Baldini rubbishes De Rossi rift rumours

Roma general manager Franco Baldini has dismissed rumours of a rift between coach Zdenek Zeman and midfielder Daniele De Rossi.

The 65-year-old trainer left the Italy international on the bench in the 4-2 win over Fiorentina, but De Rossi later came on as a second-half substitute.

Nevertheless, Baldini has moved to assure fans that there is no problem between the 28-year-old and his coach.

“When we wrote up his contract, we knew that it was sustainable (to leave him on the bench), otherwise we wouldn’t have done it,” the 52-year-old told Sky Italia.

“We want to balance the budget, but also have a squad that can allow us to win as soon as possible. Champions like Daniele help.

“Zeman said absolutely nothing that would hurt the pride or the prestige of the player. When he said it was impossible that 10 different clubs had put in requests, he meant that there are so many rumours around and not all of them are true.

“I can assure you, Zeman has nothing against De Rossi.”