Roma ace Daniele De Rossi blasts footballer’s Instagram posts
Italian legend has said watching the youth of today on their phones in the dressing room makes
DANIELE DE ROSSI has hit out at young players who spend more time on Instagram than on their careers.
The Roma legend, 33, is at the tail-end of his career after 16 years in the Italian capital and making over 500 appearances.
But De Rossi has said watching the youth of today on their phones in the dressing room makes him want to hit them with a baseball bat.
Speaking to , he said: "When we started out, it was all different, that was 20 years ago.
"Now a 20-year-old will get into the first team and have more Instagram followers than [Lionel] Messi.
"When I was young, the older players would say, "It wasn't like in my day" – that's life and it always will be.
"Mind you, some of them irritate me too. When I see them do live Instagram videos from inside the locker room before a game, I'd like to take a baseball bat to their teeth.
"But they're 18 years old and in 20 years' time they will find themselves complaining about the youth of today."
De Rossi has become a club legend along with Francesco Totti after rejecting moves away from Roma.
But the Italian international has admitted he regrets not trying out a different league with Chelsea interested in him in the past.
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He said: "My only regret about staying at Roma is that I never got to experience the atmosphere in other countries, such as in England or Spain, outside the stadiums.
"I would have liked to know how to live elsewhere."