On the day when Roma’s new general manager Tiago Pinto was pictured visiting the Trigoria training center for the first time, Sky Sport reported that the extension of Henrikh Mkhitaryan is a done deal and will be officially announced shortly.
The former Arsenal man was on an expiring contract and will sign a new deal until June of 2022. The 31-year-old Armenian international has been their most consistent player since joining, notching 18 goals and 16 assists in 49 appearances across all competitions.
The hiring of Pinto from Benfica was announced in November, but it became effective in January; he was not allowed to meet with the squad until today as he had to deal with COVID.
Calciomercato.com informs that the new executive will mostly look to reduce the roster in January and will try to find new homes for players with big wages that do feature much, for instance Javier Pastore, who has two years left on his deal for a total of €9M net and has been absent for months due to a hip injury, Juan Jesus (€2.2M) and Federico Fazio (€2.5M), while Robin Olsen could be bought out by Everton for €6M after spending the first part of the season on loan there.
If his attempts are successful, the Giallorossi will then look to add a right-back: while Bryan Reynolds seems poised to join Benevento with the help of Juventus, the top target is now River Plate’s Gonzalo Montiel, who has a €7M price tag. Stephan El Shaarawy and Bernard remain options in case they decide to make of a last-minute addition to the front-line.