Jose Mourinho is facing a transfer exodus from Roma in the wake of his dressing room meltdown following their Coppa Italia defeat at Inter Milan on Tuesday.
The Portuguese boss took charge of the Serie A giants ahead of this season, but it has been an uninspiring campaign so far for Mourinho’s men.
They suffered an embarrassing 6-1 defeat to minnows Bodo/Glimt back in October and are struggling to keep pace with their rivals for a European place.
Their season hit another low point on Tuesday, when Inter comfortably defeated them at the San Siro to dump them out of the Coppa at the quarter-final stage.
Roma have not won the competition since 2008 and goals from Edin Dzeko and Alexis Sanchez were enough to ensure that drought will go on.
Dzeko came back to haunt his former club when he fired in a volley just two minutes into the clash from Ivan Perisic’s cross.
Inter were dominant, but it was not until the final 22 minutes that Sanchez made sure of the win by thumping home a rocket from more than 20 yards out.
Mourinho was left furious by his side’s performance and launched a furious rant at them in the dressing room, even encouraging some of his underperforming players to leave the club.
“I want to know why, playing face to face with Inter, you screwed up in the first ten minutes!” Il Corriere dello Sport report him saying to those who had started.
“And then I want to know why, also against Milan, you screwed up in 10 minutes! Everyone, no one excluded!
“Inter is a super team, you had them in front of you and instead of finding the right motivations, you screwed up! The biggest flaw in a man is lack of balls, lack of personality.
“Are you afraid of games like this? Then go to Serie C, where you will never find teams champions, the best stadiums or the pressure of great football. You are people without balls.”
It appears that some are ready to take Mourinho’s advice and depart the club this summer, with Roma backing their boss.
According to Corriere dello Sport, via Football Italia, as many as five players are heading for the exit door.
The quintet of stars are said to be Jordan Veretout, Roger Ibanez, Matias Vina, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nicolo Zaniolo.
Both Veretout and Ibanez have fallen out of favour under Mourinho, despite both having only joined the club within the last two years.
Vina’s future also looks uncertain, with Leonardo Spinazzola expected to take his place at right-back when he returns from injury.
Mourinho and Mkhitaryan have a fractious history and the midfielder will not be offered a new contract to extend his stay in the Italian capital beyond the end of this season.
While Nicolo Zaniolo’s deal does not run out until the summer of 2024, Roma are ready to allow him to leave as Mourinho overhauls his squad.
