Roma: Tiago Pinto reveals all about Zaniolo and Frattesi

Roma: Tiago Pinto reveals all about Zaniolo and Frattesi

In the early part of the soccer market session Nicolò Zaniolo seemed close to a move to Juventus. The Bianconeri were looking for Paulo Dybala’s replacement and had identified the Italian international as the ideal heir.

Tiago Pinto spoke about Zaniolo in a conference like this, “Never was he close to leaving. Today the market is over and as said last year for Nicolò was a season of recovery for him. This one will be even better and it has never been a problem. He is happy and has helped the team a lot. Now he has to recover, but 30 minutes ago I called Vigorelli to schedule our meetings so as not to feed newspaper pages.”

“From the outside the market looks fun, but it’s a tough three months for us. I think the team has improved. I have no doubt about that. Today we have more solutions, but I don’t agree with talking about instant team. Roma is the fourth youngest team in Serie A, it was not like that when I arrived. Our strategy has always been to create space for guys like Zalewski. As said from day one then we need a balance and we can’t just bring in with Tammy Abraham, but we also need experienced players. I think the team is stronger, but still with what I think is our greatest value which is the leadership of our coach. Mourinho has turned players into great players. We expect something better than last season, but never talk about the Scudetto. We don’t want to hide, but I struggle to think about May when we are in September. Daily work is important, but as Belotti said we have to believe we win every game.”

“Regarding the defense, I don’t want to hide anything,” ah continued Pinto. “I think it’s obvious, if we play 3, it’s normal that we could have an extra central. We haven’t been able to, I think we will have solutions in the team that may not be ideal, but that’s okay, we have players with quality who can do more than one role. You talk a lot about Mourinho, I talk about him as a coach. Here at Roma he showed with Zalewski and others that in the moment of difficulty he found solutions. There are players like Karsdorp, Vina and Cristante who can play there, we have made several small efforts to bring in players, we cannot go on like this. Things are complex, more than they seem”-

“Frattesi is my favorite player, excluding those at Roma. He will be among the strongest midfielders in the national team. I go to a club, I ask what he wants and I have to respect him. Two things I have to say though, I don’t use the press to make the market, then everyone makes their own evaluation. Sassuolo made a price, we could not arrive and that was it. Sassuolo is a great sporting project, Frattesi is a great player, but I am a bit German in the way I do the market. I don’t stand there a month for 2-3 million, if there is no money patience and we move on.”