Summer 2015

Starting on the positive note, yesterday final plans for Stadio della Roma were unveiled and construction is expected to start late this year Hopefully we wont end up with "Ettihad Stadium" or "ISIS Arena" and it stays as Stadio Della Roma

More positives - Gervinho and Doumbia are expected to pack their bags and head out to Asia, in search of new adventures.

Next I would like to share my slightly mixed feelings about Garcia and the fact that he will stay with us for another season. He somewhat deserves it by finishisd second, but I am worried by his stubbornness to change his tactics, questionable player choises, subs etc. And with Montella, Spaletti available I am getting a feeling that we might regret this decision not to sack him.

Other this that worries me is the mercato. Well, I am reading news about Astori signing permanetly, and Keita renewing his contract, links with Eder (!).. Naingolan to Juve.. Awful stuff. Dont know where to start.

Astori is most a bench player. But since we have Yanga-bwiwa and Romagnioli then we wound not need him. It would be awful to see Romagnioli on the bench while Astori plays. Clumsy big oaf.

Keita needs to go. Too old. Paredes and Ucan need to be given a chance. End of story.

Eder is almost 30, and seems just like another Doumbia all over... Our management does not dare to go for bigger names and ends ups with some deadweight. 22 goals from 72 Sampdoria matches. Not what we need.

And then failiure to spend couple of millions more risks us losing our best player last season to possibile Juventus.

I even heard that Ibarbo might stay...

I expect The club to find their first choice Fullbacks and striker while going through the transfer season without a major sale.

Pretty sure Sabatini's working to bring in both Astori and Ibarbo permanently. I personally don't mind Ibarbo much. Neither a scorer of goals nor a provider, but his physicality and skill on the ball certainly will help along with his pace....I'd say he'll be the new Gervinho for us next season, but he's already a well known quantity. As for Astori, he was never meant to be a first-choice CB and neither was Yanga-Mbiwa. Castan and Manolas were supposed to be the preferred pairing and we may yet see that although Romagnoli coming back just means he's liking going out on loan again as there's no space for him at CB here. That's fine as he needs to continue getting lots of game time. I think he's still a season away from being ready for us.

Garcia earned his stay here I think, but I agree his stubborness has really turned off a lot of fans who used to adore him. His lack of flexibility is clearly his biggest weakness as a coach and you simply must have a Plan B to at least try and implement to help your team. I befuddles me that Garcia simply refuses to make one for this side, but I do think he's still ultimately the right man to lead us forward again.

As for transfers - Clearly Gervinho, Doumbia and Ljajic are likely going to leave in order to fund moves for the players we need such as Bruno Peres, Lucas Digne and one of Edin Dzeko or Carlos Bacca. I believe we'll do the deal with Cagliari to get Nainggolan. After what he's said about Juve, I highly doubt he'd go willingly. Castan and Strootman back will feel like new transfers for us.

Lastly, I honestly like Keita quite a bit. His tiki-taka approach to the game that he learned while at Barca is very annoying though and at the heart of a lot of our lethargy in midfield, but all-in-all, I think he was our best signing from last summer's mercato. Solid, unspectacular and has a knack for big goals. Couldn't ask for more from him and I think a 2nd season will be well warranted although I expect something of a sophomore slump with him in the 2nd go-around at Roma.

If I had to chose between Ibarbo and Gerviho it would be Gervinho for sure. He actually has lots of talent, just had a bad season. Lacked belief and strenght he had last season. I cant see Ibarbo beeing worth 15 millions like hes price is.

I rather have Romagnioli as back up. As last season probed there will be a lot of chanes for all CBs. And since we lack a LB then he could play there when we need to defend.

I dont have anything against Keita, but I would rather see young and promising players play. Its quite obvious that we wont contend for CL next season, so we really dont need experience that he gives. Solid player but for a growing club that does not have much money in transfermarket it is more important to give younger, promising players more chances.

So far we have managed to resolve all our co-ownerships deals and then sell Berto for 20mil. Not bad business but no improvement has been made from last season. Midfield is definitely our strong point on the team so I would like us to focus our spending in attack and defence.

In goal, MDS should have another season or two in him. We have been linked with Sergio Romero on a free and he would be an excellent stop gap/backup option for us. No need to spend big here this summer.

In defence, we need to make a move at fullback (LB in particular) with either Darmian/Kurzawa/Baba coming in to the team. I'm OK with Flo sticking it out at RB with Maicon and Toro as backup options this season. I don't expect Castan to be back to full fitness until at least late Sept. - early Oct. so we definitely need to reinforce at CB as well. Manolas is the only definitive starter at the moment and I would much rather have Romagnoli partner him instead of Yanga. I would shoot for Nastasic or Vertonghen but I haven't heard or seen any concrete rumors of us looking for any CB's.

In midfield, I would look to loan out one of Paredes or Ucan. I would also like for us to jump back in for Rabiot but other than that I think we're covered in that area.

In attack, Gervinho and Doumbia need to hurry and gtfo. As for Destro, I'm OK with him staying but wouldn't care if he was sold either. I hope and pray to God that the Ibarbo rumors are false but if he comes then so be it. I personally would really love for us to land Jovetic even with all his injury problems, I remember Totti praising the kid and saying that he would be a suitable replacement for him when/if he retires. The Dzeko rumors are nice as well. Either pick up would be a great addition.

40m for Bert and Romagnoli, you could probably buy any defender on the market imo

Seems like Dzeko is the objective in attack, while Baba is the primary target in defense. Though, i feel like Roma failed to address their most concerning position, the man between the posts. Begovic could've been an ideal replacement, with a paltry fee as well, shame (not really (: ) he went to Chelsea, anyways, Casillas seems to be the hot name now. Also, I feel like Roma took the wrong forward from Genoa in Falque, with Gervinho heading to the exit door, i feel like Perotti would be a more suitable replacement. Unless Totti moves back to LW with Dzeko in the middle and Falque/Ibarbo on the right? Dunno but it seems like that.

No way we are letting Romagnioli go.

falque is a bench player, so is ibarbo.

flameas wrote:No way we are letting Romagnioli go.

I wouldn't be so soon to say that, Roma's executives have a history on backtracking on their statements ^^

But the goalkeeper ?

I haven't still idea about who Roma will take as GK next year.

flameas wrote:Starting on the positive note, yesterday final plans for Stadio della Roma were unveiled and construction is expected to start late this year Hopefully we wont end up with "Ettihad Stadium" or "ISIS Arena" and it stays as Stadio Della Roma

Well at the moment it figures to be De Sanctis, Romero and Lobont....in that order.

I'm good with that honestly.

McLewis wrote:Well at the moment it figures to be De Sanctis, Romero and Lobont....in that order.

I'm good with that honestly.

Yea I'm completely fine with that as well. My only concern this summer is keeping the key players in our squad intact (Pjanic) and selling Gervinho and Doumbia.

So Dzeko deal appears to be dead. The gap between our offer and City's asking price is a gaping chasm. He's just not worth 30m so let's move on. With Mitrovic now off to the Geordie Shore, Rondon being mooted, but at 22m even that's rather high for someone with virtually the same credentials as Doumbia.

Need to secure a keeper, a least 1 top full-back and sell one of Destro/Doumbia. We do that while not selling Romagnoli and Pjanic and I think our mercato is what we need it to be.

Also lads, take that loss to the Hungarian side at Pinzolo with a huge grain of salt. We started a lot of Primavera players and fringe players for that one.

Good news guys! It seems we have rejected Milan's final offer of 25mil for Romagnoli.

We should raise our final offer to 18mil euros for Dzeko take it or leave it. If not, sell Doumbia, Yanga and Gervinho and aign Mitrovic, Sirigu, Kurzawa/Digne, and a RCB to replace Yanga. Done!

McLewis wrote:With Mitrovic now off to the Geordie Shore

Not quite.

The story is he wants to come ( as for some reason he supports us ) his agent is pushing him to join us and as of right now we are the only ones to meet Anderlecht's asking price of 18m euros.

But the kicker is his father wants him to join a club in Europe, that combined with the owner being on holiday has delayed any movement on the transfer so you can still get him.

A fan of Newcastle?! Wtf lol

gb wrote:A fan of Newcastle?! Wtf lol

Q. "Which club do you like the most and which league appeals to you the most"?

A. "Newcastle and English league".

Weird as *bleep* tbh considering we have absolutely no history of serbian players but it doesn't mean we are certain to sign him anyway.

Roma and seemingly Porto are still involved as i understand it.

Well at least you signed someone this window

Lol it's still early, i'm sure you will sign players. I don't see why you wouldn't anyway.

We've signed Iago Falque and Ibarbo neither of which are any good. Wijnaldum is a quality player

So 8m up front and 8m next summer to complete Baba's move permanently from Augsburg.

If that's the only full-back we get this season, I'm good with that, but only if we get a striker. If we don't, we need to go after one of those RBs we've been linked with.

Romagnioli links have heated up. Arsenal plotting also. Hopefully we wont sell.

Milan appear to have capped their offer at 25m, but we are holding firm at 30. That might have put them off finally.

Arsenal are are a different beast entirely though, but I'm not sure they would spend that type of money on a player they don't really know all that well.

I really hope we don't sell Romagnoli. Besides from Rugani, there really is not any young Italian CBs that can even compare. It would be a big mistake to sell him, especially to Milan, who we will be competing with this year. Milans insistence on getting this player should really tell us that hes worth holding on to. Mija must have seen something huge in him last year.

Quite frankly, I would rather see Castan or Manolas leave before Alessio. He is our own youth product and looks to have a bright future with club and country. 30 Mil is nothing compared to having a high quality youth player turn into a top defender.