AS Roma Transfer Rumours pt. II

I've seen a lot of Manolas over the years , both with AEK , Olympiacos and also with the NT. The best i can say about him , is probably the huge amount of progress he always showed , and then some since he joined Olympiacos from AEK . Even at AEK , every single next season he managed to show better than the previous one . He always seems to improve .

Filling Benatia's boots seems like too much to expect of him right now . Then again , filling Melberg's boots when he left Olympiacos was too much as well ; but he did it . And he did it convincingly well . Now , i doubt if it will prove to be the case again , but Manolas isn't your youngster to be groomed yet .. given the chance , this will be obvious to most.

For me it's no surprise he joins a club like Roma , even though i suspect Benatia's imminent sale forced Roma's hand sooner than they expected .

You got a solid defender , who will impress in time if all goes well for him at Roma . Not sure how long it will take him to settle and feel at home , but when he does , you ll think what you paid for him was funny.

Manolas is a fast , too strong for his age defender , showing great focus and determination in games. Rarely shows lapses in performances and as far as i recall , he was almost always one , if not the best , of Olympiacos' players in the CL .

In a team like Roma , Manolas will surely grow a lot . Given time of course , but he'll get there . This was a particularly good transfer by Roma , perhaps more than some of you realise right now , given that you maybe don't know him as a player well enough. Manolas is very into his football and proving himself constantly and needless to say , a professional . All these years i never read or heard anything about Manolas off the field and he was always , any time i've seen him , well fit . No serious injuries either.

All in all , very promising and capable , with great attitude on and off the pitch . And as a bonus , he's quite fast as well . I think if he gets his chances , you'll get to like him a lot .

Awesome.

Thanks for the rundown on Manolas, Dante.

Kostas uncle and mentor, Stelios Menolas is to Greeks what Baresi or Scirea is to Italians. Let's see if the kid can surpass him.

If he went to any other team I'd have my doubts that Kostas would do well but now I'm positive that under Garcia he will only improve and flourish.

A good signing in my opinion, a bid overpriced but still a good signing.

McLewis wrote:Ok so we got Manolas after all for 13m and Basa for 4m. Not bad.

We got low-balled again on Benatia though, just like we did with Lamela. I'm chalking this down to the fact that we're still not at the level of an elite club so we don't have that same bargaining power. That doesn't hide the fact that we were in a position of strength, but still took the easy way out. If Bilbao can hold out for 40m for Martinez, we could've and should've done the same here. Not a bad deal overall, but certainly could've gotten more for him.

First of all, cheers you guys.

Second, we were interested in Manolas as well. Probably not a bad replacement at all.

Then I think 30m€ is not really 'lowballed', it's still a LOT of money.

As for the Martinez deal, you cannot make that comparison.
Bilbao did not sell Martinez to us at all.
That's the thing with Bilbao they do not sell and do not negotiate.
Spanish players all have release clause however and we got Martinez to pay his release clause (with our money) to get out of his contract.
Wouldn't have gotten him for a cent less, but negotiating a price had nothing to do with it.

Yea, great input on Manolas guys. I've seen him play a few time with the NT and he always impressed me. I thought he was quite good at the world cup this year for a younger defender.

I believe with Castan, Astori, Manolas, and Basa we are well covered in CB for the upcoming season...Looks like we might have pulled off another great mercato.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

McLewis wrote:Ok so we got Manolas after all for 13m and Basa for 4m. Not bad.

We got low-balled again on Benatia though, just like we did with Lamela. I'm chalking this down to the fact that we're still not at the level of an elite club so we don't have that same bargaining power. That doesn't hide the fact that we were in a position of strength, but still took the easy way out. If Bilbao can hold out for 40m for Martinez, we could've and should've done the same here. Not a bad deal overall, but certainly could've gotten more for him.

First of all, cheers you guys.

Second, we were interested in Manolas as well. Probably not a bad replacement at all.

Then I think 30m€ is not really 'lowballed', it's still a LOT of money.

As for the Martinez deal, you cannot make that comparison.
Bilbao did not sell Martinez to us at all.
That's the thing with Bilbao they do not sell and do not negotiate.
Spanish players all have release clause however and we got Martinez to pay his release clause (with our money) to get out of his contract.
Wouldn't have gotten him for a cent less, but negotiating a price had nothing to do with it.

So Bayern snaked their around Bilbao to sign him in other words. Point taken.

McLewis wrote:Ok so we got Manolas after all for 13m and Basa for 4m. Not bad.

We got low-balled again on Benatia though, just like we did with Lamela. I'm chalking this down to the fact that we're still not at the level of an elite club so we don't have that same bargaining power. That doesn't hide the fact that we were in a position of strength, but still took the easy way out. If Bilbao can hold out for 40m for Martinez, we could've and should've done the same here. Not a bad deal overall, but certainly could've gotten more for him.

For someone that actually works in litigation and deals with situations like this all the time, though perhaps in a different context (i.e. widgets and not players), this was a horrible under selling by Roma. You have several "big" clubs who are looking for talent in the back line (one of the thinnest positions in world football right now) and instead of playing this to the 11th hour we balked and gave in for cheap compared to what Benatia should go for in this market.

We have had an excellent summer in terms of player movement, so I won't beat this horse too badly, but we should have done better here.

I don't think Roma actually received many offers for benatia to be able to make something of the situation. There was interest from Manchester city that was just a second choice in case of mangala deal failed. As a fan this is making me angry but i can understand the reason behind the sale, They did offer him a good raise but he rejected it. I Dont like Bayern and i feel bad for benatia for joining them anyways

Well I have no qualms about selling him. He was ready to go, the team was ready to let him go so I think we all made our peace with that.

It's just that we blustered and bloviated about him being worth 40 and 60m and that we wouldn't sell him for any less than those figures.............. and then we sold him for 30.

Elite clubs don't do that. If we hope to get into that echelon, we can't either.

I love Saba, but this deal, despite us profiting well from it, made him look very foolish.

McLewis wrote:

So Bayern snaked their around Bilbao to sign him in other words. Point taken.

exactly

well then moto, we are facing bayern which side

I called this last night, FFS, but I still think Bayern and Roma advance. I have little to no respect for City as a team when it comes to Europe.

I think Roma is better as an underdog. I think we could suprise tbh, as long as De Rossi doesnt blow up in CL like he usually does. Dat home drubbing by shaktar

Welcome back

Some top banter from CDT.

Adrien Rabiot, Basa, and Holebas signings are imminent. Who else does Saba and Rudi want? Sheesh

Read a rumour saying that ManChitty want Falcao. Could possibly free up one of Dzeko or Jovetic

Holebas and Basa are a lot more useful than Rabiot for me. We're packed in midfield and it's going to be tough as it is for Ucan and Paredes to get time let alone Rabiot. If even one of them can play the Pjanic-role then I'm good with this.

sportscsy speaks highly of Rabiot but 10-15mil for a player on the final year of Hus contract seems quite exorbitant IMO. Still wouldn't mind us getting him as Keita is most likely gone after this season. All I know is another midfield signing will only add fuel to the Strootman to ManU rumor which I'm getting sick of hearing

Apparently you want to take Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa on loan with an option to buy.

If it's true I wish him luck and happy he's landed at a respectable club as he deserves a lot better than the piece of crap he's been treated as by us.

Good signing if we do get him. Always liked him personally as a defender. He'll provide the physical presence we'll lack with Benatia's departure.

He's not that physical Mclewis, very pacey though and technically very good.

No worries, he'll learn real quick that he'll need to be.

Castan wasn't super physical either when he joined.

Is he left or right footed?

Anyways, sounds more like Marquinhos than Castan which definitely isn't a bad thing. I still think we need one more body at CB, DDR should never have to play there as he makes an incredible impact anchoring our MF

Right footed.

Transfer Summary:

IN
Ucan
Cole
Emanuelson
Iturbe
Paredes
Sanabria
Astori
Manolas
Holebas
Total: 58.06m

OUT
Dodo
Verre
Jose Angel
Benatia
Marquinho
D'Alessandro
Romagnoli
Total: 32.6m

Net Total = -25.46m

gb wrote:Transfer Summary:

IN
Ucan
Cole
Emanuelson
Iturbe
Paredes
Sanabria
Astori
Manolas
Holebas
Total: 58.06m

OUT
Dodo
Verre
Jose Angel
Benatia
Marquinho
D'Alessandro
Romagnoli
Total: 32.6m

Net Total = -25.46m

Itrube + Manolas is 33 million. Others are on loan or free. How is that 58 million?