Pallotta on Spalletti, Dzeko, Totti and Stadio della Roma

As he comes towards the end of his most recent visit to Italy during which club matters - including the ongoing Stadio della Roma project - have dominated his attention, Pallotta sat down to give his thoughts on those issues and the season so far for the Giallorossi.

See what he had to say below...

Pallotta on ... Stadio della Roma

"We have been working on the stadium for four and a half years now, and it has been passed already in the city – and gone to regional level, which is great, The meeting with the mayor [of Rome, Virginia Raggi] was fantastic. We had an open conversation, we talked about an awful lot of things - not just the stadium but what the team is trying to do in Rome, with Roma Cares, Football Cares, and the sporting facilities.

"The city and the federal government have been absolutely tremendous with us; if there have been any issues, then probably some of them have been self-inflicted. But we are ready to move forward and we have pretty much everything in place.

"Hopefully we can start breaking ground, clearing the area, sometime in the next months."

Pallotta on ... Luciano Spalletti

"Luciano is a very interesting character who works as hard as anyone you’ve ever seen in sports. He is always at Trigoria, he lives at Trigoria. He has a great coaching staff and a team around him.

"Last year, in December, I had conversations with a lot of people and to a man, they all said they thought Luciano was one of the best coaches in the world. We thought with the support we could give him at Roma it would be a great situation for him.

"We’ve played pretty well most of the time, we even played pretty with nine men under him [in the Champions League play-off]. But with nine or ten men it doesn’t really ever work, so we’ve had some mistakes. But I would love him to be around for a long time.

"He has a good relationship with Francesco Totti – a very good relationship, it’s great in the locker room. I know Luciano thinks this squad is the most talented, and has the most personality, of any team that he has ever had. So we’ll see."

"I know Luciano thinks this squad is the most talented, and has the most personality, of any team that he has ever had. So we’ll see."

- Jim Pallotta

Pallotta on ... Francesco Totti

"Francesco and I have not really talked about [his future] at all. A lot of it has to do with his health, what he wants to do - we know he is going to be with us for at least another six years in some type of management role.

"Francesco and I had a conversation towards the end of last year, in December and one again in the spring, and the conversation was, ‘Let’s talk about it at the end of the year and see how you feel and how you are doing and we will talk about it and make a decision’. And then the decision was to bring Francesco back and it’s great seeing him out there.

"And by the way, Francesco has obviously been very important to the team and the city of Rome, but I just want to continually stress that we are a team. Nothing happens without the other 10 guys on the pitch, the other guys in the team are working with Francesco and vice-versa. So I look at it as a team working together. I know how much he means to the city but it is also about the whole team."

Pallotta on ... the league

"I think at the start of the year in any type of sport there is always one team that is the favourite. That is Juventus.

"They clearly have a great team. We have 36 games that we don’t play Juventus, and if we play those games as we can then it perhaps comes down to a couple of games against Juventus. I don’t think we are afraid of them, but we respect their organisation. But it’s only a couple of games into it and I don’t think it’s close to making a decision about the season."

Pallotta on ... the Fiorentina defeat

"I thought for the 90 minutes we played about as well as you can without getting the ball into the net. I thought we certainly deserved to at least come away with a tie.

"As for the play for the final goal, well the replays clearly show that he was offside. So that gives us at least a point, it changes the dynamic and gives us more belief. But that happens in sport."

Pallotta on ... investment in Serie A

"I'm happy with the arrival of investment in the league, whether it is Italian or foreign. The important thing is it is good for the league.

"If it’s someone like Joey Saputo, up in Bologna, who I know, then it’s only going to do good things for the league. It’s great. So if you have foreign owners and they are only trying to help Serie A to the top echelon, where it should be, then it can only be good.

"Serie A is an extremely undervalued league right now, on the international side, with huge fanbases in the United States and elsewhere. The competition and the teams are well respected, but as a league we need to do a better job of promoting it and see the benefits that can happen to a team with investment over the long term.

"I think Serie A has a great future, we just need to move forward with certain things, whether it is with new foreign investment or the owners who are currently there."

Pallotta on ... Edin Dzeko

"When we had these discussions a year ago [about signing] Dzeko, we knew he was a great talent. We actually had conversations with him and I think he can be a great leader, too. He works unbelievably hard.

"Coming into Serie A, versus coming into the Premier League, it’s not that it’s harder but it’s very different tactical game and he has to get used to it. And it often takes players six months or a year to fully adjust to a new league. That being said, he may have missed some ‘chippy shots’ last year, as he would also, but equally he controls space well for us. So I think when you look at it this year he has had a much stronger year so far.

"He’s so big that people take it for granted when defenders are climbing all over him, or bouncing off him. And sometimes he doesn’t get the call - and I’m not blaming referees for that - that someone who is 5’10” might get compared to someone like him who is 6’5”. So there is a frustration there for him, and he does get keyed up, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t still have a much, much better season.

"I think we are all very very happy with what he has been doing. If you look at the game before, when we were down 2-1 [against Sampdoria], he came in there and along with Francesco changed the dynamics of the game."