Chelsea player Emerson Palmieri eulogized his former Roma team-mate Dele De Rossi, who recently brought his 18-year career at Stadio Olimpico to an end, and called him 'one of the best captains' that the club ever had.
"De Rossi has shown that he is one of the best captains that Roma has ever had, but also the best in Italy," Goal.com quoted Palmieri as saying.
Palmieri spent two and a half years with Roma and said that De Rossi helped him since he joined the club and even said that De Rossi did not want him to leave Roma.
"He helped me since the first day that I went to Roma, until the last day. He didn't want me to leave Roma, he was saying 'no, don't go'. I wish him all the best as he is still an important person to me. I have a lot of memories from De Rossi," he said.
Palmieri also recalled the time he spent with De Rossi and mentioned one incident when despite suffering from pain, De Rossi was willing to play.
"The most important one was when I would look at him in the locker room, I remember him having pain and he wasn't at 100 per cent to play. I could look at him and see that he loves to play football and he still would always try to get out and play," Palmieri said.
Roma finished on the sixth place in the Serie A.
( With inputs from ANI )