Roma Scudetto failure will haunt me forever – Sabatini

Walter Sabatini revealed that his failure to mastermind a Serie A title win as Roma sporting director will “haunt” him for the rest of his life.

The club announced on Thursday that Sabatini had left after a mutual agreement was struck, expressing their gratitude for his work after more than five years in charge of transfer activity.

Sabatini, 61, was welcomed back to Roma’s Trigoria training ground on Friday for a farewell media conference and he admitted that, unless the team does something extraordinary this season, he will forever rue missing out on a Scudetto.

He told the gathered media: “Whatever is said today is not a final, definitive assessment [of my work] because this team will continue to be ‘mine’ for a while yet.

“I might not be here physically anymore but my soul will be here. Roma have a competitive team and a fantastic coach in Luciano Spalletti.

“I’ve had a long run here, five years, and I’ve been constantly assessing things. 

“We have a set-up that works perfectly, although it’s true the Roma fans haven’t been able to celebrate a Scudetto victory. That was the dream and one we were able to feed on a few occasions.

“That’s the greatest disappointment I leave with. I’m not angry about it, just very sad and it’s a feeling I’ll probably never get over, unless of course it happens this season.

“The fact we never won the Scudetto will haunt me for the rest of my days unless this team does something unexpected. I’ll still feel a part of it when the team win or lose.”