Exclusive: Robin Gosens on 'dreaming' after Fiorentina purple patch, 'champion' David De Gea and Inter reunion

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Fiorentina's Robin Gosens sat down with TNT Sports to discuss a sensational start to the Serie A season ahead of Sunday's blockbuster clash with his former club, champions Inter Milan, live on TNT Sports and discovery+. Summer signing Gosens explained how a seven-match winning run has him "dreaming," while applauding the impact of "champion" David De Gea and "complete striker" Moise Kean.

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A smile breaks across Robin Gosens’ face as he considers his staggeringly successful start at Fiorentina.

"I would lie if I said I was expecting to be in this position," he tells TNT Sports.

"But from the moment I came here, I had the sensation that we have a really good mix of young and experienced players. I was surprised how good the team was."

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He’s not the only one. The Germany full-back sits down for our chat the morning after helping Fiorentina earn a 2-0 win at Como that extended their league winning streak to seven games.

That is the kind of form that hasn’t been seen in these parts for a generation. Only once in the long and storied history of Fiorentina have they racked up such a long run of league wins, and that was in 1960.

Those results have propelled La Viola into a thrilling Scudetto race; with a third of the season gone, one point separates the top five sides and only goals scored divides Fiorentina from champions Inter ahead of their mouthwatering meeting in the Tuscan capital on Sunday – live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

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La Viola's Purple patch

Considering Fiorentina last won the title in 1969, haven't finished in the top four for a decade and underwent a major squad and coaching overhaul in the summer after an eighth-place finish, it's safe to say Gosens wasn't alone in being taken aback by the start.

Fiorentina have taken strides as a club in recent years; a state-of-the-art new training facility opened its doors last year and renovations are currently ongoing on the Stadio Artemio Franchi, while on the pitch the club reached back-to-back UEFA Europa Conference League finals.

But now the home of the Renaissance is finally seeing its football club re-emerge as a serious Serie A contender. At this rate, the Galleria dell’Accademia might have to clear space to fit in some purple-shirted statues to keep Michelangelo’s David company.

Not that the players are getting so far ahead of themselves. When considering if season objectives have been adjusted on the back of this lightning start, Gosens points out that doing so would go against what got them here in the first place.

"The seven wins in a row have grown our responsibility and made it clear that we have a very strong team that can compete against everybody in this league," he said.

Robin Gosens of Acf Fiorentina looks on during the Serie A football match between Torino Fc and Acf Fiorentina. Acf Fiorentina wins 1-0 over Torino Fc.

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"But it would be very wrong, especially as we have a lot of new and young players, to speak now about objectives and concrete things.

"It’s always worth dreaming. This is my personal opinion. I always was a dreamer and I’m still a dreamer. Dreaming helps you fulfil your objectives.

"But for now, talking about concrete objectives would only give us more pressure. The good thing at the moment is we don’t have pressure; we just enjoy the game on the pitch.

"If we gave ourselves now the pressure of wanting to get in the Champions League or win the Scudetto, the result would be pressure in every game."

Praise for 'leader' De Gea and 'complete' Kean

Gosens was one of 12 new signings in Florence this summer, sneaking in just as the bell rang for final orders when a season-long loan move from Union Berlin with the obligation to buy was rushed over the line on deadline day.

There was also change at the top as coach Raffaele Palladino arrived following an impressive spell at Monza to replace Vincenzo Italiano.

It took a while for the boss to get to grips with his new team, with one win coming in the first six league games, but a switch from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-2-3-1 formation at the end of September unlocked his side’s potential and kickstarted their dazzling run.

For Gosens, the move was a homecoming of sorts. The wing-back made his name in Italy with Atalanta between 2017 and 2022, before a disappointing 18-month spell at Inter resulted in him spending the 2023/24 campaign in Berlin.

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Although he described the last-minute nature of his Fiorentina move as a "s****y situation" as it denied him a proper goodbye, the "ambitious project" in Florence and the fact that his family "missed the country and the people in Italy" made the decision a "no-brainer".

Gosens, now 30, has looked back to his best in the purple of Fiorentina, with three goals and two assists to his name already from some typically barnstorming performances that also earned him a "dream" Germany recall.

He is not the only new signing to make an impression, though. Two of the standout performers for Palladino’s side so far have been at opposite ends of the pitch, with former Manchester United keeper David De Gea returning from a year out of the game to shine in goal and striker Moise Kean enjoying the most prolific period of his career since joining from Juventus.

"David is the best example that age doesn’t count. He was out for a year doing nothing, now he comes back as the best goalkeeper in Serie A – I guess everybody agrees with this," Gosens said.

"He is a leader, but not with words. He’s a leader with performances, work ethic, and always entering the pitch with one thought - to win a game. This winner mentality is a big inspiration for me and the whole team.

"You need players like this to achieve something big and I’m very happy that I can share this dressing room and pitch with a champion like him."

Kean is 10 years De Gea’s junior at 24, but the Italy international has already had spells with Juve, Hellas Verona, Everton and Paris Saint-Germain in his short career, rarely having the chance to be the main man in attack.

The striker seems to have now found a home in Florence after starting the season in rip-roaring form, scoring seven goals in his last four Serie A games to reach a personal best of nine for the season, three shy of top scorer Mateo Retegui of Atalanta.

"Moise was always a very good, complete striker," Gosens explains.

"He’s fast, he can keep the ball, he can go with the left foot, right foot and header. In theory he has everything to be a top star.

"I’m very happy that he’s able to show all his qualities. It’s only possible with the help of the team, because he cannot make all these goals on his own. But at the end you can only win games if you have a striker who scores goals.

"At the moment he creates chances for himself, he doesn’t need a lot of chances to score, and this is a big quality.

"You see it in everything, how he moves, how he feels on the pitch, that he’s confident. He needs to keep this confidence because only with confidence can you continue like this."

Inter remain 'the team to beat'

While Fiorentina’s recent form has been electric, they haven’t been the only ones.

An exhilarating battle is unfolding at the top of the table, with Lazio and Atalanta – also on seven-match winning runs – and Inter level on 28 points with Fiorentina, and Napoli sitting one point above the chasing pack in top spot.

Fiorentina have already proven themselves in big games this season, beating Lazio, Milan and Roma thus far, but the visit of an Inter side on a 12-game unbeaten streak between Serie A and the UEFA Champions League promises to be their biggest challenge yet.

"It’s a very nice game to see where we stand," Gosens said.

"Inter are the most complete team we have in Serie A. They have played for many years together, they have the same coach, they integrated two or three new players of an incredibly high level.

"For me, they are still the favourites, also because I played with most of the guys there and I know how good they are.

"For me, in this moment – and we are still at the beginning of the season – they are the team to beat."

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Had things gone a little differently, Gosens could well have been lining up in the opposing team on Sunday.

When he moved across Lombardy from Bergamo to Milan on a four-and-a-half year deal in January 2022, there was an expectation that the attacking weapons the German had shown at Atalanta - where he scored 29 goals from wing-back - could be deployed to devastating effect under Simone Inzaghi at Inter.

However, things didn’t go as planned. Gosens found his game time limited and was used largely as an impact substitute due to the superb form of Federico Dimarco.

By the time he left San Siro in the summer of 2023, Gosens had started just 14 of his 58 games for the Nerazzurri as his momentum stalled.

But looking ahead to his first reunion with his former employers since returning to Italy, Gosens was optimistic about a spell in Milan that ended with two Coppa Italia winners medals and the experience of playing in a Champions League final.

"Even if many people are saying it wasn’t a positive experience in this one-and-a-half years, I don’t agree with this honestly," he says.

"Of course, everybody expected - myself especially - me to play more, but sometimes in football things happen that are out of your hands.

"Nobody expected at the time that Dimarco would have a season like that. He exploded and was doing amazing, and still is. Then you have to wait for your chance.

"Every time I got the chance from the coach I tried to give my best and make the difference. Of course, I hoped I would play more.

"That was the intention also from Inter when they bought me for 28 million euros, that I will be the left-back for the next few years. Nobody expected that Dimarco would have a season like this.

"But if I look back at that time, I only have positive feelings, because I played with many champions, I won some titles, we went to the Champions League final.

"For one-and-a-half years San Siro was my home, maybe one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world.

"So, I could never look back with negative feelings. Of course, I wished that I got more minutes, but I’m very proud I played for this amazing team. I’m looking forward to seeing the guys on Sunday."