Sabatini: ‘Pallotta is insecure’

By Football Italia staff

Former Roma sporting director Walter Sabatini calls President James Pallotta “an insecure man”.

The famed transfer guru is now technical director at Sampdoria, but he still retains a love for the Giallorossi thanks to his time in the capital.

“I’m trying to heal from the Roma disease, I can’t carry it with me all my life,” Sabatini told Corriere dello Sport.

“Roma is not a team, it’s a state of being in your soul. I can’t carry that with me for all my life.

“When I said I would never leave I thought that would be so. Roma has a nefarious effect, it sinks into your bones. After that I worked for Suning, not for Inter. Then I returned to reality.

“Only now, two years on, can I talk about Roma with some detachment.

“Pallotta? An insecure man. When I think of him I only remember denials. Even that’s saying too much, I don’t want to wake up when day and remember I spoke about Pallotta!”

Sabatini was replaced by Monchi, and he was asked whether the Giallorossi squad still feels like his own.

“We’re very different. He [Monchi] has a method and I don’t. Let's say that he is more sensitive than me to the benevolence of the world.

“I must say though that he’s always publicly acknowledged my work.

“Does it still feel like my Roma? From the sale of Radja [Nainggolan], no more. He was right to change so much, a cycle ends and you need to understand that.

“I like the signing of [Justin] Kluivert, a great move. The Frenchman behind him [Javier Pastore, an Argentinian signed from Paris Saint-Germain] is strong too, they’re set up to be strong until the very end.

“Nainggolan’s sale? There are two explanations for that move. There was the €38m in cash before June 30, of which €14m went back for [Davide] Santon and [Nicolò] Zaniolo.

“The second is that Roma were scared. They could no longer control his excesses, but Spalletti controls him well.

“He used to make him sleep at Trigoria. He’d say: ‘we’ll sleep here tonight Radja, me and you’. Each in his room with the door open. Spalletti is a genius with those things.

“You love someone like Radja, he fascinates you as a lad.

“At Inter I’m sure he’ll give the best of himself as a player, just as he did for Roma. At Inter though he’ll do things that people don’t even expect.

“He gets his energy from nerves, not from muscles. He’s a unique, unrepeatable player.”

The Ninja formed a midfield partnership with Kevin Strootman, will the Dutchman ever get back to his best?

“Don’t knock Kevin, he’s my hero,” Sabatini warned.

“And he always will be, because football is played every day of the week, not just on a Sunday.”

Sabatini then discussed some of the players he worked with in Rome, starting with Daniele De Rossi.

“He’s a great soul, someone who would cut his arm off for Roma.

“Francesco Totti? I love him. He’s an insurmountable monolith, if you touch him you’re dead. It’s not his fault, at the age of 20 people were already making him think: ‘I am Roma’.

“He’s an engaging man and an immeasurable champion, I saw him do unprecedented things on the pitch.

“As for Juan Iturbe, he had a problem we kept hidden. He started very strongly with Roma, then he probably snapped his posterior cruciate ligament and we never operated on it.

“We opted for conservative surgery, but from then on he’s never been himself.

“Former Coach Rudi Garcia? In his first year at Roma he brought a great lightness, then in the third he went underwater a little, and I with him.

“The President was rude with Rudi, there’s no need to rubbish a man who took you to the Champions League twice.”

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