Former Roma director Tiago Pinto explains he felt ‘like dying’ when sacking Jose Mourinho, but ‘never signed a player’ without the coach’s approval and names those who let him down.

The transfer chief walked away in February, even though his contract was due to expire in June, and during this period he also saw the club sack Mourinho.

In a long interview with Sky Sport Italia, Tiago Pinto discussed the highs and lows of the experience at the Stadio Olimpico.

“That was a very difficult day. I am still young, I don’t know if older directors deal with it differently, but I felt like dying when sacking the coach. When a coach is fired, it means you too did some things wrong.

“It was an emotional situation, we had worked together for two and a half years.”

There were also reports that Tiago Pinto had managed to stop the club owners, the Friedkin family, from firing Mourinho earlier in the season.

“Mourinho knows full well that I was a soldier in those two and a half years. It is natural that, especially during the transfer market, there is some tension between coach and director of sport, but he knows full well that I was loyal to him, to the club and to the project.”

Mourinho was very critical of the transfer strategy, albeit admitting he was always aware of the Financial Fair Play limitations placed on the club.

“We might have different ideas, but we can still work together. All the decisions made were collective ones. I never signed a player without Mourinho’s approval, but at the same time I’d be lying if I said the players we did bring in were the first choices for the club.

“Mourinho was always involved, there was no player who was Mourinho’s or who was Tiago Pinto’s. We never signed a player that Mourinho did not want, that did not happen.

“It is also not fair to say that Mourinho had the players he did want, as that’s not true either. The players we signed are the ones we could sign, but no player arrived at Roma without Mourinho giving the all-clear.”

Because of the financial situation, Tiago Pinto had to sign several free agents, including Paulo Dybala, Mile Svilar, Evan Ndicka and Houssem Aouar.

“The biggest mistake I made was that some signings didn’t perform the way they expected, like Eldor Shomurodov or Renato Sanches. In my view, the transfer market only represents 20-30 per cent of what a club achieves, as the over 70-80 per cent is down to what happens on a daily basis.

“There are some signings that didn’t do well, others who were perhaps not spectacular in certain moments, like Rui Patricio who is criticised now, but helped win the Conference League.

“There are others, like Matias Vina, who played 44 games with Roma, didn’t do what we expected, but the club did not lose money on him. Directors must make sure if we lose on a player in a sporting sense, we don’t lose twice economically too.”

After stating he wants to be remembered fondly by Roma fans, Tiago Pinto confessed he would like to return to Italy for a different club.

“But not Lazio. I wouldn’t go and they wouldn’t want me! I learned a lot in Italy, made friends with many directors, so maybe one day I will return.”

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