Mourinho reveals side to face Napoli as he discusses transfer activity

Roma head to Naples on Sunday night to face Serie A leaders Napoli in an eagerly-anticipated contest.

Ahead of the match at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (kick-off: 20:45 CET), head coach Jose Mourinho spoke to the assembled media at Trigoria.

Here is everything the boss had to say during his pre-match press conference...

Nicolo Zaniolo has become the story of the transfer window. How will you manage the player now and how do you expect this story to evolve? Will there be some disciplinary action taken over his conduct?

“As far as that goes I can’t really say. Unfortunately, it looks like I was right. Unfortunately, right now it seems like things are heading in the same direction that I said they would after the game against Spezia.”

Why do you say ‘unfortunately’?

“Because it’s been a month now that the player has been saying every day that he wants to leave. To give you an example, after the game against Spezia I gave everyone Monday off and told them all that on Tuesday the training session was an optional one. I said to the players, ‘Myself and the other coaches will be here at Trigoria, but you can choose whether you come in or not.’

“All those who were on the bench in La Spezia trained [on Tuesday], as did all those who played – that’s the type of player that you want as a coach. Team players, who share the values of the club and their teammates. Even the players who were on the bench are thinking, ‘I am not playing right now but sooner or later the team will need me’. That’s what you want from your players.

“When a player says, firstly to the club, but then to his teammates and his coach ‘I do not want to play for Roma, I do not want to wear the Roma shirt, I do not want to resume playing, I do not want to train with the rest of the squad’ … then that’s why I am saying ‘unfortunately’.

“I had this suspicion when I said that I was expecting to see Nicolo here on February 1. And unfortunately that seems to be what is happening. Beyond that, if you want to know all the details, if you want to know how and why things have happened like this, then don’t expect them from me.

"I will only say once again that Nicolo is not available to the team, that our focus is on Napoli, that I only focus on those who want to be here and fight for this club and these fans. And that Nicolo won’t be part of ‘Project Naples’, if we want to call it that.”

What are you expecting from Napoli tomorrow?

“The same Napoli that we have seen from the first day of the season. I hope I won’t be misinterpreted, but I congratulate Napoli on winning the title. It’s theirs, they have won it, and they deserve it. They are the strongest side, they have a good coach, they have great players, they did great business in the summer and they are working brilliantly together. They have got a 12-point lead on second place, 13 over Inter who were aiming for the title. That is a big gap.

“Inter, Milan and other rivals have not been able to find the consistency to win seven or eight games in a row. But will Roma be going to celebrate Napoli’s title tomorrow? No, we will be going there trying to win. To play our game. But well done to them and to Luciano [Spalletti], they have won the title and they have deserved it.”

Is your future here a work in progress? Is it linked to qualifying for the Champions League, or to other improvements?

“I get your question, but I think this is one that the club should ask me. When I was younger and perhaps a bit more immature, I would discuss with you in the press the sort of things that now I believe should remain internal.

“Maturity helps you be a bit more restrained – I don’t want to say more ethical, but maybe more of a team player. Less egotistical, less self-centered. This is a question that the club should ask me, whenever they think the time is right to put it to me. But right now I do not have an answer for you.”

It looks like the transfer window is going to close with few changes to the squad. If anything, you will have two players fewer at your disposal: Zaniolo and Rick Karsdorp. Has this Roma side got weaker?

“First of all, I am going to give you a gift. I want to thank the many, many people who wished me a happy birthday this week – lots of really nice people, lots of people I don’t even know … and I even got some presents too. I want to thank everyone for that, it wasn’t something I expected and it was amazing.

“So my gift is the team for tomorrow: Rui Patricio in goal, Zalewski on the right, Spinazzola on the left, the three usual centre-backs [Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez] with Kumbulla on the bench. Cristante, Matic and Pellegrini will all play, with Dybala and Tammy Abraham.

“With Eldor [Shomurodov] leaving we will have one player yes. He is a great lad who has worked really hard to be able to play for Roma but has not had a lot of chances to play games. Even before coming here he had not played for long in Genoa. He needs to play football.

"And if this loan goes well, over the next six months, it’s because it is something he needs and something he deserves. It’s one of us leaving, which is always a bit sad, but he needs to play. If one leaves and no-one comes in, then clearly it reduces our options by one.”

Are you expecting something to happen in the market then?

“No, the financial fair play situation has become a lot clearer for everyone. There are limitations in place on Roma. Eldor’s departure is a paid loan, with us saving on his salary for that period, but it won’t make a big difference on the transfer business we can or cannot do. That’s why I am not expecting anything, I just expect things to get tougher because the competitive balance has changed.

“Now we move into a new phase of the season, with three games a week, with the Coppa Italia and the Europa League. But the squad is amazing: friendly, united. We will compete together until the final minute for the fans who have always backed us so well.”

Is Karsdorp in the same situation as Zaniolo?

“Karsdorp is out for as long as he wants to be out. It won’t take much for him to return to the group. Right now he has a small injury but he is training with the group – since the Algarve he has been a part of the training group as normal.

“In this case there is one person who has been a liar, who has tried to sully the image of the coach and the club – neither of whom have deserved that. We are talking about lies. So to become an option again, it’s completely down to him.”

How many players do Napoli have who are as good as Paulo Dybala?

“Players at the same level as Dybala, zero. They have a lot of good players, great players even. I’ll tell you a story about one of their players, who I wanted to sign for Tottenham. I spoke to him. He would have cost 10 million; Tottenham offered five and then could get to 7 or 8. At the time Tottenham couldn’t spend much – now they can, but not back then.

“The lad really wanted to join, I spoke with him a few times on FaceTime. The lad was that ‘useless’ one that plays in defence, Kim [Min-jae]. Napoli have a lot of good players and they are a great side – but for me they don’t have one as good as Dybala.”

How is Georginio Wijnaldum doing? Are there any updates?

“Time is definitely helping, even if he is still not training with the team in competitive scenarios. Every 15 days he undergoes scans to check what is going on. Time passes and he gets closer to being back.

“I don’t want to say when – it’s impossible to say when – but perhaps he needs another 10 days to be with the team, two or three weeks before he’s ready for a couple of match cameos. Everything is going in a positive direction, we haven’t had any setbacks in that regard. He’s working harder and harder to be ready.”

I ask myself how one of the struggling teams in the Premier League can make such an offer for Zaniolo, but the champions of Italy are not able to match it. Why is there such a difference?

“Everything comes back to TV rights. When they play the Championship play-off final, which is like Serie B here, they play it at Wembley between the teams who finished between third and sixth in that division. When they play that match it is the richest match in the world for the winning side – richer even than a Champions League final. The team that wins goes into the Premier League and will immediately receive more money than the champions of Europe.

“That tells you everything. It’s a different economic reality. It’s true that all the clubs in the Premier League – beyond their individual ambitions and ownerships – are richer than those in Italy. Perhaps you can say Juventus have a power to match them, but for all the others [in Italy] it is difficult.”

So the obvious question is another: can Mourinho’s future only be there, in the Premier League?

“That I don’t know. A few English newspapers wrote about that, as did some here, but I didn’t really understand it. Some were saying ‘Premier League clubs want Jose’ and others were saying ‘Jose wants the Premier League’.

“But Jose does not want anything, has never wanted anything – I have always been calm and happy where I am and whatever happens, happens. I don’t want anything. I am happy living day-by-day.

“When the club decides that it is time to talk with me about the future, then I am here. Every day. I basically sleep here every day. I hardly go home. But I prefer not to talk about these things with you. As you know, I am focused on Roma and not worrying about my future.”

Have you spoken with Chris Smalling? Have you asked him to stay at Roma? And does he want to stay here?

“Chris is playing really well, he’s shown that his focus is on Roma and on being the best he can be. His situation is still up in the air. I have never spoken to him about this, it’s a personal matter that he needs to resolve in talks with the club.

“My personal conviction is that he wants to stay. The club knows how important he is and how professional he is, especially over the last two seasons, during which he has played every game and has not had any problems with injury. My conviction is that an agreement can be found.

“In my opinion it’s a situation where he is more 'here' than 'there'; but both sides need to come to an agreement. Roma because they need Chris and Chris because I do not see another place out there where he would be happier than he is here.

“I think in the end we will reach a good conclusion.”