Re: The Official Roma Thread

by rincon Sat Aug 17, 2019 5:38 pm

Not a reasonable thing to say given that Dzeko had by far the best season of his career under Roma's managing predecessors Laughing

Dzeko will be fine, and he will be good in big games as always. He likely wont be hitting a 30 goal season again though, he is declining.

by McLewis Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:27 pm

And that's why this season is make or break for Schick, especially considering we're probably not bringing in a new striker now, but may still sell Defrel.

If he doesn't step up and challenge Dzeko for the starting spot with good performances, I think that's definitively it for him in a giallorosso shirt.

by rincon Wed Aug 21, 2019 12:30 am

Official: Zappacosta to Roma on loan

by Guest Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:49 am

McLewis wrote:And that's why this season is make or break for Schick, especially considering we're probably not bringing in a new striker now, but may still sell Defrel.

If he doesn't step up and challenge Dzeko for the starting spot with good performances, I think that's definitively it for him in a giallorosso shirt.

i actually thought he was going to Dortmund and that deal fell and now he is linked to RB leipzig

would have loved at Milan but this didn't work either for one reason, Roma want to sell Schick but lower Suso's asking price by adding Schick in which milan apparently rejected (Suso asking price was apparently 40 million and Roma offered Schick plus 20 million but milan only wanted straight cash deal) a while ago before preseason form of suso changed Giampaolo wanting him to keep him at all costs

i love Schick he is very much a player who would excel at Bundesliga / EPL

by Guest Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:52 am

rincon wrote:The management chose not to renew him. Extremely poor treatment of who was one of their best midfielders still and a legend. Pallotta and co. earned the hate of the whole city with their current moves. Their treatment of Totti, De Rossi and Nainggolan pissed all the Romans off.

Yea, i still cant believe this either, what more mangement want when guy like de rossi says keep me in club dont have to play me regularly but just pay as I play lol

Roma fans has every right to be pissed

by McLewis Wed Aug 21, 2019 5:34 am

We ain't getting Suso. I never believed those rumors for a second. Dunno his situation at Milan, but I don't see him coming here, as good as he is.

As for Schick, it looks like we're in for Mariano of Madrid if we do sell him to Leipzig or anyone else that has shown interest in him.

As for Zappacosta, I like this move. A dry loan works well for all parties and this potentially frees Florenzi up to play in a more natural role for him, though I'm not sure whether that will be on the wing or centrally. My guess would be RW since we only have Under as the only natural player in that position.

As for CB news. I don't really like the Mustafi links. It has less to do with his quality and/or form and more to do with his injury record. We need fit CBs and he's not quite that. Would prefer Rugani still.

by Kick Wed Aug 21, 2019 6:16 am

rincon wrote:Official: Zappacosta to Roma on loan

It's not official yet.

by rincon Wed Aug 21, 2019 6:47 am

Kick wrote:
rincon wrote:Official: Zappacosta to Roma on loan

It's not official yet.

Well he is in Rome for the medical and was confirmed by everyone

by Kick Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:06 am

rincon wrote:
Kick wrote:
rincon wrote:Official: Zappacosta to Roma on loan

It's not official yet.

Well he is in Rome for the medical and was confirmed by everyone

I just saw the photos from Roma's twitter.

It's as good as done Razz

by McLewis Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:27 pm

Roma sacrifice Riccardi for Rugani?
By Football Italia staff

Reports claim Roma are on the verge of signing Daniele Rugani, with Juventus possibly receiving Alessio Riccardi in part exchange.

Calciomercato.com and Corriere dello Sport both write a deal is close to going through on the basis of a loan with option or obligation to buy.

As it stands, Roma are leaning towards a €5m season-long loan with a €20m option to buy, as opposed to a free loan with €25m obligation to buy.

The defender would have also committed to a five-year contract worth €2.5m plus bonuses.

However, the sources add Riccardi could head in the opposite direction, initially linking up with the Old Lady’s Under-23 team.

The 18-year-old midfielder was first linked with the Bianconeri last month and now looks like continuing his development in Turin, despite being highly rated by the capital club.

As much as I think Rugani is the best candidate for the CB spot we have, I hesitate to say it's worth giving the crown jewel of our primavera to the best club in the league.

Roughly-speaking, Riccardi is to our primavera what Zaniolo was to Inter's before they foolishly sold him to us. This is that type of transaction. Even adding Devid Bouah to this is distasteful considering his ceiling is extremely high.

If this was Sassuolo and not Juve, that would sting less as at least we'd have a shot at buying them back in a few years like we did Pellegrini, but if either goes Juve, it's unlikely they'll play for us again.

We need to just pony up the cash Juve want for Rugani and forgo selling anymore of our youngsters to them.

by S Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:34 pm

I doubt he'll ever play for us

Sassuolo or Samp is his destiny

by McLewis Fri Aug 23, 2019 3:05 am

Di Marzio and other sources reporting that we've hit the brakes on the Rugani deal as the club are not convinced he's worth giving us 2 of our best youth players plus 25m.

Common sense prevails hopefully. I'm sure Rugani's a decent enough defender, but he's not worth what Juve want for him clearly.

Gremio's Walter Kannemann, 28, is an alternative. His agent has flown to Rome to open talks. Gremio have Kannemann priced at only 10m, far more favorable to Roma.

by McLewis Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:53 pm

So this game underscored the fact that we need to shake up the CB pairing. It's no secret that Jesus and Fazio just won't cut it. One doesn't have the ability to read attacking moves well enough at this level and the other doesn't have the physical ability to keep up at this level anymore.

While Mancini and Cetin are names we probably should see sooner rather than later, we still need another CB from the market.

For me, Nkoulou is probably the top choice, followed by Rugani. Lovren and Mustafi are interchangeable for me as they at the same level and are no better than JJ or Fazio.

Either way, its clear JJ and Fazio, despite their years with the club, just aren't the answer. Never were and never will be.

Petrachi has been very shrewd throughout the window. His decision-making has been quite sound. I expect that level-headness now more than ever. This upcoming CB transfer will either make or break our season before it ever really got started.

by Warrior Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:19 pm

You think Manolas made Fazio look better than he really is ?

Or maybe the problem is just Juan Jesus, i cannot believe this guy is a Serie A regular since like 10 years. Should be your back-up LB at best.

I rate Lovren as a much better defender than both, but i don't watch Liverpool very often. In Italy your best option is Rugani who is a good play reader, he has the IQ a good defender, just lacks some toughness. I tend to believe Roma could get him on loan + option to buy, so you can use 2019's money for Lovren/whoever else.

EDIT: i read about interest on Mustafi, fair enough. Apparently the problem is, the price is "particularly high"... then as i look further it's barely 25 millions... is Roma on such a tight budget really ?

by McLewis Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:51 pm

And of course, now we've denied interest in Nkoulou after Torino threaten to report us to the league for violation of a written agreement stating that we can't contact their players. Breaching that agreement carries a 900K euro fine.

This comes after Nkoulou apparently refused to play for Torino after learning we were interested in him.

So with Arsenal asking 27m for Mustafi (I love Arsenal, but, Laughing

) and there being radio silence with Liverpool on Lovren, it's looking like Rugani, who was frozen out of Juve's squad against Parma, may return as an option, but their asking price for him is even more ridiculous than Arsenal's.

As this point, I'd rather just try out Cetin-Mancini or partner one of them with Fazio, who just needs a faster partner who can read the game and pass calmly out the back.

by rincon Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:55 pm

Warrior wrote:You think Manolas made Fazio look better than he really is ?

I definitely think so, but still the Fazio of last season was not the Fazio of the first Roma season. He has declined. Now also being paired with Jesus exposes him even more.

by McLewis Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:56 pm

Warrior wrote:You think Manolas made Fazio look better than he really is ?

Or maybe the problem is just Juan Jesus, i cannot believe this guy is a Serie A regular since like 10 years. Should be your back-up LB at best.

I rate Lovren as a much better defender than both, but i don't watch Liverpool very often. In Italy your best option is Rugani who is a good play reader, he has the IQ a good defender, just lacks some toughness. I tend to believe Roma could get him on loan + option to buy, so you can use 2019's money for Lovren/whoever else.

EDIT: i read about interest on Mustafi, fair enough. Apparently the problem is, the price is "particularly high"... then as i look further it's barely 25 millions... is Roma on such a tight budget really ?

I think Manolas's pace really papered over just how slow Fazio is. Mentally speaking, Fazio reads the game better and he has to because he's not quick enough to catch attackers with even average pace. Manolas also had good ability to read and snuff out attacks as well. Jesus doesn't have this ability so because he can't read attacks well, this leaves Fazio far more exposed.

Now this isn't a perfect system by any means. Fazio and Manolas conceded a ton of goals.

Truth is, Fazio's a better reader of the game than Jesus, but we need a CB who can read the game better than both of these guys AND has the physical aspect to be able to snuff out attacks from pacy wingers and strikers. Mancini potentially can be these CB, but he also has a mistake or 2 in him from what I've seen. I consider him to be "Manolas-lite".

Harsh truth of it is that there isn't a CB on the market right now that we can get for the money we're offering that will absolutely solve this problem. Reality, as I see it, is we're going to leak a ton of goals again this season. It's going become about how many goals can we score to counter act that.

Fonseca's post-match comments reminded quite a bit of Zeman and that's a little scary.

by rincon Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:01 pm

I thought Nkoulou to Roma was done after he refused to play for Torino. Honestly Rugani is a worthwhile solution for Roma.

Rugani is a good defender and he will surely get back on track with an extended run of games. We saw that process already after Bonucci left and he played more than half the matches (shared with Benatia). The problem for him at Juve is that he is just not better than Chiellini and Bonucci (also Barzagli before) and now De Ligt. It is normal to be able to bench these players. So sitting on the bench Rugani became more timid and less effective.

Surely though, he is better than Fazio and Jesus, and young. His time with us is past so he is available, would be a good opportunity.

by McLewis Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:11 pm

On Rugani, It's his price that's the problem though. I think 5m initial loan + another 25m is probably fine for him given his age and ability relative to what we have at our disposal. It's when Juve started inserting our best youth players into the deal that made it untenable. Take that aspect out of the equation and I think 30m total for him is fair, especially in this market.

Regarding Mustafi's price.....to be succint, yeah we're on a tight budget. We're trying to stay ahead of the FFP kraken and we're still having trouble offloading the deadwood. I'd be alarmed if we actually considered forking out 27m for a defender who is clearly no better than what we have and is a high injury liability.

*EDIT: Removed my question about Rugani's toughness as that was answered by rincon.

by McLewis Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:14 pm

As for Nkoulou, that was never a certainty as far as I know. Always a rumor. Torino have been sore with us all summer for how things went down with Petrachi. I never seriously thought we had a chance at any of their CBs and I still don't.

by Vibe Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:29 pm

Just bring back Sabatini tbh

by McLewis Tue Aug 27, 2019 12:27 am

As popular as he was here, he was super hit and miss. Time will tell if Petrachi's signings pan out.

by Vibe Tue Aug 27, 2019 12:33 am

The question is what does Roma want.

With Inter it is obvious we want back to the top and we are really trying. Napoli as well.

Roma looks like a team whose ambition is to be 4th.

by Arquitecto Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:11 am

Before even the game began yesterday Jesp, Rincon, myself and others predicted the disaster that Fazio-Jesus would be as such a glaring pair of names it was for the backline that you could not fathom a clean sheet.

Fazio actually does have very good footballing IQ but given he already was dead slow to begin with paired with now age making his slower he is close to useless bar in the air. Jesus...not even worth typing.

Lovren I never have rated since his Lyon days and has been a thorn in my side being a supporter of Liverpool for over two years but definitely would be an improvement over both and has quite the tough mentality Roma need.

Mustafi? How can any board even come to the conclusion he can be even remotely useful given he is basically a meme by now, 27 million aside to which current market inflation or not, remains absurd.

Mancini-Cetin despite having zero experience together and do not speak the same language is a wonder for us on-paper coaches and I can see why it is impractical but such a risk and beginning with this barely begun season may yield some surprising benefits.

Rugani is most definitely the best option and can thrive under a more closely knit option in Roma under an attack minded coach to bring out even his passing game.

Spinazzola and Rugani (if bought) must be played within the backline, paired with Kolarov of course whilst Mancini and Cetin compete together.

by iftikhar Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:15 am

Lovren is a good player. Thing is once in every 10-12 games he will make mistakes that will kick you in the balls. Anyways, don't think Klopp will sell/loan him since the season has started.

by Arquitecto Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:17 am

And can someone tell any Roma or Azzurri coach who is on board to STOP playing Florenzi as RB Laughing

It began as a crisis make-shift idea and now he is a starter RB.

He is wonderful in attack and zips past the line efficiently but he is NOT a defender by nature especially in wide areas and simply does not cut it 1-on-1.

Waste of a genuinely good midfield box-to-box talent who has his own brand of command there and one that is especially needed in the departure of the Lion De Rossi.

And season begins instead he is playing box-to-box RB smh

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