Press Conference: De Rossi pre-Empoli encounter

 Here's what the boss had to say...

The Paulo Dybala saga had a surprising finale as he ended up not leaving. How much of a boost is it that he's now staying? And how far away are Roma from completing your first-choice XI?

“We're a week away from being complete, seven days, and there will be plenty of time to discuss it. It's too early to draw any conclusions at the moment. Paulo's situation was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I'm sure all the fans will get behind us tomorrow and they would have got behind us regardless because so many of them renewed their season tickets before this situation blew up. They've always been by our side.

“We've seen the reaction following Paulo's choice. He turned down huge sums of money and that doesn't happen very often in football nowadays. There would have been plenty of enthusiasm anyway, but now, besides being one of our best players, he'll also be seen as a player who made a decision based on the love that Roma fans have shown to him and the team. It's a nice story and one that's not very common in football so I think they can be proud. They should be proud because often decisions like that are the result of the love fans show their heroes.”

Empoli are a different team to the one you faced last season. They have Ola Solbakken and a new coach, for a start. Perhaps it's harder to study them at this early stage. What sort of opponent are you expecting?

“Why are they harder to study?”

Because they've changed coach and have several new players.

“It's never easy to study opponents because they can always change things during the game. There aren't many matches to go on but we do know Roberto D’Aversa – he hasn't only been coaching for two matches. We know what he wants from his teams. Empoli are a talented side and I wouldn't take their last game as an example for all sorts of reasons. It will be a difficult game.

“What's been most disappointing in these last few weeks is that we've never spoken about the games we've played. We've managed to isolate ourselves somewhat in our football bubble, but it hasn't been easy. I'm sure that if we were to start thinking about Empoli at 6, 7 or 8 o'clock tomorrow, it would be too late. We know it's going to be a very tough match. Different to last season, but not all that different. Hopefully the result will be different.”

What will your 4-3-3 look like now? The two South Americans behind Artem Dovbyk? And with Dybala staying, will you still be looking to bring in the pacy wide player you asked for?

“With the two South Americans behind the front man, it will be more of a 4-2-3-1. The 4-3-3 is a bit different to the way I see it, with the wide forwards hugging the touchline, as that's not exactly Paulo's style of play. We might have to change it when he plays, if he plays. And we'll have to ask Matias [Soule] to do something different too, but yes, they can play together. We've always said they could.

“I wouldn't rule anything out. Good footballers can play together. Sometimes one of them will play, sometimes neither of them. They're both very talented players, just as other players we have are very talented. They have different talent. Which some football fans might like less. Some players are talented with the ball at their feet, others are talented without the ball, some give the team balance. I'll pick the players I feel are the best ones for each game.”

What about bringing in another wide player?

“We have two other wide players besides Paulo and Matias: [Nicola] Zale[wski] and Stephan [El Shaarawy]. We'll see what happens in the next few days. We also have Joao [Costa], a player who's sure to have a great future, and we need to figure out what to do with him. We have [Tommaso] Balda[nzi], who plays a bit more central. I think he's a good box-to-box midfielder and I like the way he plays more centrally.

“We'll see what happens, as other teams will. If you want to buy new players, you have to make room – sometimes in terms of numbers and sometimes financially. Juventus had to sell Soule to buy others. From next week I won't be saying 'We'll see' anymore. There'll be no time left. And we'll have a clearer idea of who we have. The problem will be in the past.

“The transfer window messes up the first few matches. It creates confusion and messes up the transfer market itself because in the first few matches people leverage the market, or try to force players' hands with tactical solutions because of the market. It's a mess. The first few weeks are a mess.

“All we need to do is agree. We just have to realise that the transfer window could close two weeks earlier and it wouldn't make a huge difference. I don't think any coaches, sporting directors or presidents would disagree with such a proposal because it's not my problem – it's a nuisance for everyone.”

On the subject of transfers, have you and the club decided to make some players unavailable because they're leaving or are they all available? What about Rick Karsdorp? Why has he been excluded from the squad?

“The club has never asked me to leave anyone out. We won't do that on Sunday. We don't include players in training sessions or matches if we know will be leaving – unless something changes. That's all we do, to make sure that a deal that has already been agreed isn't complicated by an injury in training. I've never received any instructions.

“As for players who came back from other clubs and have gone out again – they earned it with their work on the pitch and their attitude. Players like [Andrea] Belotti, who didn't come back, Solbakken, Ebrima [Darboe] before then... Those lads deserved to be coached and treated well. Because there's a technical aspect to consider too. Sometimes you can be impressed by a player you've never coached before. I can't deny that Ola and Marash [Kumbulla] had excellent pre-seasons but clearly they wouldn't have got much of a look-in here so it was for the best.

“As for Rick, he wasn't in my plans and I don't think that will change. In fact, it won't change for me. Then of course there's the club and they're in agreement with my decisions and they backed me. Rick is a former team-mate of mine and a friend but for all sorts of reason it wasn't right that he should continue with us. I hope he finds space somewhere else because he's a good player and he deserves it.”

What if the club asked you to bring him back into the fold?

“If the club asked me to coach him with the rest of the squad, I would coach him because he hasn't done anything particularly obscene or serious; it was just small tactical, technical and behavioural details that led me to make this decision, and I take full responsibility for it. I was backed by the club, as always, and we that's what we decided. We'll see what happens. It's a club decision. He's a good player and he deserves to play somewhere else.”

Regarding Dybala, have you been asked to manage his appearances due to the automatic renewal? Have you spoken to the club about that?

“I'm the coach. Paulo will be managed by the coach and by the club. I can't be thinking about clauses or whatnot. I've read something about that and I don't even know if it's true but we agreed that Paulo is still a Roma player, an important Roma player, and he'll be treated as such, like all the others.”

Speaking of Dybala, has your view of him changed at all?

“Paulo knows what I think because before any of this came out we spoke several times. We discussed his ideas, my ideas, what I wanted to do with him, what I liked, what I didn't like. Because that's what I like to do – talk face to face with people. I always did that when I was a player myself. I'd go and say what I thought to my team-mates and coaches. That doesn't mean I'm always right but my conscience is clear because if someone finds out something from another source it means I wasn't clear. And I like being clear with my players, with Paulo, with everyone. I might change my mind sometimes – that can happen – but when I said 'he knows what I think', I meant 'he knows what I think' about that decision. He wasn't surprised. We spoke about it several times. Me about my point of view and him about his.”

Do you plan to manage him differently from a fitness point of view or will he be the main man like in previous seasons?

“To me they're all main men. I'll manage him depending on his fitness, as I'll manage all the others. If they're not fit, if they're not in form, if they're not training well. He hasn't missed a single training session since the start of pre-season, apart from when he got married. And he's always trained hard. From that perspective, the club and I knew that he was training really well. So we'll manage him as we'll manage the others. Which might depend on the opposition, the match, the difficulty, the tactics of our opponents, or the sort of game we're expecting. We'll manage him in the normal way, like all the other players.

“It will cause more of a stir when he's on the bench because he's a top player. But obviously I have to decide what's right based on the next game. Everything is done in Roma's best interests.”

Why is it taking so long to bring in a right-back? At the moment you have Zeki Celik and Buba Sangare – what do you think of him, by the way? Are you expecting to sign a regular starter or someone who can vie with Celik for a starting berth?

“Celik started the most exciting games when I was in charge last season. He's a Turkey international. He won the French league with Lille a few seasons ago. I have a lot of time for him as a person and as a footballer.

“If we sign another player, he'll battle with Celik for the shirt. If not, we have Buba, who has a bright future ahead but is only just 17. We'll need to break him in gently and not rush things. He'll remain part of our squad for sure as that's what I want and I think it's what Buba wants too, even though he knows we've been trying to bring in another player and probably will bring someone in.”

Can Soule play as a left-footed winger on the left of your 4-3-3? And now that Leo Paredes is available again, who can we expect to see alongside him in midfield tomorrow, Bryan Cristante or Enzo Le Fee?

“Matias has impressed me. I prefer players to player as inverted wingers, for lots of reasons, but there are some very good players who have played with their best foot on the outside and done really well, causing havoc for opposition defences. Matias hasn't done that so often and it's something we need to work on a bit more, but in those 20 minutes we played in Cagliari our best move – Paulo's cross for Artem – came about after Soule switched play. Of course there are things he won't be able to do – cutting inside and shooting could prove more difficult – but he can do lots of other things. Perhaps we'll organise our attacks into the box partly based on whether we'll have a left-footer on that side of the pitch. But there are lots of 'ifs'. We'll have to see what happens.

“As for midfield, now that Paredes is available again we'll have to see if Paredes plays or not. If he does play, I'll choose the other midfielders based on Paredes' qualities, but there's no reason why Bryan or Enzo, or Baldanzi, or [Edoardo] Bove, or [Niccolo] Pisilli, or someone else can't play. We have lots of midfielders at the moment. Bryan offers a different kind of physicality.”

How were the new players assessed and signed? Are they 'your' players or Florent Ghisolfi's players? For example, Samuel Dahl and Sangare…

“They're Florent's signings. I didn't know them. I'm shown players and I give my opinion on their technical ability and how well they might fit into our squad with the other players. My knowledge of footballers is obviously not as vast as a sporting director's. I know lots of players but a sporting director who has been working for many years, with his scouts and contacts, knows lots more, so they're players that Florent suggested to me.

“I knew Soule and I knew Dovbyk as they're a bit more famous. But that's where a sporting director's ability lies – in having knowledge of talented players and signing players who might be great for Roma's future."

And how many of his player suggestions are still missing?

“I don't really understand the question but the sporting director lists maybe 15 or 20 per position then we decide together. 'I like this player but he's too expensive. I like this other one but he's not interested. I like this player and he wants to join. Let's get him.' You filter the options in a normal way. Sometimes you manage to get your first choice, sometimes your second, sometimes you change your mind. It's all quite normal. But the players he suggested, I looked at and thought they were very good players.”