Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Veteran former Italy international Daniele De Rossi is “99 percent” sure of joining Boca Juniors, the Argentine giants’ president Daniel Angelici said on Friday.
The 35-year-old midfielder brought down the curtain on an 18-year career with his hometown club Roma at the end of last season.
“Having a world champion who says he wants to end his career here at Boca fills me with pride,” said Angelici.
“It would be good for Argentine football to have these kind of players. It’s 99 percent sure De Rossi will be a Boca player.”
The only remaining stumbling block to De Rossi joining is a cap on the number of foreigners allowed at Argentine teams.
They can only have six in their squad with a maximum of five allowed on the pitch at any one time.
Boca already have Colombians Frank Fabra, Jorman Campuzano and Sebastian Villa on their books, as well as Uruguay’s Nahitan Nandez, Venezuelan Jan Carlos Hurtado and Junior Alonso from Paraguay — a total of six foreigners.
“I’m not halting his arrival, everything’s agreed with De Rossi, but if he were to join people would start saying Boca aren’t respecting the quota,” Angelici told TyC Sports.
Nandez, however, is rumored to be a target of Cagliari in Italy while Fabra is close to securing Argentine nationality.
“If we can complete Nandez’s (sale), we could bring him (De Rossi) to train now.”
De Rossi, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, spent his entire senior career with Roma, making 615 appearances and scoring 63 goals in all competitions.
Only fellow Roma legend Francesco Totti has played more games for the club.
De Rossi is also the fourth most capped Italy international of all time with 117 appearances.
