The football coach said he told the player to find another club.
An unnamed AS Roma player has been told to find a new club after allegedly betraying his teammates and manager with an unprofessional attitude, according to the Italian team’s head coach Jose Mourinho.
Roma drew 1-1 away at Sassuolo on Wednesday night in Serie A, with Tammy Abraham’s late strike canceled out by an equalizer from Andrea Pinamonti.
In an eyebrow-raising post-match press conference, the Portuguese manager laid the blame at the feet of a player who in his view let the team down.
“And it disappoints me because the effort the squad made was betrayed by one player because of an unprofessional attitude. He betrayed the effort everyone else made,” Mourinho said.
José Mourinho: "Of the 16 players I played today, I was satisfied with the attitude of 15 of them. The other player, I won't say who it is, but he betrayed everyone else's effort.
I told him to find a new club by January."
Ruthless.pic.twitter.com/0kYKOT15Q2
— IM (@Iconic_Mourinho) November 9, 2022
“I have already told him in the changing room – something I don’t often do because normally after games I don’t speak in the changing room. I had 16 players out there tonight and I was happy with the attitude of 15 of them,” Mourinho added.
“But an unprofessional attitude, an incorrect attitude compared to his teammates – that’s what annoys me. But, it’s a point, a point away from home, and a result you can’t say is negative. I was generally pleased with the attitude of the side.”
Mourinho further claimed that he “invited the player in question to find himself a new team in January, but I doubt it will happen.”
The two-time Champions League winner was criticized by some Twitter onlookers, who said it was “typical Mourinho,” with him throwing his players under the bus when things start to go wrong.
Mourinho has been generally successful in the Italian capital so far and won the UEFA Conference League last season with Roma.
In 2022/2023, however, they have stumbled in their last two fixtures by losing the derby to Lazio and drawing with Sassuolo, occupying sixth in the league table, and also scraped through their Europa League group.
Roma play their last game before the World Cup break against Torino at home on November 13 and are then out of action in the league until they host Bologna on January 4.
With Euro 2020 champions Italy failing to qualify for Qatar 2022, many of Roma’s stars will feature in a friendly against Japanese club Yokohama FM in Toyko on November 28.
