The Ivorian forward had previous interactions with the Argentine duo during his time as a Nerazzurri youth player
Fiorentina forward Christian Kouame has revealed that he attempted to get training secrets from Rodrigo Palacio and Mauro Icardi while he was with Inter Milan.
The 22-year-old Ivorian was on the books of the Nerazzurri as a youth player in 2016 on loan from Prato. He never made an appearance for the senior squad, but did have training sessions and was able to blend with the likes of Palacio and Icardi.
Palacio was at the San Siro between 2012 and 2017, had a hand in 89 goals (58 goals, 31 assists) before heading for Bologna,
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Icardi had a longer spell at the club and was involved in 152 goals (124 goals, 28 assists), some of which came wearing the captain’s armband before his inglorious exit from the Italian fashion capital in 2019 to French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Fiorentina come up against Inter in Serie A this weekend and Kouame recounts one of his most memorable moments there.
“I was mostly in the Primavera. But on the occasions that I have been training with the Nerazzurri first team,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport as per TuttoMercato.
“I tried to steal secrets, especially from the forwards, in particular, Icardi and Palacio.”
Kouame joined Fiorentina on a permanent basis having spent the second half of 2019-20 season on loan from Genoa.
Despite being injured for much of the campaign because of an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury and only able to play after the Serie A restart, Viola boss Giuseppe Iachini still saw him as a vital member of his squad.
He played 88 minutes of the season opener against Torino which ended in a 1-0 win and is targeting hitting double figures for the campaign.
He revealed he would have moved to the Premier League had it not been for his injury, but feels at home in the region of Tuscany.
“To arrive at double figures would be wonderful. But what I want is to feel good, have continuity and, above all, help my team to obtain important results,” he continued.
“I was about to go to the Premier League. But Florence was obviously in my future and I’m very happy to be here now. I think rupturing my ACL was a sign of my destiny.”
