Roma insist they have no intention of selling Kevin Strootman
Roma have no intention of selling Manchester United's reported target Kevin Strootman in January, according to general director Mauro Baldissoni.
The Holland international has been strongly linked with the Old Trafford team, with United's Dutch manager Louis van Gaal a big admirer of the talented midfielder.
Strootman was a regular in Van Gaal's Holland side during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers but missed out on the tournament in Brazil with a knee injury.
"Our (club) president (James Pallotta) has already spoken about this and he gets angry with the rumours that link him (Kevin) to Manchester United," Baldissoni said to Italian radio station Radio Anch'Io Lo Sport. "Our policy is that of investing in players that have quality but have room for improvement. Kevin is a young player with experience, and we want to build our future with players like him."
Baldissoni insists his team's early elimination from the Champions League does not mean his club will be selling players in the winter transfer market.
Roma lost 2-0 to Manchester City last week in their final group game and will now play in the Europa League.
"We were cautious and we did not include the revenue of a possible progression to the last 16 of the Champions League on our books," he said. "We nevertheless had high hopes of qualifying from a very difficult group. Hence, we have no need to put our books in order. Everything is correct and we are no need to sell.
"We will evaluate the market based on what the team needs from a technical standpoint because our first mission is that of winning games."
Strootman joined Roma in the summer of 2013 from PSV Eindhoven and scored five goals and set up another six in 24 Serie A appearances last season before suffering a knee injury in March.
The 24-year-old returned to action last month but has not featured in Roma's last two games.
He is under contract with the Eternal City outfit until June 2018.