Perotti: Di Francesco wants me to change roles slightly

Speaking to Roma TV on Friday morning, the final day of the club's pre-season training camp in Pinzolo, the Argentine admitted that the fitness had started for him even before the squad arrived in Trentino.

“Yeah, I spent a week in Ibiza with [Federico] Fazio, then when I went to Argentina I started training because I know that it’s going to be a hard season," Perotti said.

"I’m nearly 29 years old and I need to get a head start on training in order to be ready for pre-season.”

Read full the interview below.

You’ve picked up where you left off last season, following on from your goal against Genoa with one in the first friendly game…

“That’s true – it’s always nice to score goals. The Genoa goal was really important for the team, for the club and for me personally. This year we need to be in good shape physically because we’re going to be playing a lot of games. We’re in the Champions League and we need to be at our best for it.”

Is Eusebio Di Francesco altering your position a little?

“He’s asking me to come in a bit more. I’m used to playing wide on the flank, but he’s asking me to play between the lines and that’s bringing me closer to the striker and the goal itself. I want to score more goals than I did last season.”

That doesn’t seem all that different to what you were doing last year.

“It is different to what [Luciano] Spalletti was asking me to do. He wanted me to receive the ball higher up the pitch, but I like dropping back to pick it up. Often you can’t get the ball up there and you’re forced to drop down anyway or you go for ages without touching the ball. I like having the option to drop deep and get the ball.”

Coming from South America, how do you get on with the tactical side of the game?

“It wasn’t easy to adapt when I arrived in Europe at the age of 18, because they don’t focus on that so much in training in South America. It gets better when you start to build up the skills. That’s how it happened with me and now you’re seeing it with Gerson, for example, who’s now a much more complete player than he was when he joined. I think that playing in Europe makes you a better player in that sense.”

How do you get on with Alisson?

“He got lucky and saved a penalty from me in training. But I’ve already scored four or five past him…”

Both you and Alisson have moved to reassure the fans here – do you have confidence in this Roma side?

“We’re a good side and I think we’ve shown that. Sadly we weren’t able to win any trophies last season, even though we could have. That’s something we got wrong as a team. We were better than both Lazio and Lyon but we got beaten. We performed well in the league and finished second – we almost let second place get away but we deserved to beat AC Milan and Juventus. It’s true that some good players have left, but others have come in and I think they look very good. I know Monchi and I know that he can work wonders in the transfer market. He’ll build a very strong squad.”

What have you made of Maxime Gonalons so far?

“He’s very experienced. He was the captain of Lyon – he’s no whippersnapper. He doesn’t speak Italian yet but he understands the boss’ requests and knows what to do on the pitch. Some good players have left, but others will come in. With [Kevin] Strootman and [Daniele] De Rossi signing new deals and [Radja] Nainggolan and [Kostas] Manolas hopefully doing the same, we’ll have a strong team.”

What are your expectations for the coming years?

“The thing I want more than anything is to win something with Roma. I’m not saying that for the fans, but because I’ve realised that winning here is different – it’s special. I already had an idea of that from the television, then when I moved here [Nicolas] Burdisso used to tell me the same thing. If I don’t manage it, I think I’ll look back when I’m old and feel real regret.”

But will it hurt as much as that penalty Alisson saved?

“[Primavera goalkeeper Alessio] Romagnoli saved one too and put it up on Instagram – maybe I should start putting all the ones I score up there too!”