Gattuso Tells Lotito to ‘Talk Less’, Reveals Why He Urged Lazio to Sell Gila | OneFootball

Lotito has to be the president. The less a president speaks, the better. That should be the approach. It’s up to us to create something positive, then we’ll see. That’s how I see it—I say what I think I’ll be honest: I have a straightforward relationship with Lotito—that’s just the way I am. I told him he needs to do me a favour and sort a few things out behind the scenes. I don’t care who you are, and no one should take offence. I want to see people who work. I told him that if he wants to say something to the squad, he’s entitled to do so because it’s his club. I also told him he has too many phones and that the situation isn’t easy to manage. That’s one of his flaws. But the team needs to stay united. We work for him, but I’ll always tell him exactly what I think, respectfully.

Day-to-day work is about talking to people. When I speak to Fabiani and Bianchi, the people I work with every day here at Formello, we tell each other everything. Then, if we can’t sign a player, they explain why and I have to accept it. But if I don’t like a player, we’re not signing him. If we can’t land one target, we’ll move on to another. I knew about the transfer situation and that we’d need sales before buying. I’m not an accountant or a financial adviser—we’ll see what happens.

For our fans, we only have one obligation: honour the shirt. Nothing else comes to mind. I’d do anything to bring them back to the stadium, but I know it won’t be easy. The Olimpico has always given me goosebumps—so much passion, parents taking their children to games. It’s up to us to make them proud again.

I’ll tell you the truth. If it had been up to Fabiani and Lotito, Gila would have stayed until the end (of his contract). It was my decision: if someone doesn’t want to stay, then they shouldn’t stay. A player has to be mentally committed. I spoke to Mario and I was honest with him. He told me how much money they were offering him. How can you convince him after that? I played football myself—when opportunities like that come along, what do you do? I talked it through with him and told him he had to leave. As a person, Mario is beyond criticism, but he couldn’t stay any longer. There was the contract situation, his motivation, and so on. Credit also to the sporting director, who pulled off a brilliant piece of business. Both Lotito and Fabiani would have kept him until his contract expired. I pushed for the sale because he wouldn’t have been 100% mentally focused.

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