Roma endured a tough winter transfer market window that was overshadowed with the saga surrounding Galatasaray-bound Nicolo Zaniolo. Sporting director Tiago Pinto has expressed his disappointment at the recently concluded window, but backed the Giallorossi to bounce back stronger than ever.
Ahead of his side’s visit to Lecce, Pinto spoke in length regarding the decision to sell Zaniolo after the relationship between the player and the club fractured disastrously in January.
“I don’t hide from my responsibilities, we could have taken more money. The proof is that a week ago we had a bigger offer. With all that has happened, we have arrived at a situation that isn’t bad for either side. I’m not really happy, but it could hardly have been done better.” (via VoceGiallorossa)
Zaniolo rejected outright an offer from Bournemouth which Roma accepted, further complicating things before the end of the transfer window. However, Pinto seemed fed up with talking only about Zaniolo.
“I have to say that Zaniolo was a difficult situation to manage. Considering the stakes, we had the solution and it could please everyone (Bournemouth), but we weren’t able to do things as we would have liked. Nicolò didn’t create all of Roma’s problems, then we were a little disappointed by his attitude. I don’t want to talk about Zaniolo throughout the press conference, he was loved in the city but he decided to leave and things settled.”
Having been left disappointed by the transfer market, Pinto focused on bettering the club’s squad in the future.
“I have no doubts that in 3-4 years Roma will be more solid and will have a different power, but we have to follow this path and there is no other way. When I leave Rome I want to be sure of leaving Rome in the best possible way. We are third in the standings, but we have to continue on this path. Nothing was done in Italy in January, it’s a theme of Italian football and it’s difficult to compete with the Premier League. It will always be difficult to do better than other clubs, just to think that the team from tenth place down has more economic power than all the clubs in Italy.”
Roma are currently third in Serie A with 40 points, three points behind Inter and 16 behind league leaders Napoli. However, all is not lost for the Giallorossi this season, as they compete in the UEFA Europa League – taking on RB Salzburg next.
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