I want to stay at Roma, says Mexes

France centre-back Philippe Mexes moved to dismiss speculation linking him with AC Milan by claiming in an interview published on Saturday that he wanted to stay at AS Roma.

The former Auxerre player admitted that he was flattered by the reported interest from the seven-times European champions while claiming a move to England was certainly not on his radar.

But first he sought to end speculation that he was actively looking for a switch to Milan having last month alluded to the fact that he wouldn’t be against such a transfer in an interview with French TV channel Canal Plus.

“I’m happy to talk about this because I want to clear something up,” he told the Corriere dello Sport.

“I want to stay at Roma. I’m happy here, I’m happy with my team-mates and I’ve always said that.

“The story with Milan started in newspapers but I have never had any contact with them.

“But if a team such as Milan is interested in me that can only make me happy, there’s no need to tell lies.

“But sometimes as players you have to accept decisions taken by your club. I want to stay but in football things can happen that aren’t of a player’s choosing.”

If he does leave, though, it won’t be for a club in England.

“It’s a great league but you can follow it on TV,” he said. “It’s a very spectacular football but that doesn’t tempt me to go to an English club.

“I’m happy here and I like wearing this shirt.”

Mexes has turned down the Premier League once before, when he left Auxerre in 2004.

His French club wanted to sell him to an English club who had bid more money for him but Mexes signed a contract with Roma despite still being under contract with Auxerre.

FIFA originally banned him for six weeks for breach of contract, although that was later suspended on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), although Roma were ordered to pay Auxerre seven million euros (reduced from eight million euros on appeal) for the deal.

“One thing that I want to clarify once and for all is that if I do leave I don’t want the same thing to happen that happened when I left Auxerre and Roma were penalised for my transfer.

“If I leave I want to leave on good terms.”

In the meantime Mexes is concentrating on twin objectives with his team. Roma are sixth in Serie A following a disastrous start to the season but on Sunday they face fourth placed Genoa, the team holding the last Champions League qualifying position.

“Even if there are still a lot of games to go before the end of the season, this match against Genoa is crucial,” added Mexes.

“They’re three points ahead of us and we’re fighting to catch them. It’s a match we have to win at all costs.”

Roma’s other challenge is an intriguing one as the Champions League final this season will be played in their home Stadio Olimpico.

They meet Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in the second round hoping to avoid being knocked out by an English team for the third year in a row – having fallen to Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the last two competitions.

“That will be a great match. There’s no need to build it up because the motivation takes care of itself,” he said.

Arsenal will be without Cesc Fabregas for the tie, something that Mexes is far from disappointed about.

“I hope they’re also missing other players” he jested. “But jokes aside my only hope is that we win.”