AS Roma might have signed three players in the January transfer window (Gonzalo Villar, Carles Pérez and Roger Ibañez), but following the 4-2 loss to Sassuolo on Saturday, there’s an air of discontent floating over Italy’s capital.
Half of it is delighted, with Lazio dismantling SPAL 5-1, but the other half feels their club hasn’t exactly been strengthened after what many feel was a disappointing month in terms of signings.
In desperate need of reinforcements up front, with Edin Džeko needing a quality backup, and a right-winger, players like Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri and Chelsea’s Pedro were targeted.
We covered some of those stories, with Roma making a few attempts to sign one of the two to bolster their wings, yet a move never materialised.
The reason for this, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, was the lack of sales, with any potential income ‘having the consistency of a mirage’, which ‘impeded the arrival of the manager’s true aspirations’.
Both the Liverpool and Chelsea wingers are mentioned by the Italian daily, and they make an appearance in Corriere dello Sport too.
It’s explained Roma liked Shaqiri and Pedro, but the Premier League clubs ‘turned down the offers’, as Gianluca Petrachi’s attempts found ‘closed doors’.
It seems the consensus here is that a bit more money in the Serie A side’s bank account from a sale or two in January might have helped convince Liverpool or Chelsea to part ways with one of their players, helping the Serie A side get an experienced player to aid in Nicolò Zaniolo’s absence rather than having to bring in 21-year-old Carles Pérez on loan from Barcelona.
Only time will tell how harmful this inability to get the man they wanted will be to Roma, but it’s not off to a good start.
