Roma director Walter Sabatini defends the sale of Mattia Destro saying the player was 'unhappy', and expects Seydou Doumbia to be 'prolific'.
The Giallorossi are under heavy criticism at the moment for their increasingly inconsistent form, epitomised by the 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina which saw them crash out of the Coppa Italia yesterday evening.
The main man behind the Lupi's recent transfer actions, acknowledged that the delay in carrying out some of his work may have had something to do with the poor results.
Roma director Walter Sabatini defends the sale of Mattia Destro saying the player was 'unhappy', and expects Seydou Doumbia to be 'prolific'.
The Giallorossi are under heavy criticism at the moment for their increasingly inconsistent form, epitomised by the 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina which saw them crash out of the Coppa Italia yesterday evening.
The main man behind the Lupi's recent transfer actions, acknowledged that the delay in carrying out some of his work may have had something to do with the poor results.
“The delay was due to contingent market situations,” began Sabatini in a Press conference to present new signing Victor Ibarbo.
“We'd found our objectives, we knew what we wanted to do and we did it. There were some contradictory situations, we needed players immediately, but were unable to get them.
“I'm satisfied because we met the targets we'd set ourselves. With a bit of luck we could have closed some of the operations earlier.
“Instinct plays a large part in my decision-making process. We chose strong players making some strategic choices, sacrificing [Mattia] Destro, because he was feeling unhappy.
“We need to be able to trust a player's faith in the strength of the project that he embraces. Destro was a very strong player, but when Roma purchased him, we did so with impervious faith.
“Now he is temporarily at Milan. He could return or stay there. If he doesn't return we'll have enough funds to invest elsewhere, if he does return then we'll be proud because the lad grew up here.
“We replaced him with a highly prolific player [Seydou Doumbia], who averages 0.9 goals per match, and not just in what you call 'smaller' tournaments but also in the Champions League.
“I met him against Palermo and he dazzled me. He's hungry for goals. We've been knocked out of the Coppa Italia, but we're diving right away into the Europa League with the intention of winning it.
“It's an objective that is functional to the next Champions League, even though we must defend with extreme determination our second place from Napoli.
“We opted not to reinforce the wings out of a technical decision. We trust [Douglas] Maicon, and also [Vasilis] Torosidis, who never disappointed us when he played. Most of you have always appreciated his behaviour.
“Maicon has a very high level of pain resistance, he was lambasted by the critics, but I'd like to invite you all to watch his first half again. In the second half they pierced us on the right, but this happened again even after Maicon left the pitch.
“Maicon is not a player that Roma will discard. We are waiting for him, with all the trouble that he bears on his shoulders.”
Roma have had absences through January due to the Africa Cup of Nations
“We hope our players will do well at the international level and that they may win the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Personally I'd have preferred for them to be knocked out. These are very unfavourable and unexpected circumstances. [Juan] Iturbe got injured just when he was growing.
“[Victor] Ibarbo showed up here as a champion that has yet to express himself. We want to take his qualities and turn them into those of a champion.
“He came into his conference with a contraction to his leg, which was embarrassing, but it's not going to take long to heal.”