Ola Solbakken has officially inked his new contract with Roma, but he can’t practice with them yet. He’s technically tied to Bodo/Glimt, his former team, until the end of the year. The Norwegian side has denied the request to permit him to start training with his new side early.
As per Corriere dello Sport, the attacker is currently vacationing in Mexico with his girlfriend. He returned following a shoulder injury in September and played his final game with his national team in late November. He has logged two assists in eight seasonal appearances across all competitions in the first half of the season.
Roma gave Solbakken some exercise videos to follow while he works his conditioning on his own. The Giallorossi hope he’ll be in good shape when he joins them in January; otherwise, he’ll have to miss the first few matches to get back to speed.
The capital club also sent him tapes to study their tactics and movements. As a pure winger, the 24-year-old will need to adjust to new positions in their 3-4-2-1 scheme. The current plan is for him to play more centrally, backing up Nicolò Zaniolo, Paulo Dybala, and their other strikers. With such addition, José Mourinho will be able to switch to his beloved 4-2-3-1 more easily, having one more offensive weapon at his disposal. Instead, the possible transition to a more defensive role will take time.
Roma asked Bodo/Glimt for permission to bring in Solbakken early, but the two outfits aren’t on the best of terms following an altercation between staff members in last season’s European Conference League clashes, which led to three-game suspensions for Giallorossi assistant Nuno Santos and opposing coach Kjetil Knutsen.
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