Mazzarri: 'N'Koulou refused to play'

By Football Italia staff

Walter Mazzarri and President Urbano Cairo confirm Nicolas N’Koulou refused to play against Sassuolo after interest from Roma.

The defender has been heavily linked with a move to the Stadio Olimpico in the final days of the transfer window, which closes on September 2.

“After the Wolverhampton match on Thursday, I sat the team down to show them the videos of the defensive errors we made, but N’Koulou didn’t even want to watch it, saying his mind wasn’t in the right place,” Mazzarri told Sky Sport Italia.

“I encouraged him and said we’d talk about it later. I called him again, but he said he didn’t want to be called up. Out of respect for his teammates, I decided not to play him tonight.

“President Cairo has always kept his promises and he promised to me that we are keeping N’Koulou. He turned down important offers from big clubs.

“We wanted to give a sense of consistency to what we did towards the end of last season. I know that Roma tried very hard to sign him and we wanted to keep the player. I won’t say more.

“Does he want to stay at Torino? You’d have to ask him that, all I can say is that we did everything to keep him.”

Torino President Cairo also spoke to Sky Sport Italia about the situation and said he was “stunned, dumbfounded and astonished” by the defender’s behaviour.

The Granata do not seem intent on selling, especially after this behaviour, but it remains to be seen how the situation will develop.

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