Adriano ready for new start in Italy

Brazilian striker Adriano dismissed talk of his various reported drink, depression and weight problems as he met the press during new club AS Roma’s pre-season training camp in the north of the country.

Adriano has been one of the more surprising transfers of the summer, returning to Italy just over a year after walking out of Inter Milan.

And despite apppearing heavily overweight when he signed for the club earlier this month, he insists he will be in shape when the season begins.

“I prefer not to talk about numbers,” he said when asked how much weight he needs to lose. “I had three months off.

“But I can tell you that in a month I will be close to the right physical shape.”

Adriano, who also turned out for Parma and Fiorentina during an eight-year stint in Italy, claimed it was false to say that he previously suffered from alcohol problems, saying his only issue was with depression.

“I did not have an alcohol dependancy problem but depression,” he said.

“I felt sad and alone, then I went to Brazil, I grew as a man thanks to my family and friends.

“Now I feel good, I’m calm.”

The end of Adriano’s Inter career was beset with problems as his weight ballooned and he struggled with his mental state.

He spent the second half of 2007/08 season on loan at Sao Paulo before coming back to Inter to initially thrive under Jose Mourinho.

But he was soon falling foul of the Portuguese’s strict disciplinary rules and before the end of the next season he had walked out and returned to Brazil.

Last season he flourished again at his first club Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro despite regular reports about his nocturnal activities and a lack of commitment to training.

And he claims that but for Mourinho he would have gone off the rails much sooner.

“Mourinho was very patient with me and if it wasn’t for him I would have gone sooner,” he said.

He claimed he felt isolated in Milan but Rome reminds him much more of his home town.

“I felt alone, without my family, I didn’t want to laugh. I really wanted to quit.

“Now I’m putting my house in order and I feel a great motivation. I feel good here.

“Here I feel part of a family, (Roma captain Francesco) Totti and all my team-mates are close to me.

“I want to get back to being what I was. I’ve grown as a man, I’ve got two beautiful kids and now is the time to get back into the Brazil team.”

That may not be such a tall order given that Adriano was a regular member of the Brazil squad in World Cup qualifying, although he did not make it onto the plane for South Africa.

And while some may think that his first difficulty will be breaking into the Roma first team, with Totti and Mirko Vucinic for competition, Adriano believes there will be space for all three.

“I’d like that. I have to work hard but it’s possible for the three of us to play together with Totti in the centre and Mirko and I on the flanks,” he said.