Roma have officially cancelled their preseason training camp in Pinzolo, fuelling the rumours that Milan will withdraw from next season’s Europa League.
The capital club were meant to take part in the camp between June 29 and July 7 due to their participation in the Europa League second qualifying round, which kicks off on July 25.
However, the Gialllorossi have now announced the cancellation of the trip on their official website: “Following discussions between the new coach Paulo Fonseca, the football staff and the club’s senior management, a decision has been taken to postpone the start of preseason, due to the ongoing uncertainty over the date of the first competitive fixture of the 2019-20 campaign.”
Guido Fienga, Roma’s CEO, added: “First and foremost, we want to sincerely apologize to those Roma fans who have already made plans to follow us throughout the training camp, and all the people of Pinzolo.
“This was not an easy decision to take but following discussions with the coach and the football department, it has been decided to postpone the start of preseason preparations to ensure our players are in the best possible shape for the first game of the new campaign.
“We understand the inconvenience this will cause fans who had booked travel and accommodation in Pinzolo to attend the training camp and we are looking into what we can to do alleviate the disappointment this late cancelation has caused.
“We also apologize to the town of Pinzolo, to the tourist board of Pinzolo/Madonna di Campidoglio, to Trentino Marketing, and all those who had prepared everything for our arrival in record time in order to be able to accommodate our players, staff, and fans.
“Trentino is a long-standing partner of AS Roma, and we sincerely hope we are able to come back very soon.”
There is a possibility that UEFA have told Roma that they will be able to take AC Milan’s place in the group stage of next seasons Europa League, rather than have to qualify.