Roma director expects Mourinho to stay at Roma amid Portugal rumors

was eliminated from the World Cup in the quarter-finals which resulted in their head coach, Fernando Santos, being dismissed. Since then,

appeared as their main target for the post, while the Portuguese is also linked to

Brazil.

However, Roma's director Tiago Pinto expects the 59-year-old to stay at his current job. He told

:

"When you get a coach like Mourinho, you must be accustomed to rumours.

"This was the first time in 18 months that a club or a federation were interested in him. We had no distractions at our training camp in the Algarve, we were only focused on work.

"I am Portuguese and every time we change coach, Mourinho is mentioned, but we count on him for the future."

Mourinho criticized

after Roma‘s 1-1 draw against Sassuolo in November. He said that one of his players have betrayed the team and should leave the club in January. Despite wide criticism Mourinho drew, Pinto sided with the manager confirming Karsdorp is up for sale.

"

After Sassuolo and Mourinho's words, the player committed serious professional misconduct by not showing up for training and traveling to Japan with the squad,"

Pinto said.

"We avoided controversy by working internally with the player's entourage. Ricky is back, he has trained and played.

"FIFPRO made a statement without even talking to Roma. Karsdorp has never been frozen out of the team, despite not showing up twice.

"These things happen in football, but many have forgotten about the best version of Karsdorp, who has started 60 games in 18 months under Mourinho.

"We accept criticism, but I can't accept that a player makes the most of the situation to affect Roma.

"He is on the market, but he will never leave for free. If he goes, we must find a way to keep the team balanced, but not necessarily by signing a new full-back."

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