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Daniele De Rossi’s career at Roma has been built on his uncompromising and combative style, so it comes as no surprise that the Italian carries that attitude off the pitch as well as on it.

The 33-year-old is coming to the end of a successful career in Serie A and his attention will soon turn towards whether to coach the next generation of stars or leave the game altogether.

Judging by his latest comments, Roma’s youngsters will be hoping he chooses the latter path with the midfielder admitting he would like to hit some of the social media generation with a baseball bat.

Speaking to Undici, De Rossi 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 said.

 
Culled from Mail Sport