Rogerio is on the verge of completing a £12.5 million move from Sassuolo to Newcastle United. He’d become the club’s fifth sale of the summer already – but is it needless cashing in? Or yet more good business from Sassuolo?
Already this summer, Sassuolo are looking at a player sales profit margin of over £26 million, according to Transfermarkt. Last season’s 8th-place team proved plucky, genuine European contenders throughout, and it was their first top-half finish in four seasons – only their second since promotion from Serie B in 2013.
They’ve proved a worthy addition to the Italian top-flight. In five of their seven maiden seasons in Serie A though, Sassuolo have made a loss in the transfer market. Given the world’s situation right now, Sassuolo might be inclined to sell. But having already lost four first-team names, is the potential sale of Rogerio really necessary?
A Premier League move is obviously hard to turn down. Sassuolo would be wrong to stand in the way of Rogerio, but the figure reported – £12.5 million – seems a little low for a 22-year-old, Brazilian youth international player.
Sassuolo have seemingly accepted the first offer as well. The move has come about quickly and we could yet see Rogerio at Newcastle next week. That suggests that Sassuolo haven’t bothered to haggle with Newcastle, biting their hand off at the first sign of profit.
Add to that – the £18 million gained from Inter’s permanent signing of Stefano Sensi, a combined £24 million from Fiorentina for both Alfred Duncan and Pol Lirola, and Genoa’s £6 million purchase of Francesco Cassata – Sassuolo could be looking at £40 million in the green by next week.
But that could’ve been much more if Sassuolo had stood a little firmer in Newcastle’s way. Their infamous owner Mike Ashley is known to spend aggressively at times, and perhaps the Italians could’ve broken the £20 million mark for Rogerio if they had tried.
Aside from the numbers, Sassuolo will be in need of cover at left-back. Rogerio and Giorgos Kyriakopoulos shared the role last season. Either one of them would feature on the left-hand side of a back-four or five, with Rogerio featuring 15 times in the league last season, and Kyriakopoulos 26.
The Greek has since signed on a permanent deal as well. He’ll no doubt be coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first-choice left-back going into the new season, with both Cristian Dell’Orco and Leonardo Sernicola returning from loan spells.
Sernicola had a failed stint at Ascoli last season, whilst Dell’Orco made a handful of appearances for the relegated Lecce. De Zerbi then might need to dip into that potential £40 million profit pot. Sassuolo could be going all out to cash in on their assets after the events of 2020 but they then run the risk of becoming a selling club.
Selling clubs don’t last long. Sassuolo have established themselves as a serious Serie A outfit and they’ve done well to take in as much capital as they have this summer. It’s set to be their biggest turnover by far since their promotion, and it’d be easy to sit on that for a while.
But De Zerbi and the board need to kick on. They’ve spent well in previous seasons and that can’t stop now. They were so close to European football last time out and achieving that 7th-place spot should be their ultimate goal next season. As for Rogerio, Newcastle would be a great fit: They’ve seemingly got a good deal on a good player, but Sassuolo will hope that it’s not at their expense.