Geoffrey Kondogbia has been disappointed with his first season at Inter Milan but is confident he will eventually prove his worth.
The 23-year-old signed for Inter from Monaco last summer in a deal reported to have cost up to €40 million.
Inter are currently fourth in Serie A and have five matches left to make up a four-point gap in order to pip Roma to the last Champions League spot.
A solid performance from Kondogbia helped them beat second-place Napoli 2-0 this past Saturday. The tall central midfielder believes his price tag fooled people into thinking he was a ready-made star and says that at the club they talk "more about the future than the present" when discussing him.
But the former Sevilla player has admitted that not everything has gone to plan during his first season in Italy.
"Yes, I know I can do better," the France international told L'Equipe. "But that doesn't make me a bad player. I'm 23 -- it's not finished."
Despite his problems, Kondogbia said he does not regret moving to the 2010 European champions.
"No, never," he said. "I came here to work on my shortcomings. And it's not easy -- you have to work hard. I lack rigour and I came in search of this tactical know-how."
The Lens academy graduate also conceded that French players can sometimes be "a bit lazy" -- backing their natural talent until they move abroad and realise the level of commitment required to make it to the top.
Kondogbia blamed the structures at French clubs and suggested that the clubs would have to change if they were to match the likes of Inter.
"A foreign coach alone in a French club cannot change anything," he said. "It has to enter into people's heads -- it comes from the institution.
"And it has to go from the president to the gardener. Everyone has to be going in the same direction. At Inter, you feel it, even if it must be even more pronounced at Barca or Bayern."