Rudi Garcia believes that Roma will be a stronger team with Radja Nainggolan, but wants to focus on the Coppa Italia.
The Belgium international completed his move to the Giallorossi on Tuesday, and the French Coach is confident that the 25-year-old can fit seamlessly into his XI.
Rudi Garcia believes that Roma will be a stronger team with Radja Nainggolan, but wants to focus on the Coppa Italia.
The Belgium international completed his move to the Giallorossi on Tuesday, and the French Coach is confident that the 25-year-old can fit seamlessly into his XI.
“What does Nainggolan offer us? We can talk about him because he's a Roma player now and I can say that we'll be a stronger team with Radja,” he told a Press conference.
“He's not just a signing for the second half of this season but for the future too – we hope to be playing in Europe next year so having another quality option is a good thing.
“Pjanic? Nothing changes for Miralem. Where could Nainggolan play? He can play in all three midfield slots. He's an all-round player.
“Play four midfielders together? That's possible because Pjanic can play higher up the field and Radja also has attacking abilities.
“I'd rather not change our formation but it's good to have more options. We'll be stronger with Radja for next season too."
Garcia then commented on the Coppa clash with Sampdoria tomorrow and how he hopes for a response after the loss to Juventus at the weekend.
“There's nothing more to say about Turin – tomorrow we're playing in the cup, not the League. Our only aim is to beat Sampdoria and reach the quarters, and we'll put everything into achieving that.
“As for what happened on Sunday, I can only refer to Buffon's words – he praised the way we played in the first half an hour and that's a positive to take for us.
“How do we bounce back? The best thing is to focus on the field and get stuck into the next game. We want to prove to ourselves and to others that just how determined we are to get back to winning ways.
“I repeat, I have nothing else to say about Turin. I don't want to waste time on a defeat. All that matters is winning the next one, which is right around the corner and we're playing at home.
“I hope we get a good turnout against Samp. It's a 6 pm kick-off on a working day unfortunately, which doesn't make it easy. I find that strange. The Coppa Italia is a great competition but I think the fans should be given the chance to come to the stadium.
“The Scudetto race? You add things up at the end. It's very dangerous to draw conclusions based on a single match. We lost our first game after 17 without defeat.
“That means that what we did before then wasn't at all bad and we can repeat it. The cup is important to us – we've won it nine times and if we can make it ten, and put a star on our jersey, it will be good thing.”