Roma’s new owner Thomas Di Benedetto has outlined his club’s ambition to replicate Barcelona’s football philosophy while he added that on the business side of things the club is also doing things very differently.
The American business tycoon took over the Roman club in July this year, clearing it of its debts while providing the funds to bring in players such as former Barca striker Bojan, Fernando Gago from Real Madrid and promising young Argentine Erik Lamela.
Speaking in an interview with BBC’s World Football, Di Benedetto revealed the club’s intentions of fully adopting the football philosophy of reigning European champions Barcelona.
“It’s something similar. We believe that football matches are won not only on the field but in the way you train, in the way you work with your team-mates and the faith you have in them,” the American said.
“It’s about the closeness you get from them and understanding how they play and that you work as a team, whether you are [Lionel] Messi or anybody else – your part of the team, and as long as you have that attitude, the team should prosper.
To achieve this end the American owner brought in former Barcelona B coach Luis Enrique who has been trying to get the message across to his players while he indicated that on the business side of things the capital club is also doing things markedly different from other teams on the peninsula.
“Luis Enrique constantly reminds our players of that and works quite hard to help develop a culture and we believe that’s the right way to go.
“There are certain parts from the business side that is foreign to most of the Italian clubs, and in the football side we have a Barcelona-like system, which is foreign to Italian football, so there are a lot of people who are waiting and holding judgement.”
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