OMNISPORT

Rudi Garcia is hoping to add three defenders to Roma's squad following the departure of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and amid reports of Ashley Cole's premature departure.

Yanga-Mbiwa returned to his homeland of France on Friday after Lyon signed the central defender on a five-year deal, while full-back Cole had his Roma contract terminated with a year remaining according to the Guardian.

Roma have already recruited Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Salah and Wojciech Szczesny on loan deals but Garcia wants defensive reinforcements after watching Roma concede four goals in a 6-4 friendly win over Sevilla.

"There's work to be done, I'm waiting for two central defenders since Yanga-Mbiwa has left," the Frenchman told Roma TV.

"Then we need a full-back, although [Vasilis] Torosidis had a great game. It was a great evening for the fans, but from the coach's point of view it's never good to concede four goals.

"Now we have eight days to prepare for Verona, so we're ready to go for the start of the season. The team's play makes chances, and individual quality makes the difference.

"The attack and midfield are fine, but I don't have much time to work on the defence as the new buys are arriving late.

"That’s OK though, we did it last year with [Kostas] Manolas and [Jose] Holebas, we'll do it again this year."