Joao Sacramento left José Mourinho’s team in December and Serge Aurier’s latest interview somehow confirms why the Portuguese tactician walked out of Roma.
Mourinho replaced Sacramento with Salvatore Foti at the beginning of 2022. The former Sampdoria striker had already served as Marco Giampaolo’s assistant at Marassi. Il Tempo reported in January that Sacramento had been forced to leave Roma because he didn’t have a good rapport with the players, so Mourinho had to take action.
Sacramento didn’t show hard feelings in an Instagram post shared on January 1. “2021 ended with the end of a two-year cycle with coach Mourinho, which has made me really proud. Working with you was a dream and I will forever be grateful to you, all the best,” he wrote.
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Reports of disagreements with Roma players sound less surprising now that Serge Aurier, a former Tottenham defender, has spoken out about his time with Mourinho in North London.
“[Mourinho] is still a great coach, but there are things that have evolved. Sometimes players need more love and attention,” he told The Telegraph.
“I’m not speaking for Jose, I’m speaking for his assistant. Joao is a tough guy and he didn’t have a good relationship with the dressing room, that’s why everything deteriorated. There was a lack of good communication.
“It was one of [Sacramento’s] first experiences in a first team and he lacked calm with the players. He needed to be more concerned about the person behind the player.
“Sometimes when you don’t play a lot of sh*t goes through your head, and you need someone to calm you down and help you, to give you good vibes, not to send you negative messages. And I think it all started there.”
Mourinho’s Roma ended a 12-game unbeaten run last week, losing 3-1 against Inter at the Stadio Meazza. It was their second defeat in Serie A in 2022 after the 4-3 loss against Juventus in January. The Giallorossi will face Leicester City in the first leg of the Conference League semi-finals on Thursday.
Serge Aurier exclusive: The real reason things turned sour at Spurs – and why Liverpool are beatable @danigilopez https://t.co/gSiBeSiF8j
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) April 25, 2022