Radja Nainggolan “confesses” to “Le Iene” . In the report broadcast tonight, in prime time on Italia 1, the former Cagliari, Roma and Inter midfielder decided to tell his story without filters to the correspondents Stefano Corti and Riccardo Messa , about football, excesses and the arrest in January for international cocaine trafficking. But is it really the whole truth?

"They put me in for bullshit," says the Ninja in the interview, who grew up in Linkeroever, a tough neighborhood on the outskirts of Antwerp, where he spent a childhood marked by difficulties. "As a kid," he tells Le Iene, "I did a lot of bullshit, fights, thefts... I took that path a bit because I had nothing and I was trying to bring something home." Then football changed his life: "I'm lucky that I left at 16, otherwise I don't know how I would have ended up."

Corti also asks him what his nights were like as a footballer: " On Tuesday I went dancing. On Wednesday I played PlayStation, on Thursday I always went out because it was hip hop night, my best night, so I was wasting away, on Friday I was in a coma in training, on Saturday we played. On Sunday I rested, on Monday I left for retreat, on Tuesday the Champions League".

Even during retreats, rest was not an option. "At Roma we were in Totti's room, me, Pjanic and Manolas . We were playing punto-banco, we shot past one in the morning. After leaving Totti's room, Pjanic and I had to go to the other side of the corridor and Spalletti was asleep in the middle of the corridor. So, Pjanic and I, quiet, quiet, we tried to climb over him to go to our room but he woke up and said to us: 'where the f*** are you going?!'. The next day he put Totti and Pjanic on the bench."

Radja also recounts an episode during his experience at Inter, after a lackluster performance: «I go to a club to celebrate a friend's birthday, some Inter ultras come to the table and one of them slaps me…». And he reflects: «My happiness is the life I've always led and the happier I am, the better my performances on the pitch are».

Among the excesses, also gambling. "Once at the casino I lost 200 thousand euros in a single evening. How did I feel? Hoping that the salary would arrive the following month to get them back, I did it to feel the adrenaline. I also bet on illegal sites".

The story arrives in January 2025, when it is written in the newspapers that he is arrested for international trafficking of cocaine from South America. "I am against drugs, even if they have described me as Escobar".

Finally, Nainngolan clarifies the connection with Nasr-Eddine Sekkaki, Ashraf's younger brother, a well-known Belgian trafficker : «I exchange messages with him… and the police think they were coded messages for drug trafficking, in reality there was an exchange of money on loan between me and him, but drugs have nothing to do with it, nor gambling debts. He is a friend of mine but what he does in life is his problem, not mine…».

(Online Union)

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