It’s not a problem as of yet, but the situation surrounding the renewal of Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan could be heading for choppy waters. The Belgian international was the heartbeat of the giallorossi last season and after rejecting a summer move to Chelsea, the 28-year-old has failed to reach the quality expected by his coach Luciano Spalletti and tension is in the air.
 

After being substituted in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Atalanta, Nainggolan aimed a side-swipe at Spalletti’s assistant Marco Domenichini who he accused of making it unclear what position he wanted him to take on the field.   

The player known as “Ninja” recently signed a new deal in the Italian capital until 2020 and in recent weeks has been discussing the possibility of a wage increase on his current €3.2 million per season. Chelsea coach Antonio Conte will be encouraged by this latest news and the Italian tactician could see it as an opportunity to bring his number target of last summer to Stamford Bridge in 2017.


Steve Mitchell @barafundler