Faouzi Ghoulam has stated he is not worried about his future in Napoli as he makes his way back to fitness.
The 29-year-old has just returned to the first team after being sidelined with a muscle injury since October 2019.
The lockdown period when football activities were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic offered him a chance to speed up his recovery and he played 23 minutes in a 2-0 win at Hellas Verona on June 23, providing the assist for Hirving Lozano’s goal.
Ghoulam then played 10 minutes of the 3-1 win over SPAL before being unused in the 2-0 defeat by high-flying Atalanta last time out.
Consistent injury problems have plagued Ghoulam for the past three seasons but he was once considered one of the best left-backs in the world and was reportedly under the transfer radar of Chelsea.
His present deal with the Partenopei runs out on June 30, 2022.
"With Napoli, I still have two years of my contract. The important thing at the moment is to find my physical condition,” Ghoulam told Sky Sports Italia as reported by TuttoMercato ahead of Sunday’s home tie with Roma.
“Beyond football, having these feelings again: I have found them again. I know I have the confidence of the coach [Gattuso] and therefore I do not worry about the future. These are talks that will go a long way. The goal is to maintain my physical condition."
Ghoulam describes how coach Gennaro Gattuso has been close to the players which is helping Napoli get results now after a poor first half of the season.
“His [Gattuso’s] closeness to players and also the fact that he stopped playing football recently also helps us a lot in the locker room,” the Algerian continued.
“And then he is a great coach who prepares games well, we were all happy. He had a difficult year at the beginning but we recovered and we are doing well.
“As he said, now is the time to give the team a winning mentality and we have seen in recent years that you can't even miss a game."
Napoli’s defeat at Atalanta saw their grip on sixth place loosen and Ghoulam admits the team did nothing wrong, though insisting the Partenopei still need to grow mentally.
“We were not wrong, we played our game,” he said
“I think we only missed in those five to six minutes in which they [Atalanta] scored two goals, but in the end, the coach is right on the mental factor, we have to grow a lot."