Meetings.
That’s pretty much what Tiago Pinto’s Thursday consisted of, travelling around London to hold negotiations with various clubs for their and his players.
Among those was a talk for Tammy Abraham, as the Chelsea striker has become one of AS Roma’s key targets for the summer transfer window following Edin Dzeko’s desire to move to Inter to replace Romelu Lukaku.
However, the big problem they have encountered has been the player’s desire to move to Arsenal, reluctant to leave London altogether.
Promises have been made, and Corriere dello Sport break explain ‘the negotiations go on to the bitter end’, as Pinto still ‘believes in it’.
The Roma director ‘remains stationed in London to try and close the most important operation of the summer’ as the first meeting with the player’s agent, Neil Fewings, and the intermediary of the deal with Chelsea, Federico Pastorello, ‘ended without answers’.
Offering €4m/year net for the next give seasons, Pinto made his intentions clear, but Abraham ‘asked for another day to reflect’, clearly torn between trying a new adventure abroad or waiting for Arsenal.
As things stand, ‘the parties are left with the prospect of a further meeting, scheduled for this morning, which will also be attended by’ the striker himself.
On the whole, ‘many have interpreted Pinto’s perseverance as a good sign’, but ‘there is no more time to hesitate’.
Basically, if the AS Roma director ‘doesn’t snatch the yes from Abraham within a few hours, he will move to other tables’, knowing he did everything in his power to get José Mourinho’s desired striker, including adding a buy-back clause for Chelsea to trigger at a later date to bring their player back to London, with the amount ‘varying depending on the year it is used’.
We’ll have to wait and see, but today (Friday) will clearly be decisive.
