'I cried with my wife in despair!' - Mexico star Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano opens up on Napoli nightmare when working with Gennaro Gattuso

The 28-year-old winger moved to Italy in 2019 and initially found himself working with former AC Milan and Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti. A change in the dugout brought Gattuso to Naples within months of Lozano’s arrival, leading to the Mexico international enduring the most difficult spell of his professional career.

Lozano, who is now back at PSV in the Netherlands, has told the ‘Hugo Sanchez Presenta’ programme of struggling under Gattuso: “He didn't know me, he didn't even know where I played, but he never asked me anything. You know when you're a soccer player that there are moments when you say: 'Wow! Things aren't going well here.' It never changed me.”

Lozano, who served ties with Napoli in the summer of 2023, added on finding the going tough: "I was always on the bench and that was when I said: 'There is something here.' Then, that year was terrible, I cried with my wife in despair. You realise that you are better than many there and you ask yourself 'Why don't they give me minutes? Why don't they let me play?'”

Lozano did hit 15 goals in 2020-21 campaign, and became a Serie A title winner in 2022-23, but he retraced steps to Eindhoven with questions being asked of whether his potential was ever truly unlocked in Naples. A spark has been rediscovered this term, with Chucky shining again for club and country.