Daniele de Rossi: Roma captains signs new deal

Daniele de Rossi
Daniele de Rossi and Francesco Totti played a combined 1347 games for Roma

Roma captain Daniele de Rossi has signed a new two-year deal with the club until 2019, three days after the retirement of legend Francesco Totti.

Midfielder De Rossi has a reported £5.24m-a-year contract, making him the highest paid player in Serie A.

"Totti's departure has hurt us all. I hope the fans will remain close to us," said De Rossi, 33, who has played 561 games since his debut in 2001.

Totti retired on Sunday having made a club record 786 appearances.

De Rossi has won the Coppa Italia twice in his time at the Stadio Olimpico, and was named Italian Young Footballer of the Year in 2006 and Footballer of the Year three years later.

He added: "We had agreed on the contract some time ago, but on Sunday I did not want it spoken about it with respect to another story that was just about to finish.

"I thought, after Francesco, I could not leave the club as well. It would have been too big a blow."

Roma, who are without a head coach after Luciano Spalletti left the club on Tuesday, finished second in the league behind Juventus, qualifying automatically for the Champions League group stages.