Paulo Sousa shrugged off “gossip” that he is looking to leave Fiorentina and tried to focus on ending Genoa’s perfect start.

It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.

There were reports last week that Sousa had called a moving van for a return to Portugal, but it emerged he was just changing house.

“You should be superior to the level of gossip,” the Coach said at his Press conference.

Paulo Sousa shrugged off “gossip” that he is looking to leave Fiorentina and tried to focus on ending Genoa’s perfect start.

It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.

There were reports last week that Sousa had called a moving van for a return to Portugal, but it emerged he was just changing house.

“You should be superior to the level of gossip,” the Coach said at his Press conference.

“I spoke to President Andrea Della Valle, as I always do. He tries to motivate us to win each game. My mind is focused on Fiorentina and in my view the club is the same entity as the city. I am very happy in Florence, so I am very happy at Fiorentina.

“To reach any objective we need unity of intent from the owners to the fans, the players to the journalists. Without that unity it’ll be difficult to compete at a high level.”

The Viola scraped a 1-0 win over Chievo last time out and tomorrow visit a Genoa side with a 100 per cent record under new Coach Ivan Juric.

“I spoke to Juric last year at (the coaching Master’s Degree course) Coverciano and he said he’s always followed my career closely. His defensive organisation is similar to ours and he always tries to play the ball.

“I think this is going to be a beautiful, difficult and intense match. Genoa have players of great tenacity, while in terms of technique I think we have something more.

“I tried over the last couple of weeks to get the new players to understand our concept of football. We want the new players to improve Fiorentina.”

Fans are not impressed with the summer transfer activity, above all as Giuseppe Rossi and Marcos Alonso were sold.

“Already last season there were five or six teams superior to us. This squad must do something great to overcome clubs with bigger investments,” confessed Sousa.

“Our priority was to improve the defence and I have to get the new players settled in to the team. I am not saying it is better or worse than last season, but the defence is different.”

Mauro Zarate has been on compassionate leave after his wife was diagnosed with cancer.

“He had to return to Argentina a few times. He is going through some difficulties in his life and in my view the best way to get through it is to concentrate on his football.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector