Nainggolan: I chose to stay here and that won't change

The Belgian midfielder, speaking ahead of the Giallorossi’s friendly against Montreal Impact on Wednesday evening, was asked if he would leave the club if Luciano Spalletti’s men did not qualify for the Champions League group stages.

Nainggolan categorically ruled out that possibility.

“I chose to stay, to remain here,” Nainggolan told reporters. “Nothing will change.”

Nainggolan started Roma’s 2-1 win over Liverpool in St. Louis on Monday evening, but is already focused on improving in certain areas in the game against the Impact.

“This tour in North America is a great experience for us, and tomorrow is another game where we hope to improve from the last one, even if we won,” he said. “We must prepare for the Champions League preliminaries, but tomorrow is still a major challenge for us.”

He added: “The coach makes the choices, but tomorrow I expect to play. Obviously I can still improve a little physically, however, we are all available and what matters is to put in the maximum effort in the minutes we play.”

Nainggolan was not keen to dwell on the victory over Premier League opposition, pointing out that what really matters is to be fully prepared when the competitive matches get underway.

“Yesterday’s game was the first major test – things went well but things do not always go as you expect,” he noted. “This is all preparation, we know that we are working well but we have to continue to give everything to be ready for the matches that count.”