Summer 2015

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.

Its worrying to me how management seems willing to sell off all Italian players. Its to the point Conte has no reason to even watch the 2nd placed team in the country. That is not right IMO. As 2nd we should be contributing to the national team more. DDR and Florenzi are our only Azzurri right now, and DDR is getting up there in age. Totti and de Sanctis are not in selection anymore, and Totti will not be playing as much this season one feels. There are games we only have one Italian on the pitch, wild stuff here.

This might sound crazy to most users, but I have no clue why we don't just go for Balotelli. We could get him for 15-17 mil and this is a player who can score goals in the right environment. While Roma does not have a history of being the right environment for players, being around Totti and co will do him well. Plus we would have another Italian in the ranks.

u r going to give us romagnoli

Balotelli will be another Osvaldo or Cassano, I feel. You need to have balls of steel and iron-clad skin to make it here, no matter how talented you are. Balo has balls, but he's too sensitive to criticism to make it in this type of environment.

We're still going to be a "Sell-to-buy" club until we have FFP off our backs as well as the revenue begins kicking in from the new stadium. My worry with selling Alessio is less about him being Roman, youthful or even Italian. It's the depth. If we sell him and Castan ends up out again for another season, we are screwed. That's why it's imperative we keep Alessio. Beyond that, the kid had a great season at Samp. I would love to see what he can do with us now. I think he's ready.

You make some good points, but I feel the iron-clad skin is something that could be learned. Maybe I am wrong.

I agree on the depth, but knowing our management recently I wouldn't be surprised if they sold him for 30, over paid for Dzeko, and then buy another Yanga Mbwa for CB. Which I hope does not happen.

Dzeko is a great striker, but at 29 hes not wroth an investment of more than 20 mil for me. If we must sell Alessio to fund a striker I would much rather see some one younger like Lacazette. It seems very much like the Mario Gomez at Bayern situation with Dzeko right now, just Man city don't want to let him go on the cheap. It would be terrible for us to pay high for this player and then, like many strikers, he declines sharply at 30.

I'm pretty sure Alessio will stay at this point. Like McLewis said, our depth in that position is virtually non-existent which means plenty of game time for him at his boyhood club, and not to mention he has the opportunity to cement himself as #1 choice CB if Castan does not regain his previous form.

In recent weeks, we've been linked to Thomas Hertaux of Udinese. What are y'all thoughts on him?

Meh, Serie A is different honestly. I can't think of another top league with as many 30+ strikers who regularly hit double-digits and are key players in their sides. Dzeko's decline depends solely on Dzeko. He's a rather fit guy and hasn't had any history of lengthy injury issues. He was never pacy so that's not a worry for me and as strikers get older and wilier, that knack for finishing never goes away and if anything, gets better, as we see with Toto Di Natale, Di Vaio, and Luca Toni...hell even Boriello and Quagliarella. As long as Dzeko stays happy and confident, he'll keep scoring goals from the chances we create for him.

That and Totti has already endorsed him. Can't get better than that.

gb wrote:In recent weeks, we've been linked to Thomas Hertaux of Udinese. What are y'all thoughts on him?

He's been hyped as the next Benatia so that's always good, but never saw him as anything more than average.

Though tbf...that's exactly how I saw Benatia before he signed for us.

McLewis wrote:

gb wrote:In recent weeks, we've been linked to Thomas Hertaux of Udinese. What are y'all thoughts on him?

He's been hyped as the next Benatia so that's always good, but never saw him as anything more than average.

Though tbf...that's exactly how I saw Benatia before he signed for us.

I never payed much attention to him. Would you swap him for Yanga?

From what I know of him, he reads the game better than Mbiwa, but isn't as good on the ball coming out of the back. Sounds like a trade-off to me.

Herteaux does have more Serie A experience, but I'm not at all sure he's better than Mbiwa or even Astori for that matter.

What other names are we being linked to at CB?

No others that I can find. That Hertaux one was first surfaced back in the spring as well.

This could be good news as we'd be linked with a plethora of CBs if we were really selling Romagnoli.

Meanwhile

http://football-italia.net/69617/are-roma-stuck-doumbia

Full iCal or Google Calendar of Roma's fixtures for this season

http://logikseo.wix.com/as-roma-season-ical

Dzeko and Salah in. Now we just have to wait and see who's going out. I hope we sell Gervinho and Doumbia. I think we should let Destro go out on loan for another season with and option to buy rather then sell him outright. I still see some potential there

Doumbia is probably as good as gone. CSKA probably waiting to qualify and get that CL money so that they can buy him back.

Destro certainly will go as well, just a matter of where as he has plenty of suitors.

I don't think we'll get rid of Gervinho though....no links at all for him and that's usually indicative of either our failure to properly market him or our intention to keep him.

Looks like Destro could be gone by monday...Which I'm all for to be honest. Sacrificing Borini for Destro when Zeman was here was a big mistake. Fabio was far better for us IMO. Oh well, days gone by.

Hopefully McLewis is right and Doumbia will also be gone soon...

Gervinho can be useful for us in a long season still though I believe, I would rather see Ljajic go before Gervinho.

Hate to say it, but I think our best attack at the moment may be:

Gervinho---------Dzeko-------Salah

I've completely changed my stance on Romagnoli after seeing his progress this preseason. Simply is not one of the next great Italian defenders, and when his transfer goes through it will be a brilliant move by management.

DiRocco wrote:I've completely changed my stance on Romagnoli after seeing his progress this preseason. Simply is not one of the next great Italian defenders, and when his transfer goes through it will be a brilliant move by management.

I am not sure you can solely judge off pre-season. Last season, Zouma had an atrocious pre-season in 2014. After that point, he improved dramatically, to the point where many Chelsea fans rate him higher than Gary Cahill and Jose trusts him over in midfield over Mikel and Ramires.

Not saying Romagnoli will do the same, but you can't rule him out just off pre-season, particularly if he hasn't spent much time at the club before that point.

Romagnoli is legit imo. I've known that since his debut season under Zeman.

Still a great piece of business though, but I don't think this will fund future moves. It will go to offset our current expenditures as we're going to need to break even at some point here.

Yep same, i remember when i was hyping him up with you even when he was occasionally deployed as LB (was surprisingly good too)

Yup, he was quite solid back there in LB and didn't venture forward much, as you would expect from a CB playing there, but I liked his defensive solidity. He will be an excellent signing for Milan I believe.

We just have to find the right replacement now. I like the Aymen Abdennour rumors so far. Strong, composed and tactically efficient defender. Reminds me of a certain Morrocan we signed with the Marquinhos money

we lost a solid solid young defender, he made a good duo with silvestre at samp. He could have done the same in Roma and can do in Milan ""Il Capitano" Totti took Romagnoli under his wing while he was at Roma. He even presented the defender, who is very fond of dogs, with a labrador named Carlotta who now lives with Romagnoli's parents. When Roma received the offer from Milan, Totti tried to persuade Alessio to stay, but as the youngster had to choose between the club he loves and the coach he adores he eventually decided that sticking with Mihajlovic would be better for his development."
I assume it had also something to do with following Nesta's footsteps and new Italian project of Milan.

Abdennour is legit but he'll cost us somewhere b/w 15-20mil if not more. Other names being mentioned are Ranocchia, D'Ambrosio, Digne, Sakho, Bruno Peres, Zouma, and Hertaux. We also have to keep in mind that all our non-EU slots are occupied and that our quota for homegrown italian players is not yet filled.

As for Romagnoli, I applaud this move by Sabatini and co. We received an enormous offer for a player who clearly saw himself elsewhere and with the upcoming sale of YMB we will likely be well into the green regarding our transfer expenditures.