Nainggolan outraged at De Rossi’s sacking: “It’s a joke, pure madness.” | OneFootball

Former Roma man Radja Nainggolan expressed his outrage with Roma’s decision to sack Daniele De Rossi.

In an interview with Il Tempo, Nainggolan criticized the club for dismissing De Rossi so early on in the season.

“To me it’s pure madness,” said the ex-Roma midfielder. “Last year he came to Rome saying that he wasn’t even interested in money, then he earned confirmation with good results. They give him a three-year contract announcing it with great fanfare and now this… After four days he is kicked out, it seemed strange to me, pure madness.”

“Atalanta lost 4-0 to Inter and was unwatchable, they didn’t fire Gasperini because he didn’t start like in previous years. You give him a three-year contract and after four days you kick him out, in my opinion there’s something behind it.”

“They can say whatever they want about the results, but if all the players are on his side there is obviously something more than what they say. It seems really strange to me.”

“They brought in De Rossi to calm the streets a bit, given that after Mourinho arrived the streets were in complete euphoria. After having kicked out Mourinho they had to find a person with whom the fans would remain behind the team and with De Rossi they had found the right solution.”

“After four days you can never make definitive judgments. This dismissal seems like a joke to me, it cannot be justified by the fact that he drew three times in four games, in the end he only lost one game. I would have given him much more time, because last year when he took over the team played much better than when Mourinho was there.”

“A couple of victories were enough and you were back at the top, the league table is still short. We’re talking about a decision taken after a 95th minute equaliser… You have a young coach, who has little experience, who did well last year and you’re giving him a three-year contract. All the things you did were just for show and to show the fans that you had faith in him, that he was the coach of the future… It’s not a complete story, understand?”

“If you give this contract to De Rossi it means that you have to give him time to work and four days is not the right time to work to start a new season. There have been many changes. Dovbyk needs time to settle in, Soulé ditto even if he has quality. Many players have come from abroad and need to adapt in Italy. He was not allowed to work on all this, the market was completed late.”

“He walks away from this job with his head held high. He must always remain himself because he is appreciated for who he is, for who he was as a player, for who he is as a coach and as a man. I would never change for anyone.”

“He even let a young player like Pisilli play, who did very well. He had the balls to let young people play. One trains better and plays. Only in this way does he remain credible in front of the locker room. He reiterated 100 thousand times that he wanted to be judged only as a coach and that he was ready for criticism.”

“Juric? It remains to be seen. He did well in Turin and Verona. Now he is in a big team, he has to bring out the qualities of the players a little more if he wants to have a chance. He always played very physical and very intense football. Roma doesn’t have a team to reach the top four. It won’t be easy at all to get to the Champions League.”