José Mourinho and former director Tiago Pinto must be fuming about the glorious window Roma are putting together. After three years of almost no spending, the Giallorossi are no longer under the yoke of a settlement agreement with UEFA, and it shows.
Money has never been a problem for the wealthy Friedkin family. They meticulously abided by the rules to avoid heavier Financial Fair Play-related sanctions in recent years. Unlike other teams, they have refrained from complying with that through major sales. Instead, they routinely cashed in on youngsters who had yet to bloom or become regulars in the first team. The MO was to spend as little as necessary, much to the chagrin of the Special One and making life mighty hard for the official.
They turned the page this summer. They are shelling out money willy-nilly but with a precise strategy. Despite what they have been accustomed to and the expectations from rival fans, their acquisitions won’t necessarily lead to a significant departure to make the numbers work.
The Set-Up
The Giallorossi set up their summer moves well in advance by significantly lowering their payroll. They didn’t even try to bring back Romelu Lukaku. They let Leonardo Spinazzola and Rui Patricio go their merry ways. Andrea Belotti and their several loanees, Diego Llorente, Renato Sanches, Sardar Azmoun, and Rasmus Kristensen, also weighed significantly. Their only relevant departure has been Houssem Aoaur for €12M. It’s unfortunate that he could never find his footing with them, but they didn’t think twice considering his performances and the fact they signed him for free. It’s a boon.
The Precise Targets
Some of the players Roma didn’t keep could have deserved to stay, but their plan has been pretty precise, and they didn’t fit it. They are specifically pursuing and adding youngsters with a high upside but already a decent dose of experience under their belt and who come in with manageable salaries. That’s a crucial detail that makes big fees more digestible financially. It’s the same route Juventus are taking, although not as blatantly and with some deviations.
It’ll be known only in a few years whether they’ll eventually flip the likes of Enzo Le Fée, Matias Soulé, or Samuel Dahl for a profit. In the meantime, they’ll have a juicy mix of veterans and talents that could go places if Daniele De Rossi handles them correctly and takes a step forward as a coach.
No Big Sacrifices
In reality, the legacy of the Pinto era and his excessive reliance on veterans is so grim that, even if they wanted or needed to raise money through departures, there wouldn’t be many candidates. Their most prized possession is arguably Evan N’Dicka, who has fared very well after AFCON, but he’s not a world-beater. Edoardo Bove and Nicola Zalewski are nothing more than rotational pieces. Tammy Abraham is more of a problem than an asset. At least it appears that he’s not holding up their plans to sign a superb center-forward.
The Tactical Conundrum
Roma moved on so starkly that they didn’t care that the crown jewel of their summer so far, Soulé, risk overlapping with one of the few investments they made, Tommaso Baldanzi. They have surely done their homework and realized there weren’t other players that combined upside, okay price tag, and low wages as well as he did. He’s also a prospective heir for La Joya, whose contract currently expires in 2025, should start being cutthroat salary-wise with their linchpins. His arrival will force some schematic adjustments because they have an abundance of lefties up front.
The former Empoli starlet will most likely be the odd man out, either relatively speaking, settling for a backup role, or perhaps completely, heading to a new team. Instead, given the size of the disbursement, they’ll have to find a way to fit the two Argentines. Their formation is more of a 4-3-2-1 than a 4-3-3. They’ll give it a go at the two of them simply splitting the space behind the striker, which is the most straightforward solution. Or, they can tilt it into a 4-2-3-1, with Lorenzo Pellegrini serving as a pseudo left winger, Soulé wide, and Dybala as a no.10. It wouldn’t be the first time they have used such a solution.
The Incoming Striker
It looks like Roma are determined to sign a big bruiser or a goal-poacher up front. However, they should give some thought to leaning on Dybala as a false-nine and divert the budget to a right-footed attacker. Stephan El Shaarawy is a fine player, but he can’t possibly be their top or the only left winger if they want to be ambitious and less lopsided. It’d have its logic if they couldn’t ship Abraham off. He’s a limbo where he’d have to be utilized if he stayed, and he’d be a part-time option that brings something different to the table in this scenario. However, he’s fallen off so much that he can no longer be the main tip of the spear.
If Roma spent €30M, or perhaps even more, for Artem Dovbyk, that’d be nearly €100M out of the window in one summer. Those who expect a host of exits, or at least a very significant one, will most likely end up being disappointed. The Ukrainian star would be perfect for his scoring touch and complete skillset. It’d be another major transfer market success since he was an inch away from Atletico Madrid. Still, it’s far from a done deal, Sportitalia reports. Though, if that’s the budget, they’ll land on their feet regardless. In this case, they seem to want more of a sure thing, but they shouldn’t stray too much from the philosophy they have employed in the other roles.
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