older, I physically look up more to Erling Haaland or Lukaku. Those are the strikers I look at now. I try to learn from them. I watch a lot of footage back, how they move and use their bodies."
So far, the summer signing has made six appearances in a Feyenoord shirt. He has returned three goals and one assist in that spell.