NOTIZIA URGENTE: Jose Mourinho ha intenzione di attaccare due importanti giocatori di Roma, tra cui Paulo Dybala, dopo aver firmato il suo contratto.

DDR took to the mic ahead of tomorrow’s tilt against Genoa. Here are some of the best bits, including his thoughts on his contract, Kevin Strootman and more!

Tomorrow’s tilt against the Genoa Cricket and Football Club may lack the Champions League consequences of, well, nearly every match in 2024 but Sunday’s Round 37 fixture isn’t lacking intrigue. Apart from getting back on the right track and closing out the season with a pair of victories, Daniele De Rossi will come up against his old midfield partner Kevin Strootman, who is slated to start for Genoa tomorrow, while the man on the touchline, Alberto Gilardino, was DDRs running mate with the Azzurri.

While we await tomorrow’s kickoff, let’s review some of the best quotes from De Rossi’s press conference.

On Dybala:

Paulo has had one training session with us, yesterday, which was a pretty light session because in the previous two days we pushed the lads who were training quite hard. He’s done some individual sessions in which he’s pushed himself a bit. We’ll see how he looks in training. He’s done very little work with us. Before that wasn’t a problem because he’d only missed a few days, but it’s now been a couple of weeks that he’s been training separately. We’ll assess his condition today and then we’ll think about it.

Sooo, is he going to play or what, Daniele!? The stakes may be smaller than in recent fixtures, but as we know all too well, Roma with Dybala and without Dybala are two entirely different animals. We prefer the former. How about you?

On facing Gilardino and Strootman:

From an emotional perspective there will be a lot of things to think about. We still have an important target we want to reach. Genoa are playing well, as all the teams should for their pride and dignity. The full stadium will be nice, emotionally it will be nice, but we have an important game to win.

Gila never ceases to amaze me. He’s a special guy, fairly quiet and introverted. When we played together I didn’t think he’d become a coach. I didn’t think he’d become this good but he’s done superbly. He’s worked his way up from the lower leagues and developed into a great coach. Genoa have had a solid season. It will be nice to see him because he’s a smashing lad – one of those former team-mates you never speak to but when you see them it’s a real pleasure because he’s a good guy.

As for Kevin, I have no doubt the Olimpico will pay tribute to him. Those who honoured our shirt and our profession deserve to be given a good send-off.

Man, remember this midfield? (sigh)

Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

The conference then veered into De Rossi’s contract, his player preferences, and his approach to the transfer market.

On his deal:

We’re not waiting for anyone for my contract. We’ve been very busy and I’ve had to prepare lots of games so the contract is the last thing on my mind. It took us about ten minutes to agree on the financial aspects and the length of the contract. We’re ironing out the last few details. That sort of contract has to be checked by lawyers too. That’s all it is.

When you shake hands and reach an agreement so quickly, I don’t think it makes any difference whether we’ve announced it already or whether it gets signed tomorrow or the next day. It’s virtually done.

On his transfer strategy and the future of Tammy Abraham and Romelu Lukaku:

We haven’t spoken specifically about one player. We haven’t spoken about Lukaku, Abraham or anyone else. We’ve spoken about the general direction things went in the last few years, which often meant bringing in experienced players, on loan, and sometimes it’s better to invest in your own players and turn them into assets or something that can be useful for longer and give you more stability. Those are the sort of conversations we’ve had. We haven’t discussed specific players. It’s still early…

We’ve been regularly finishing fifth, sixth, seventh, so we need to change something. Whether it’s been big names or other players, that has remained a constant. The league placing has been decent but it’s not what we want for our future. A strong coach gets the club to buy the players he wants – he has to impose himself. A strong club has to listen to and cater to the coach, within the realms of possibility. If you go and ask for a €100 million player, you’re crazy.

I think the prime requisite for a player should be having hunger and desire, and thinking that playing for Roma is the best thing that could happen to them, whether it’s because they love the club, for their career path, because they like Rome or because they want to join Real or Barcelona one day. But if you don’t have that hunger, it doesn’t matter if it’s a big-name player or a young player. Some young players have less hunger than experienced ones – we’ve seen that loads of times. We need people who set the pitch alight with their running and their desire. I’m not just talking about Roma, the shirt, the Curva – those things meant a lot to me, but for many of the players I played with they didn’t because they weren’t born Romanisti, yet they still went out there and gave 110%