Idman.biz
"Lorenzo's father, who worked in the SOCAR system, was nearing the end of his employment contract at that time. It was important for him to stay in Azerbaijan for at least another year in order to reach a professional agreement with the football player. Considering this situation, I appealed to SOCAR to support his father's stay in the country. Thankfully, they helped, and as a result, the conditions were created for Lorenzo to sign a professional contract and serve Azerbaijan in the future."
This was said by Elnur Eyvazov, the former vice-president of "Neftchi", while talking about Lorenzo Mezzotero, who played in the club's youth teams until 2020.
The 18-year-old Italian-born striker has been invited to the Azerbaijan national team for players under 21. Since 2024, he has been playing in the youth teams (U-17 and U-19) of "Sampdoria".
Eyvazov recalled that they had taken an important step in the past to invite the young forward to the Azerbaijan national team.
"The main purpose of this step was to win Lorenzo over to the Azerbaijan national team," he said in a statement to sportnet.az.
The former club functionary stated that they had already come to the conclusion that Lorenzo would be a necessary player for the Azerbaijan national team in the future:
"Lorenzo was indeed a very promising football player who was able to prove himself even in older age groups. He scored a lot of goals and was the top scorer of the leagues for the respective age groups with a large goal difference. I remember that I did my best to get the leadership to support the solution of this issue."
According to Eyvazov, a verbal agreement was also reached between the parties when Lorenzo's father's contract was extended.
"They really loved Azerbaijan and "Neftchi" as a family. His father sincerely promised at that time that no matter what, if his son received an invitation when the time came, he would play for "Neftchi" for at least one season and would come to the Azerbaijan national team with all his heart.
He expressed it as respect and gratitude for the effort we showed," said Eyvazov.
