Monchi: 'Alisson not for sale'

By Football Italia staff

Roma director of sport Monchi won’t stand for Barcelona distraction, then clarifies Lorenzo Pellegrini and Alisson Becker are not for sale.

It kicks off at 11.30 UK time (10.30 GMT), click here for the line-ups and Liveblog.

“Today we must think only of Bologna, as we want to continue fighting for third place. There are three teams behind us and our minds must be on the job. Once this game is over, we’ll think about Barcelona and the Champions League quarter-final,” the director of sport told Mediaset Premium.

Edin Dzeko and Cengiz Under are rested, so Patrik Schick gets a rare start as the centre-forward.

“Schick also said he expected more from himself and we must show the same faith in him that we had over the summer. Patrik is a player of immense quality, he just needs consistency and to score goals for his confidence. We’re happy to wait for him to bloom.

“All our players can do even better, including Alisson. I am honestly a little tired of talking about Alisson’s future, as I get asked this in every interview now.

“We have not received any offers and have no intention of selling. We are happy to have Alisson, we want to enjoy him. I don’t want to name a hypothetical price-tag for him, because when someone doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t name a price.

“There are reports going around that Lorenzo Pellegrini has a very low release clause, but I want to point out those stories are incorrect. Lorenzo will be an important figure in Roma’s future. He is Roman, he’s a Romanista and he grew up in our youth academy.”

Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow