Roma owner James Pallotta has told Manchester United that Kevin Strootman is not for sale at any price and that Louis Van Gaal will have to look elsewhere to strengthen his midfield options in January.
United have been linked with a move for the Dutchman in the winter transfer window, with many suggesting that Van Gaal sees Strootman as the missing piece of his midfield jigsaw, but Pallotta said that once Strootman returns to full fitness following his cruciate ligament injury, he will do so in the Eternal City.
“It is just not happening. We don’t have any interest in selling Kevin,” the Roma owner told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Obviously, as business people, when people call us and say, ‘We want your player’, you are going to listen to them. You have to do that, that is the business side.
“That doesn’t mean you are going to make a decision that £75m [means] bang, you hit the bid. That is not the way it is going work, it is not the way it does work with us.
“In Kevin’s case, internally, we have never had a discussion that went ‘Let’s sell Kevin’. Not to anybody, let alone Man United.”
Asked if a big offer could eventually force Roma into selling the Dutchman, Pallotta said: “For others, maybe.
“Our view is that we want to put a great team out there, but we are not saying, ‘We have to make a ton of money.’ Our goal across the board is stability.”
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