Zefi reveals he suffered racist abuse in Italy as he looks for summer move

Zefi was at Inter's academy and is now at Roma

The 20-year-old, who was spotted playing and scoring for Sligo Rovers in a friendly against Mansfield last week, has only played for Roma’s development squad, failing to break into the first team, having moved from Inter Milan in 2024, where he had spent three years.

He has played once for Republic of Ireland Under-21s, and is also eligible to play for Albania through his parents.

Zefi has attracted interest from the EFL, Scottish leagues and Scandinavia, but is also interested in a move to Netherlands or Belgium. 

In a revealing interview with the Irish Independent, Zefi says it is time to leave Italy, and said during his time at Inter he experienced racism for his heritage.

“Obviously, I came in as an Irish kid, half-Albanian as well, and racism starts to kick in. You just have to be strong mentally. There were a couple of incidents.

“When you’re playing well, you let it slide, you have a joke back, but when you’re not doing so well, it hurts. [It was] opposition players, some of your own players talking behind your back and thinking you don’t understand [what they are saying]. ‘You Irish, you Albanian [so and so], that type of stuff.”

Zefi also reveals he came close to a move to Newcastle in 2024, but instead opted for a three-year deal at Roma, a move he says he was badly advised on.

“I wanted to get out of Italy, but I think I was badly advised on that move,” he says.

“After two years of being at probably the biggest academy in Italy, and it not working out for me, I don’t think they should have tried to bring me to another academy in Italy.

Zefi added that the way of coaching at Inter’s academy also didn’t sit right with him, and that he wanted to leave Inter and Italy after four months.

“I was getting played in different positions, and the way they coach, it was all new to me. I wasn’t used to it. It was very aggressive, very old school. The way they teach you, it was a little bit too much for me.

“It was very tough. After four months, I wanted to leave Inter, I wanted to get out of the country altogether.”