Roma say that negotiations with Manchester City regarding their proposed swoop for Daniele De Rossi didn’t really get off the ground.

The Premiership champions made a bid for the Italian international, only for the midfielder to commit his future to his hometown club.

“Real talks never really started and, in reality, we didn’t spend a lot of time listening to offers,” chief operating officer Claudio Fenucci told Sky Sport Italia.

“There was no real conviction from us to do a deal. Before selling him we would have thought long and hard about it.

“We heard what their offer was, but, I repeat, negotiations didn’t begin.”

De Rossi is a Roman who grew up through the club’s youth system. The fans call him Capitan Futuro given that he will eventually inherit the armband from Francesco Totti.

“De Rossi is a different kind of player to everyone else because of his characteristics, for what he can offer in the future,” Fenucci continued.

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