It's not as hard as you make out. We spend money on player salaries rather than transfers. We keep Sadiq as our backup to Dzeko. We bring back Politano and/or Pellegrini for depth. This is why we shouldn't be loaning every player that isn't a starter. Guys like Vainqueur, Ricci, Politano, Sadiq would have been useful as reserves.
It's not far-fetched. They can make it happen - it's moves like that which divides the men from the boys.
I think any additional investment will depend on the stadium. If JP thinks there is a chance it doesn't get done he's not going to drop a dime into this team.
It's a nice idea and I'm all for it but even if it was the goal of the club to do it I get the feeling there are gonna be more than a couple of players who will want out this summer.
Some don't know or conveniently ignore that we operate on an extremely tight budget. We missed on CL and not surprisingly we are -50 mil in the red in our last financial report. All the money we got from Pjanic we used to secure Salah, Rudiger and Elsharawy loans. Next summer we have about 30 mil to pay for similar loan deal obligations (Peres, Rui, Jesus +/- Grenier). In addition if we want to get Pelligrini back we will have to pay 11 mil. Here's your CL money all spent right there. I'd love to keep the same team and add important pieces to it. Obviously that would be the logical approach if the means allow it. But in my opinion, next summer there are few realistic scenarios. Everything else is with all respect pure fans fantasy. Now you can decide to accept it and live with it or be prepared for another summer disappointment next August. If we fail to secure 2nd place: You can bet your home and car a player or two will be sold. No if's or but's. My bet it is Paredes and Manolas. Rudiger is also an alternative possibility. There is simply no possible way to run the team 2 seasons straight with no CL money. If we secure 2nd place and direct CL qualifications: Spalletti has tough decision to make. Keep the same team or sell a key player to finance adding 2-3 pieces. I personally think Paredes will be sacrificed for that purpose. Gerson too will be sold with the likes of Iturbe, Castan, Skorupski.. In either situation we might be able to find some loans with options to buy. Something similar to what we offered Sassuolo in January for Defrel (2 year loan with complex payment structure). This however will limit the options and quality of the players we can get. Don't expect world beaters but we can get lucky again with someone like Salah or Rudiger. In Manolas case, regardless of scenario above, it will also depend on him. If Chelsea/Inter/ManU offer him 4 mil or more we simply can't match it with our current finances and he will force his way out. My prediction he is 80-90% gone in the summer. So yeah, not as straight forward as put out to be.
But you've just proved a point - if you sell those players listed above, the ones that are not helping the cause and the ones not in the first team, then they can be replaced with players who can make the difference. Paredes is going to catch an easy 20. Gerson at least ten, Skorupski ten, Iturbe okay lets just say eight to play it safe, and Castan for two and change (which is probably unfair of me). You are looking at 50m euros; that's more than enough to keep the existing team, add Pellegrini, add Defrel, and Borja Valero. Daje.
We can't afford to keep everyone and add new players, let alone top players. That suicide job on Olimpico vs Porto screwed up the books and now they need fixing. I think Manolas is gone for sure. If a big offer comes, we can't afford to reject it. If somehow we fail to get 2nd place again, it will become really difficult. It's paramount to keep 2nd.
Obviously I was talking about keeping the same team with the view in mind that we will finish second. Without that of course you have to expect major players leaving. Champions league money covers players we're obliged to pay for. Now adding one or two additions through the same way we always do, installments and selling deadweight. So G_O you just explained its possible what I was saying while yesterday you were labelling it fantasy.
You said "keeping the same team and adding 2 top players". Maybe the confusion arises from what appears to be different definitions of what a "top" player is. What I think is that we simply can't keep the same team and add 2 top players by just selling dead weight, even if we make it to CL directly. Unless we get extremely lucky, we can't land a "top" player using loan with option to buy formula. Defrel, for example, is to me a good squad player but far from being a top player that can make the difference in quality. So yeah keeping same team and adding 2 "top" players on top of that, using my definition of what a top player is, is pure fantasy regardless of where we finish. That's even without factoring the salary factor. No top player will join us for just 3 or 4 mil/yr contract.
Ok top was a bad choice of word, the follow onto my post was this. What I meant was players capable of making a big difference for us over the course of the season giving other key players more games off.
I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of Manolas staying. I made my peace with that a year plus ago. I also wonder about Ninja. Quality is undisputed, but he's no spring chicken, and he plays with reckless abandon. So far, he's gotten the best of his collisions, but for how long does that last?
Maybe it is your perception. People on this site are over sensitive about their opinions being debated for whatever reason. No wonder it is dying.
James Pallotta as always refused to talk about Spalletti or Totti's contract on the domenica sportiva last night. I don't get why they keep asking him questions if they know he won't answer.
If this squad was going to win anything, it would've happened this season. Not Serie A, but they flopped in CL, EL, and TIM Cup. What have they done to make Pallotta think eating more money (if he is even allowed to do that) would be the broken egg that makes an omelet?
I'm highly skeptical of Manolas staying as well. If he is intent on leaving Roma are better off selling now while his value is at it's highest. Hopefully the can convince him to stay but I doubt it. I wouldn't sell Ninja, even if you only get 2 more really good years out of him its worth it. Roma can certainly extended his career by adding depth and giving him games off. At some point you need to start worrying about winning and not building for the future.
If they can keep this squad, mostly, together and add depth I see no reason next season cannot be even better.
It rarely works out the same way two consecutive seasons. We've had a lot go right to get us this far. If Dzeko goes back to being Eeyore, and Ninja gets hurt, we're screwed. We need to be capable of playing less direct in attack, because the well dries up abruptly and permanently when teams start game-planning for that.
It never goes the same because we almost always revamp the squad. That said the obsession with trophies is misguided, IMO. Let's be honest the only trophy we are really talking about is CI. Even if we go through an entire season without injuries our chances winning the scudetto while playing in the CL and CI are very, very slim. CL odds are 0%. We could make the CL get knocked out in the group and go for the EL title which we can do if we have a deeper squad. If Roma are going keep making the CL/EL that really reduces our CI chances because we'll never have a squad deep enough for 3 tournaments. There is too much money in the CL and EL to just throw a reserve squad at those. Bottom line is that trophies are going to be very hard to come by if Roma keeping playing in either the CL or EL.
Apparently Spalletti headed back home to Florence during that break and didn't meet with Pallotta. Not a good sign.
Emery I'd be fine with... Enrique, didn't we already burn our hand on that stove? http://www.forzaroma.info/news-as-r...monchi-ha-due-obiettivi-luis-enrique-e-emery/
The Luis Enrique season was by far the most frustrating in recent years. I remember wanting to punch my computer a few times because we played so boring and ineffective. I also turned it off before the end sometimes which I usually really don't do, no matter how bad they play. Passing the ball around the opponent's box for 80 minutes without any real chance just to concede a last minute goal on the counter. The only positive thing that year was that it was DDR's last world class season.