Roma deny De Rossi availability

Posted Friday, August 10, 2012 by ESPN

Roma sporting director Walter Sabatini has backtracked over comments appearing to suggest Daniele De Rossi is for sale.

De Rossi is reportedly a target for Manchester City this summer as the Premier League champions look to strengthen their squad ahead of the new season.

City boss Roberto Mancini may have been encouraged by comments from Sabatini that indicated he would consider bids for the 29-year-old Italy international.

But the Roma chief has been forced to clarify his comments to appease angry supporters who regard De Rossi - a one-club man - as second only to Francesco Totti in their affections.

Sabatini told a press conference: "I never said that De Rossi is not unsellable, I just made a general consideration regarding the whole of football.

"If a monstrous bid materialized we would evaluate it, but we are not looking for buyers for Daniele because he is a pillar of our team.

"For us he is a player of extraordinary importance and not replaceable, so it would be too difficult to do a deal even if there was an indecent proposal.

"We have not set a price for De Rossi. Fiorentina ask €30million (£23.5m) for (Stefan) Jovetic? The figure for Daniele is higher than that."