As we explained on Monday, the idea that Moise Kean could return to Italy in the summer remains a big talking point in the Italian media.
The suggestion was the Everton forward could end up at AS Roma on loan with a view to buy, as the Serie A club continued to have contacts with Mino Raiola about a possible deal.
The interest was already there in January, but the player never moved, perhaps buoyed by the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti with hope he would get more game time.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and that’s where it all went wrong for the 20-year-old, who took the immature decision of having a quarantine party when he really shouldn’t have, burning bridges with a number of fans and perhaps even his club by doing so.
We’ll start with Gazzetta dello Sport, who dedicate a small column amid a wider article to the Everton youngster, explaining it ‘isn’t impossible’ a deal could happen since Ancelotti’s side are ‘one of the hottest’ after Cengiz Ünder.
Furthermore, his wages of around €3m/year are ‘compatible’ with AS Roma’s finance plan going forward, which, added to the fact Kean is a very good friend of Nicolò Zaniolo’s, gives the club many advantages going forward.
Speaking of Zaniolo, he’s the centrepiece to all this according to Corriere dello Sport, who have a far bigger article on the matter in their edition.
They make it clear straight away that Roma are ‘betting strongly’ on Kean, with three ‘allies’ capable of helping a deal get done.
The first is Raiola, who has several players at the club already, followed by Ancelotti, who is ‘strongly interested’ in Ünder (are you seeing the trend here?).
The third, you guessed it, is Zaniolo, who is ‘one of Kean’s best friends’.
Corriere explain the pair ‘shared a room for almost the entire journey in the national youth teams’, which is where their friendship blossomed, and the ‘mutual esteem and affection’ have remained intact.
The two keep in touch via social media, and while Zaniolo ‘obviously isn’t aware of negotiations’, he did ‘already speak to Kean about Rome in January’.
Not only that, but ‘he has done the same in recent weeks’ following the quarantine party.
Remember that part where we said Kean may have burned bridges at Everton? Well, Corriere explain his actions have ‘infuriated’ the Toffees, who are now ‘trying to get rid of an unproductive player’ who has scored just one goal in the Premier League.
Raiola, always trying to do what is best for his clients, ‘has already offered Roma one possibility: to borrow Kean with a right of purchase, or an obligation linked to certain parameters such as qualification to the Champions League’.
Bought for €27.5m + bonuses, the redemption price could be set at around €22-25m, and while he earns around €3m/year, ‘it will not be a problem for him to accept the same salary or even something less to try and relaunch himself in Italy’.
We’ll have to wait and see if these bridges truly are burned, but we all know there’s never smoke without even a little bit of fire, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Raiola was probing the idea of moving his player, who clearly hasn’t adapted as well as first hoped.
As for Everton in all this, if they can get most of their money back, they can just write Kean off as a failed gamble and simply move onto other players.
You know, like Cengiz Ünder.
