Roma market, Gasperini calls and Ranieri answers: a clear message arrives

On the sidelines of Friday night’s league match against Pisa, Roma’s senior advisor Claudio Ranieri answered questions from ‘Sky Sport’ focusing, in particular, on what Gian Piero Gasperini had said in the press conference: the Grugliasco coach had in fact criticized, not too veiledly, some of the club’s operations.

“Both last year and this year I was asked which profiles to take,” said Ranieri. “Every player that arrived was viewed and approved by me and, this year, by the coach. We brought Malen and Wesley to Rome, but not only them: all the others were also chosen through a shared process. It is too easy to reduce everything to those two names. Ferguson, for example, we both wanted him.”

“We missed some opportunities and time, as in the case of Sancho: we tried until the last moment, but in the end he was the one who didn’t want to come anymore. Some players the coach didn’t like and we didn’t take them. Also, for reasons related to Financial Fair Play, we were forced to resort to several loans. Some are Roma level, like Wesley and Malen, while others have not proven to be at the same level.”

It can happen: we took them, they didn’t fit in, someone got injured, others didn’t turn out to be suitable for us. At that point the solution is simple: let’s change them,” Ranieri said, sketching a smile to try to dampen tempers after the controversy that followed Gasperini’s words.