07 August 2023 , 21:56
992
0
Roma boss Jose Mourinho has denied that he mocked his club's transfer business.
The Special One is preparing for his third season in charge at the Stadio Olympico, having led the Italian club to successive European finals. He has endured a frustrating summer however with a lack of new faces arriving in Rome, notably a No.9 to fill the void left by Tammy Abraham.
The former Chelsea man suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury last season and will leave a sizeable hole in the final third when the new Serie A campaign kicks off. Mourinho posted a picture of Roma's pre-season training squad after they'd been in Portugal with him and his coaches; in the picture he was hugging an imaginary player.
Despite the interpretation of the photo, Mourinho insists he had to intention of "provoking" the Roma hierarchy, but admitted all was not well. He told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport : "There was no provocation, that wasn't the intention. Everything is not okay but... I get angry for an hour and then I'm back to being positive about things.
"Regarding the imaginary striker, I can tell you that even if [Kylian] Mbappe arrives next week, it would still be late."
Ten Hag has chance to end unacceptable Man Utd wait he immediately acknowledged
Abraham was taken off on a stretcher in Roma's final Serie A game against Spezia in June and is not expected to be back on the pitch before the end of 2023. As a result Mourinho's side were linked with the likes of Alvaro Morata and Gianluca Scamacca, who has now joined Atalanta.
No one has arrived though with Roma failing to spend any money during the summer. Their only arrivals - Houssem Aouar and Evan Ndicka - were both on free transfers, placing more pressure on their resources, but Mourinho claims he is not clashing with the club's senior figures.
He said: "After Tammy's injury we are in a situation that no coach in the world would like to be in. It is impossible for me to say that I am happy. But to say that I am in open war with the club is very wrong.
"Tammy was injured on 5 June - we are talking about 63, 64 days [ago]. For me there is a name, there is one, because I am usually very objective and pragmatic, but it is not possible to get him - this is what I was told."
Paulo Dybala was the club's top scorer last term after joining from Juventus, but he was linked with the exit door. Any release clause in his contract has now expired which means Roma are set to retain the Argentine, who scored 18 times in his debut season at the Stadio Olympico.
Roma's goalscoring issues were underlined by the fact none of his team-mates even got into double figures. Abraham and Stefan El Shaarawy both notched on nine occasions.