Sabatini: My soul will always be with Roma

Walter Sabatini has admitted that he leaves Roma with a mixture of pride and disappointment after an eventful five years at the club.

Sabatini, who officially departed as the club's sporting director on Thursday, had one final press conference at Trigoria on Friday afternoon - as he discussed his time with the Giallorossi and his various successes with the team.

The Italian expressed his pride and satisfaction at building a competitive squad that showed significant improvement and evolution over the course of his tenure, although the failure to win a Serie A title is something that he acknowledges will pain him for a while yet.

“Whatever is said today is not a final, definitive assessment [of my work] because this team will continue to be 'mine' for a while yet," Sabatini told reporters. "I might not be here physically anymore but my soul will be here. Roma have a competitive team and a fantastic coach in Luciano Spalletti.

“I've had a long run here, five years, and I've been constantly assessing things. We have a set-up that works perfectly, although it's true the Roma fans haven't been able to celebrate a Scudetto victory. That was the dream and one we were able to feed on a few occasions.

"That's the greatest disappointment I leave with. I'm not 'angry' about it, just very sad and it's a feeling I'll probably never get over, unless of course it happens this season."

The former sporting director was an active operator in the transfer market during his time, bringing a number of players to the Stadio Olimpico that became great successes for the club.

"Everything I've done in the last five years was dictated by the fact that I was the sporting director of Roma," Sabatini added. "Roma have had a competitive team for several years, finishing second twice and third last year thanks to the arrival of a magnificent coach and a squad of great players.

“I remember the wins, such as the 2-1 derby victory [in 2014-15] when [Victor] Ibarbo, who some dubbed a flop, broke forward allowing the much-maligned [Juan Manuel] Iturbe to break the deadlock in a match which assured us Champions League qualification.

“I remember lots of other things like [Michael] Bradley’s goal at Udinese, our ninth win in a row, followed by a tenth straight victory against Chievo with a goal from "the odd man out" [Marco] Borriello, as I labelled him in my first press conference.

“I also have some bad memories like the Coppa Italia loss which was cathartic however, changed my state of mind and gave me fresh impetus. Up until that moment, I thought we played football in a certain way. Straight after that match I thought that we needed to change approach a touch and we did so successfully.

"The fact we never won the Scudetto will haunt me for the rest of my days unless this team does something unexpected. I’ll still feel a part of it when the team win or lose."