Miralem Pjanic: “De Rossi is the perfect replacement after Mourinho’s exit.” | OneFootball

Former Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic discussed the appointment of Daniele De Rossi as Roma’s long-term head coach.

In a recent interview with Corriere dello Sport, Pjanic said this of his former club, “Roma will always remain in my heart.”

“De Rossi? I had no doubt he would do very well. I spent 5 years with him and I expected to find him on the bench one day. I’m happy, he’s a friend and I love him. He is showing his football and I am happy with the renewal.”

“Now comes the difficult part: managing to maintain this level. He always repeats it: this job is fabulous, but you need to study and you’re constantly put under pressure. Daniele knows the team and the environment, he knows how to manage the environment well and also the press. I like to listen to his press conferences. He knows what he’s doing.”

“As a teammate, he was always the first one to protect you from criticism. If there was someone who spoke badly about you, he was always ready to protect you. As a leader. And he was the first one to raise his voice and he does the same as a coach. He always finds the right words. He knows how to earn the respect of the locker room.”

“I had two champions at Roma: Totti was the technical leader, he worked magic on the pitch, De Rossi was the political one, that’s how I define him. He also supported me in a complicated moment at Roma with Zeman.”

“He prepared the round against Milan impeccably from a tactical and mental point of view. This is because he is intelligent, serious and prepared. But also because he worked with several good coaches in his career. He borrowed something from them and developed his own football.”

“Mourinho’s dismissal? Also because Roma were coming off a trophy and a European final that went as we know. And the fans loved him. But this is football, you forget everything and the club took a decision. De Rossi was the perfect replacement, but Mou nevertheless did a great job in terms of building mentality.”