Nicolo Zaniolo admitted he ‘expected’ the boos upon his return to the Stadio Olimpico and reflected on his acrimonious exit from Roma last year.
12 months ago, the Italian forward had grown tired of life under Jose Mourinho and tried to force through a move to Milan, who were unable to close out a deal in January due to financial limitations. He ultimately ended up joining Galatasaray before heading to Aston Villa in the summer.
Zaniolo returned to the Stadio Olimpico for the first time with the Italy national team back in November, taking part in their 5-2 win over North Macedonia. He was loudly booed by fans in the Italian capital, who still felt bitter following the nature of his departure.
Speaking on page 21 of today’s Gazzetta dello Sport, Zaniolo was asked if he expected to be booed at the Stadio Olimpico and how his exit from Roma went.
“I’ll be honest with you, I was kind of expecting it. With Roma it was gigantic love, even if it ended badly. Leaving there was hard. Apart from the incidents in the final few days, they were all fantastic with me, as was Mourinho.”
He was also asked if he felt any regrets about how things went.
“At my age it doesn’t make sense to have regrets. I’ve experienced good things and bad things, I’ve done right things and wrong things, but Rome is the city of my son Tommaso as well. For this reason alone, it’ll always be a special place.”