DBasia.news – AS Roma’s senior midfielder, Daniele De Rossi, surprised Giallorossi fans when deciding to move from the only club he has been defending until now. De Rossi left at the end of the 2018-19 season.
The news was somewhat surprising as De Rossi has strengthen AS Roma for 19 years (from the academy) and was predicted to follow other Roma legend, Francesco Totti, who retired in Rome. That means, De Rossi is not a one man club as he will go to other clubs.
“De Rossi will not retire from professional football at the end of the season. The 35-year-old plans to pursue a new adventure outside of Rome. As with his record with Roma, De Rosi also enjoys a brilliant international career,” said a statement on the official Roma website.
“He remains the fourth player with the most amount of caps in Italian history, with 117 appearances, and representing the Azzurri in eight different international tournaments – famously lifting the World Cup trophy with Roma teammates, Totti and Simone Perrotta in 2006.”
“Nevertheless, the fighter and inspirational midfielder will always remain with Roma, a club that has never been disappointed when it was strengthened both in terms of playing class or character throughout his career.”
The President of AS Roma, Jim Pallotta, also said goodbye and confirmed the move of the player born in Rome, July 24, 1983. Pallotta, representing Rome, thanked De Rossi for his great contribution.
“For 18 years, Daniele has become the heart of AS Roma’s game. From his debut in 2001 to taking responsibility as the captain, he always represented Roma fans on the pitch with pride as he became one of the best midfielders in Europe,” Pallotta said.
“We will cry when he wears the Giallorossi jersey for the last time against Parma, but we appreciate his desire to continue his playing career – even though, he is almost 36 years old, playing outside of Rome.”
“Representing all of them in Rome, I want to thank Daniele for his great dedication to this club and ensure that our door will always be open for him to return to the club and occupy whatever role he wants,” Pallotta concluded.
De Rossi has appeared in more or less 600 games with AS Roma. 2006 World Cup champions with the Italian national team also packed 117 caps with Italy and scored 21 goals.
His departure was very unfortunate. Now, there is only Alessandro Florenzi as the heir to the tradition of local players who carry out the task as team leader. Florenzi is expected to leave fans to retire with Rome.