Genoa director Perinetti on Rossi: "He is an exemplary player, we believe he can explain himself"

Giorgio Perinetti, Genoa's general manager, has spoken after it was announced by the anti-doping agency NADO Italy that a one-year ban has been suggested for Giuseppe Rossi. "Giuseppe is a totally upstanding player who we believe will be able to explain the circumstances around the facts. The end of the relationship with Rossi came about in more or less a consensual way, we had an option that we chose not to exercise, in agreement with the player: we had our priorities and he probably expected to have a bigger role which we were not able to guarantee him. It was a decision we made calmly and one we arrived at together. It was a technical decision, one we made before becoming aware of this situation: when we learned about the positive test, we did not view him as a Genoa player but as a professional who was no longer part of our team. The club was advised that there was a proceedings against the player given that we held his rights at the time. We can state that we never provided anything to the player and were not aware of these eventual allegations, the player maintains he has taken nothing. We hope for both him and for ourselves that everything will be cleared up."