Liverpool target Gregoire Defrel is pushing for a move to Roma, and it appears that the Sassuolo star may be forcing his club’s hand.

The 25-year-old has scored six Serie A goals this season, but has found himself on the bench for today’s trip to Pescara.

The Frenchman scored 7 Serie A goals last season for Sassuolo and 9 in the previous campaign with Cesena, who were relegated to Serie B.

Giovanni Carnevali, the Emilian’s CEO, has repeatedly denied that Defrel would go anywhere… until he changed his tune earlier today as his side prepared to face Pescara.

Speaking to Sky Sport (via RomaForever), Carnevali said that his club “didn’t want to sell Defrel, but we’ll see what happens…”.

What is helping here? The fact that Defrel himself is insisting on the move, and has appeared rather distracted in the last few days.

This would explain why Alessandro Matri is getting the starts here, while the 25-year-old is being benched by Coach Di Francesco.