Sampdoria president Massimo Ferrero has formally responded to taunts from Palermo counterpart Maurizio Zamparini.

The pair have exchanged barbs through the media over the past week.

"Over the last week, Massimo Ferrero and U.C. Sampdoria chose not to answer the continuous and repeated aspersions cast by Mr. Maurizio Zamparini, President of the U.S. Palermo," reads the statement.

"Our choice was dictated by the policy which we have been promoting since the beginning of the 2014/15 season - to always present a smiling face for football, with no sterile polemics against the referees or other clubs, at a time that is particularly challenging for the movement of Italian sports and for the current championship.

"However, faced with such repeated provocations, we can't and we won't feign indifference, out of respect for the many Blucerchiati fans that follow the story of the club and the team with such loyalty.

"For this reason Massimo Ferrero and U.C. Sampdoria invite Mr. Maurizio Zamparini to mind the business of U.S. Palermo exclusively, and they reassert once again that for their own part they always behaved in compliance with the rules.

"We have been respectful of the ideal of loyalty in sports, as well as in personal relationships.

"'I've always respected this veteran of football', stresses President Ferrero. 'He, on the other hand, thinks about me all the time.

"'I already have plenty of people courting me and I don't need his attention. I'd like to invite him to tend to his own garden.'"