Florent Ghisolfi explains Roma’s objectives, De Rossi’s dismissal and more in in-depth interview

Roma sporting director Florent Ghisolfi released a lengthy interview to Il Romanista where he was asked about several hot topics.

Among the main talking points was Daniele De Rossi’s sudden dismissal, the club’s internal structure and Roma’s main objectives for the long-term.

“Now we need to find stability, and it’s not easy. We want to build a club that is not dependent on a coach, a sports director, on anyone,” said Ghisolfi.

“For this reason we prefer to focus on building a staff, for example now we have Mark Sertori, the new director of performance, now that the market is over we will rebuild the scouting department.”

“The goal is to ensure that when even a director or a coach leaves the club, the organization is not affected. It is unusual for a coach and the CEO to leave the club in the same week, now we are looking for that stability.”

“It is no coincidence that Juric complimented the club for its organization,” he added.

“De Rossi’s departure? I understand the many questions about the timing and the reasons, but I don’t want to fuel a useless debate. The decision has been made. These are inconveniences in our work, we must try to continue to build and move forward with the work.”

“I started working 4 months ago, Lina Souloukou’s organization was already up and running, I adapted by looking for a balance between CEO, sporting director and coach.”

“A new CEO will be appointed soon, the goal is to create cohesion and a working relationship with the final goal of achieving a certain performance for the club.”

“Soulé’s role in our plans? Soulé is suitable for the 433 but even more so in the 343, in the two behind a central striker. In the final part, De Rossi had also switched to the three-man defense, he had realized that the players could adapt better to this type of deployment.”

“And because analyzing the situation, the defense needed more stability. This is why in Genoa we played with three at the back and this is why at the end of the transfer market Saelemaekers, Hermoso and Hummels arrived, all players suited to this system.”

“There was also the unexpected failed transfer of Danso. In any case, we have 7 players who can play as the fifth midfielder. And Ivan Juric now represents continuity with the work done in the summer.”

“Speaking of stability, many clubs have based it on a game system, the game plan is also at the center of our ideas and so it will also be easier to sign new players and develop them. Atalanta is an example in this sense, now we are also looking for this tactical stability by playing like this with the first team and also with the youth team.”

“Dybala? Everyone knows how things went. Roma didn’t push at all to sell him. There was a very strong interest from a Saudi club, he thought about it, 99% of players would have done it, in the end he made the heartfelt choice to stay.”

“We know the player and the connection he has inside and outside, with the fans, his teammates, the club and above all with Dan and Ryan Friedkin.”

“We are a pragmatic club, we know that if a 30-year-old player has the opportunity to leave we are forced to take it into consideration. In any case, we knew on the one hand that we had to be ready to replace him, on the other we had the positive side of continuing to have a top player and person.”

“We have a long-term goal of three years, but we also focused on the market and the performances of the players. We no longer signed players on loan with high salaries, we lowered the squad’s average age and the wage bill. The average age has dropped by 1.5 years, in a league like Serie A in which the average age has risen for everyone.”

“And in addition we have also improved the accounts, even if the data is confidential and I cannot reveal it. Then for more decisive improvements we will need more transfer windows.”

“The physical data has also improved, we want fewer injuries and this data has also improved by 10%.”

“Then there are the short-term goals: you will never hear me talk about transition, we are Roma and we have to perform every year, I can only assure you that I will always give 100% of myself.”

“Dan and Ryan make strong choices, but I assure you that they also know how to support the people who work for the club. A sentence that sums up the project well is that we want a high-performing and sustainable team.”

“De Rossi? Daniele and I went through a difficult and painful time, he is a legend of the club, I thank him because he welcomed me in a perfect way, we had a frank and honest relationship, and honestly I was touched by the situation because if the coach fails I am affected too.”

“I would like to underline that as Dan wrote in the press release this remains his home and we are all sure that he will have a great career.”

“The players were also affected. Now my goal is to create internal unity, if a player is booed everyone is booed. And then we have Juric who, with his humility and his respect for Daniele and the players, in a few days has done an admirable job, showing a lot of cohesion in an understandably difficult context.”

“And then two victories and a draw arrived in a few days, I discovered a man and a coach of quality and value. This also explains my hug with him at the end of the match with Udinese.”

“The Friedkins have always been very clear: they want the best for Roma and they demonstrate it every day on an economic level and by spending a lot of personal energy.”

“Winning is the objective, but we have to do it through all the things we listed before. As for Everton, nothing has changed: here no one can imagine how committed they are to the club and I am a witness to it.”

“My arrival at Roma? As far as I’m concerned, the first contacts were during the spring, I was in Nice, I had also had other contacts with clubs involved in the Champions League, I think I did a good job at Lens and Nice in creating a club culture and building the team.”

“I had three or four interviews with the Friedkins, then I arrived a bit late because I had to free myself from Nice, so we only started working at the beginning of June.”

“As for Juric, we chose to give continuity to the imagined team, he is known for his three-man defense, he knows the team, the players and Serie A and he was also available to accept a short-term contract, without even discussing the financial part. He has the quality to take Roma where it deserves to be.”

“Even in terms of identity Juric corresponds to the values ​​because he works a lot and asks the players to work a lot, work is one of the values ​​that have been instilled in me since I arrived. And then we want an aggressive Roma that goes to press high, as Daniele was also doing.”

“When we see guys like Baldanzi and Pisilli enter the field in that way it also corresponds to the DNA of Roma as we understand it. And we want to bring more and more youth players into the first team.”

“I have no problem talking about Zalewski. We have opened a dialogue with the agents, we hope to find a solution as soon as possible. From the club’s side, losing the player on a free transfer is not an option.”

“For Pisilli we are looking for a solution as soon as possible, he already has a contract, we are in open discussion with the agents. It is right that he is repaid for his work, but it is more important that he is so performing and then we will see.”

“Svilar also deserves a renewal, we are talking about it,” he added.

“First of all, let me say a word about the youth sector, for us it is something very important. Alberto De Rossi is in charge of it, we have brought in Roberto Trapani as head of scouting to find the best players in Rome and Italy.”

“And then we have Bruno Conti who has stayed with us, he follows the teams from under 14 and below and we want to continue to support the sector.”

“As for the U23 team, we are thinking about it. Of course it represents a cost, but the teams that have done it see the fruits of the work done. In short, I can’t tell you yet that it is certain, but we are thinking about it.”

“Le Fée? He has never had any major injuries, not even when he was young.”

“It’s a shame, this injury stops his evolution a bit, he had played well against Cagliari and Empoli, the coach likes him a lot, it’s important to recover him. Here too, however, we see the quality of the group. We will have other injuries, with many games, but we have a squad that allows us to see the quality of the players.”

“This summer we managed not to sell top players in the squad, that is another objective of the Friedkins, to continue in this direction. We have put aside a good economic result despite not selling top players.”

“We want to enter the new stadium with important players, I hope to be able to proceed in this direction without having to sell the most important players.”

“Dybala’s renewal? There is no on-going discussion. The only thing we want is for Dybala to be focused on the pitch, to free himself mentally and to be able to give his best on the pitch.”

“Abdulhamid? Saud was not bought to be a starter. He has many qualities. He is a player who has just arrived in Europe from Saudi Arabia.”

“Thinking that he has no qualities means not knowing the player, he should not be judged for 15 minutes in the first match at the Olimpico, in such an important match. Playing with three at the back, we have many players who can play on the wing, even on the right, he is one of these.”