Spalletti: Wanted trio will stay Monday 18 July, 2005
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Roma boss Luciano Spalletti is confident that Antonio Cassano, Cristian Chivu and Amantino Mancini will remain with the club .
Cassano has been linked with Juventus, Inter are keen on Chivu, while both of the aforementioned giants have been associated with Mancini.
But Spalletti, who joined the outfit over the summer from Udinese, is remaining optimistic about their futures.
"Cassano will stay," said Spalletti. "That was the feeling I had when I signed. The club can’t offer me certain guarantees but I believe he will stay, as will Mancini and Chivu.
"If anyone of them did leave, because of an enticing offer, then we will look for players of similar calibre to replace them."
However, the Giallorossi are currently banned from operating on the transfer market due to their controversial capture of Philippe Mexes last summer.
"I have a good squad but the embargo (which is currently under appeal) is limiting us," continued the former Empoli and Sampdoria man.
"Nevertheless, this remains a team full of important players and we can go on even without new additions."
Roma should get a verdict on whether they can buy again by the end of this week, but the stop has already seen them miss out on David Pizarro.
The playmaker was a phenomenon under Spalletti at Udinese but he has now joined Internazionale.
"The lack of his arrival will be felt but I want to again underline that we have a good group of players here," added the balding tactician.
Roma endured a desperately disappointing campaign last term but the new man believes they can bounce back.
"My players need to think about resolving certain things that went wrong last year," he noted.
"We need to work hard on the pitch. If you don’t run, you don’t get the ball and without the ball you don’t score…"