Italian pundits question Friedkin’s Roma management after De Rossi and Mourinho sack | OneFootball

Former Italy players Paolo Di Canio and Beppe Bergomi questioned Roma‘s management under Dan Friedkin, arguing that the club ‘needs directors’ when things don’t go well.

The Roma management is under fire after sacking club legend Daniele De Rossi last week. CEO Lina Souloukou resigned on Sunday, hours before a 3-0 win over Udinese, but not even the first Serie A victory this season mitigated the fans’ anger.

Captain Lorenzo Pellegrini was booed when he was subbed off as fans saw him as one of the responsible for De Rossi’s dismissal.

“I am sorry when boos are aimed at a single player. I never played against a coach in my life. I played for my coaches instead,” said Italy’s 1982 World Cup winner, Bergomi, during Sky Sport Italia’s Sunday night show.

“In the 80s, I remember a director entering the locker room and saying: ‘Look, if we don’t get a result today, we’ll sack the [Inter] coach, Gigi Radice.’ We had one point in five games. We said we wanted to keep the coach even if we had lost. We beat Napoli, and we finished third in the league.”

Italian pundits question Friedkin’s Roma management after De Rossi and Mourinho sack

“Communication should have been different,” argued journalist Fabio Caressa.

“You can’t sack De Rossi with a three-line statement and think nothing will happen.”

Paolo Di Canio, a former Lazio and West Ham coach, also questioned the Friedkins’ club management, insisting that it would be essential to find a replacement for Souloukou.

“They need a link between the owners and the team, somebody who understands why things work well and why they don’t,” he said.

“What’s impressive is that they’re spending a lot of money—nearly 1 billion over these years. The Americans are like this. They manage a business, staying in the office without the crowd outside. It’s a different world, and they are proving to be struggling. They thought they had solved everything with Mourinho; they won a cup and became heroes. They picked up Lukaku with a private jet. Those are great things, but then there is daily work. When things don’t go well, you need directors.”

A few hours after Sky Sports’s Sunday night show, the Friedkins confirmed an agreement for Everton’s takeover, but according to the Italian broadcasters, the American businessmen are not considering selling the club, although Dan Friedkin will be following closely the Toffees from now on.