Roberto Mancini discussed the rumour that New York City FC's Andrea Pirlo could join Italy: 'I know nothing, but let's wait and see'.
The Italian superstar was linked to a surprise return to Serie A through a loan to the Nerazzurri, but their Coach says the news came as a surprise to him.
“It's not true that I called him,” he said in today's Press conference. “I never spoke with him. In football anything can happen, but for now there's nothing.
Roberto Mancini discussed the rumour that New York City FC's Andrea Pirlo could join Italy: 'I know nothing, but let's wait and see'.
The Italian superstar was linked to a surprise return to Serie A through a loan to the Nerazzurri, but their Coach says the news came as a surprise to him.
“It's not true that I called him,” he said in today's Press conference. “I never spoke with him. In football anything can happen, but for now there's nothing.
“I don't know what his intentions are and whether he'd be interested in moving back, but if he did that, it would certainly be an important return.
“Pirlo is a champion, not a normal player. He understands the game before anyone else, now he's gone in MLS and he's resting right now.
“We must understand what his plans are, we do have defensive midfielders who are physically strong, and they will be important for us when the pitch gets heavy. But we'd have something more with him."
The 50-year-old then went on to discuss his own players, in particular Mauro Icardi.
“The fact he was on the bench against Roma shouldn't affect him in any way, it was a technical decision and it's understandable.
“Milan have benched Luiz Adriano, Juve benched [Alvaro] Morata and [Paulo] Dybala. These are decisions one has to make, it's part of our job. He trained and he has nothing to prove. He'll score, I'm certain.
“I have 24 hours to decide whether he will play tomorrow or not. I don't want to send out the wrong formation.
“I trust my players, I've given them all playing time except for [Martin] Montoya. I hope I can give him a chance, he always trains well.
“Everyone is important, I trust them all. We had some games close to each other, so a turnover was appropriate.
“Me on the Chelsea bench? People will drop that rumour as soon as I lose two consecutive games.”
Mancini was then asked about the match against Roma, which Inter won by 1-0.
“We must improve, not least because there are teams that are better equipped for the Scudetto than we are.
“We need to score more, we need to see goals from our strikers. Icardi before all others, but also [Rodrigo] Palacio, [Stevan] Jovetic and the others.”