On January 11, Beijing time, the Italian media "Repubblica" said that the American boss Friedkin was disappointed and angry about Rome's achievements, but he was also helpless and could not fire Mourinho at this stage, because he needed to pay a penalty of 30 million euros. This sky-high penalty became Mourinho's "deathless gold medal".
Reversed by Juve 4-3 with a 3-1 lead at home at the weekend, Roma have scored just one point in their last three rounds. They are still nine points behind Atalanta in the Champions League zone despite one more game. The only good news Roma received in this round was that Fiorentina, who had been ahead of them, lost 4-0 to Turin in this round, which unexpectedly returned to the 6th place in the league.
Roma finished 7th in Serie A last season, and the U.S. boss decided to let go of manager Fonseca and invite world-class coach Jose Mourinho to coach. Roma spent €100 million last summer to strengthen Mourinho's squad, with a net transfer investment behind Arsenal and Manchester United, and as a result, Roma are still in their original position.
After the defeat to AC Milan, Mourinho also bluntly said that Roma's squad was originally in the middle of Serie A, so now they are just in line with where they should be. It is understood that Roma's all-team salary expenditure ranks 3rd in Serie A, and Mourinho receives the highest annual salary of 7 million euros after tax in Serie A, and boss Friedkin cannot understand why the team has not improved at all.
Since U.S. boss Friedkin took over Roma in September 2020, he has injected 400 million euros into the club, with 300 million euros for financial balance and 100 million euros for buying people. He will not sack Mourinho at this stage because he cannot afford the €30 million severance payment.
Throughout his coaching career, Mourinho was sacked five times and received a severance payment of €94 million.