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00:00:01
Roma's New Era: Gasperini Takes the Helm
60 Plays26 days ago
In this episode, the hosts discuss the recent appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as the new coach of AS Roma, exploring the implications for the team's tactics, player development, and expectations for the upcoming season. They analyze the potential of key players like Artem Dovbyk and Lorenzo Pellegrini, the challenges of integrating new signings, and the overall mindset of Gasperini in a club with higher ambitions. The conversation also touches on the transfer market and the importance of strategic signings to bolster the squad.
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Transcript
00:00:04
Speaker
Tizanos, welcome back to another episode of Coucho Culture. On today's episode, we're going to be talking AS s Roma and their new appointment and Gian Piero Gasparini.
00:00:16
Speaker
biggest One of the bigger news of the summer. Huge moment for the club. Big transition phase. We're really excited about next season. And today we're kind of going to be breaking down what's going on at Roma, what we think this is going to look like next season, and kind of what we can expect under Gasparini and what the club is going to look like. um But yeah, this is really exciting one. ah's How are you feeling about it?
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm excited. i was had a similar excitement to Roma last year as I do this year. Obviously, it took them a little bit to figure it out and put everything together.
00:00:48
Speaker
They were able to that, and we saw how strong of a team they were and how good they were when they were able to do that. And getting... Gasparini early on letting him have the whole summer to kind of implement his system um should give them enough time to hit to continue where they left off this season and hit the ground running and we all know what Roma did when they clicked last year so I'm excited for this team they're going to be a dangerous side especially with this appointment Gasparini so very excited Yeah. And a big evolution for the club. Again, just starting this summer, we've got a new logo.
00:01:22
Speaker
We have a new executive. you think about the logo? ah Don't change it. It was fine how it was. It's fine. Like it was unnecessary. I think they probably spent a lot of money getting a new logo. It's waste of time for everybody. I think it's pretty similar to what they have. Yeah. the same thing Just different colors.
00:01:36
Speaker
So that don't need it, but still new evolution. So we got a new logo, a new executive and consultant, former manager, Claudio Ranieri is now a consultant for the club. Just snubbed the Italy job. So he can be a hundred percent focused on Roma, new coach and Gasparini. And then as of yesterday, new sporting director, Frederic Massara, former Milan executive. He was in that sporting director kind of role with Paolo Maldini at AC Milan when they won the Scudetto.
00:02:03
Speaker
really talked about highly executive in in Italy. This was a really big one for them to get done. And it looks like on the back of this, they're going to start making some noise in the Mercato. They're probably waiting to get something like this done before that started.
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, listen, Whatever Ranieri says at this point, i don't see how anyone can argue, go against, and not just be okay with it. I think he came out of retirement for this club. He clearly, this is his like love. He loves this club.
00:02:34
Speaker
and He knows he wants to leave it in a better position than where he found it. He said that multiple times. He's staying on the board to continue to do that.
00:02:45
Speaker
And immediately after he gives up his position, he appoints a great new manager that's going to do exactly what I just said, kind of take the next step and a great sporting director who has been in this league, been around and has won.
00:03:00
Speaker
um So Ranieri really, he this man is a smart, smart man. Yeah, very smart. People forget he won the league with Leicester City. So he has to know something, has to be doing something right. ah But again, the bulk of today's episode is talking about Gasparini.
00:03:14
Speaker
And last week, me and Logs recorded, i kind of said my thoughts. i was a little bit worried about the appointment just because of how Gasparini plays. High risk, high reward kind of football. lot of goals conceded, albeit it was better last season.
00:03:26
Speaker
That was my initial reaction. What were your initial thoughts? My initial thoughts for Roma was this is a great appointment. You know what you get with Gasparini. He is going to play attacking style on the front foot football, man marking press at all times.
00:03:43
Speaker
And the the beautiful part about this is in my opinion is Roma are a bigger club than Atalanta. And I don't want to throw shade on Roma at all here, but they're less big, obviously, than Juventus and Inter in terms of the players they bring in.
00:04:01
Speaker
And we know Gasparini, that's his biggest... thing that he has right is he clashes with big egos now Roma players have egos but I don't think they're at the level of where it would clash so I can see this really working out for them also Roma are a step away from being a Champions League level team for the next four five six years and competing for the Scudetto and
00:04:32
Speaker
This is the man that can clearly take that step for you, as we saw him do with Atalanta when nobody saw that coming, right? Atalanta wasn't necessarily step away, and Gasparini just got them there.
00:04:46
Speaker
Roma are much more in advance than when at where Atalanta was when Gasparini went there, and now Gasparini is going to take them across the finish line, and who knows, win trophies potentially, go deep in Europe, um win the Scudetto, so...
00:05:02
Speaker
I think this was a great appointment. he was you People wanted him. Juventus went after him. He said in his press conference when Roma appointed him that Juventus wanted him, and this one just felt more right. So they beat Juventus to the punch there. And I'm excited for this appointment. I think Roma fans will be okay to lend in maybe a few more goals if that means they're scoring a ton more goals.
00:05:23
Speaker
um That's kind of like what the De Rossi system was ah when he was the caretaker the end of like two seasons ago. And they were totally fine with it because they were scoring four or five goals a game. So I love this appointment. I'm excited for Roma. I think Gasperini can really help them take the next step. And I think that he will help them make the next step.
00:05:41
Speaker
One of the interesting points you made is that Roma's kind of like a, they're kind of a step down from the Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan terms of profile and recruitment. So I'll be interested to see because they're going to be able to recruit players that are almost at that stage, but can recruit better than Atalanta.
00:05:58
Speaker
So he's going to be getting better players, but what what he's always done so well is develop players. So when you're getting guys that are already better, I'm just interested in what he can see with that squad. Like how does the Gasparini system do with players that are presumably already better than what he's already had and how much can he develop those guys? Like, including like, what are we going to see from Baldanzi and Pizzilli now next season? Are they going to hit a new level that we haven't seen yet?
00:06:22
Speaker
Sule. Sule. Like I would probably, Dovbic, you can go through the whole team it's like, There are a lot of guys there that aren't at their ceiling yet. And Gasparini is very good at getting players to that level. So we could see a very dangerous team very quickly. And i'm I'm just interested to see how he does that with some players that everybody kind of agrees are better than what he had at Atlanta. And there were so many players that went to Atlanta that weren't that good. And now we talk about them as like, oh, my God, these guys are so good.
00:06:49
Speaker
Or that were flops that went to Atalanta and Gasparini was able to, they they had a great they had a great year or two somewhere else. They made a big move, didn't work out. And then they went to Atalanta and Gasparini made them to to their their old form again.
00:07:03
Speaker
Roma, like they have some players that kind of last year fell out of form, Pellegrini, Cristante being some. So you think, hey, maybe Gasparini can not only get those to their peak forms that we've seen before, but also, like you mentioned, the young players that they have to improve as well.
00:07:21
Speaker
And the beautiful part about this is they're not changing a whole lot in terms of formation. They were playing 3-4-2-1 last year, or some iteration of that. They obviously, Ranieri probably did the most, maybe besides Conte, of changing up formation when it was needed for Roma.
00:07:41
Speaker
ah But for the most part, they lined up in their 3-4-2-1, which is exactly what Gasparini plays. They definitely played a more defensive aspect of it than Gasparini, but it's not going to be like, hey, this is a totally new system, totally new position.
00:07:55
Speaker
for a lot of these guys, they're going to know the position and the formation and and so on and so forth for a lot of them. Yeah, just to kind of talk quickly about Gasparini and how he plays for people that don't know, like Matt said, it's a three, four, two, one or three, five, two, whatever you want to call it.
00:08:11
Speaker
And kind of the the Gasparini thing, like what is his thing? Man marking high pressure. attack heavily like everybody attacks which is why sometimes they did get exposed on the on the other end of the field but we're looking at two number eights in the midfield but wide wingbacks they're going to play a lot of balls into the box should help dovbeck and then a front three that is very fluid with kind of like a a pure number nine up there we saw with reteggy with skamaka with the kind of creative players underneath him um at atlanta last year it was um
00:08:43
Speaker
Oh, I'm spacing out. Look men CDK pass a lich kind of to help that pure number nine. So in terms of like the roster, they actually into your point, like they they already played kind of the system and they already have the guys.
00:08:55
Speaker
It's just a matter of who is Gasparini going to pick to play in what position? What is his day one number ah starting 11 going to be? And we're we're all months away. We have an entire Mercato.
00:09:07
Speaker
But the immediate question for me is we're looking at that front three, essentially like two inside forwards with Dov. I mean, there's no way Dobrik isn't the number nine to start the season. I would be very surprised if that didn't happen. But the conundrum and the puzzle for me that De Rossi had and Juric had and Ranieri kind of missed out on because of injury.
00:09:25
Speaker
How do you get Dybala and Sule in the team? Because presumably your best three forwards are Dybala, Sule, and Dovig is going to play. And does he play both Dybala and Sule? And if he does, can he do what everybody else couldn't do?
00:09:41
Speaker
And Ranieri did not have this puzzle because Dybala got hurt and then missed out and Sule kind of stepped in that position. But that's my immediate question. Does he even try to do that? Does he go with something else? That's kind of my thought.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's a tough question. i mean, I think you have to Play the most informed guy. So to start, he might try them both on on the pitch, see how it works out.
00:10:06
Speaker
We've seen Sule struggle playing off the left. We've seen Dybala struggle playing off the left when he tried to do it at Juve. He very much is comfortable in the 10 space to the right wing, right attacking inside forward space.
00:10:20
Speaker
Same with Sule. So it's going to be extremely tough to to work both of them in. But you do have somewhat of the luxury of Dybala being an older player. So you can potentially talk with him.
00:10:31
Speaker
ah You have three competitions, so you're going to have a lot of games, but you can talk with him to tell him, like, we want to save you for the European games and the big Serie A games. um Because you don't, the last thing you want to do if you're Gasparini and if you're Roma, is not play Sule enough to where he can't reach his ceiling.
00:10:50
Speaker
Because Sule's ceiling is a 50, 60, 75 million dollar player. And it could be even more. But if you if you don't play him in his best position, you you block the development there. And Davala, he's a world class talent, as we all know.
00:11:06
Speaker
He's at the end of his career and isn't going to get any better. So it's going be a puzzle. I think Gasparini will try to play them together at some points. He's going to have to not at some points as well.
00:11:17
Speaker
ah But we'll see how how he does with it. Because as you mentioned, everybody did struggle in terms of De Rossi and Juric beforehand in terms of that puzzle. But one thing I wanted to ask you is about Dovbic, right? We've seen Gasparini take a Skamaka and take a nine or seven goal last season where Taggi and turn them into potential golden boot and golden boot winners.
00:11:43
Speaker
Dovbic, a guy who scored 14, 15 goals last season to gas in a Gasparini system, what do you think he can do next season? Golden Boot. i will If I can bet on Golden Boot, I will.
00:11:56
Speaker
i just He is a better soccer player than Riteki and Skamaka, in my opinion. i mean, you can debate that. id probably I can heavily defend that, I think.
00:12:09
Speaker
yeah I think what happened last year is they didn't really play to Dovig's strength. And it took him a while. to A lot of those goals came in the second half of the season when the whole team started playing better. But my guess is that Gasparini isn't really going to change the way that he wants to play.
00:12:23
Speaker
And now you have Angelino, who's presumably staying, and Divine Wrench, who is also going to be staying, presumably starting right wing back. And their job is going to be cross the ball, cross the ball, every opportunity you get to do so.
00:12:37
Speaker
in And Dovbic is going to be the guy whose job it is to put those away. And that's why Riteki scored so many goals last year. He got so many opportunities and so much service. And we see... When you have a number nine who's capable of just being that ruthless finisher, then what happens?
00:12:53
Speaker
They score a million goals. And I think Dovbic has better physical traits than Riteki to finish off those crosses. And I would say he's probably even a better pure finisher than Riteki. Riteki is still very raw.
00:13:05
Speaker
And I think Dovbic's game is raw in a lot of ways. But they asked him to do a lot last year, lot of back to basket play, a lot of counterattacking, a lot of it just a ah lot of things. Rattegi at Atlanta did not have a lot to do.
00:13:17
Speaker
He had quick holdup, which he was very good up, good at, but he always had support. Dovbeck was on an island for so much of last season that he had to come deep and then hold play, wait for people to get to him.
00:13:29
Speaker
And this is going to be completely different. Your number one job is going to be putting balls in the net and you are going to be given the opportunity to do so. The whole thing without Atlanta last year was every single game, they created a ton of chances.
00:13:43
Speaker
They only lost games because randomly they just wouldn't score goals and it didn't really make sense. They missed a lot of good chances. With how many goals were tagging scored last year, you probably should have scored more. And there was a lot of games where he did miss.
00:13:53
Speaker
And for me, I think Dovbeck is going to put away more chances than Rettegi did, which is why I think this is going to work and he's going to win the Golden Boot. Agreed. I think Dobrik's going to be scary and they it and I think Sule can be scary and in a lot Dybala can be scary as well, but very well said. I agree.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah, the other beneficiary, I think, in this kind of front three is Pellegrini. I think Pellegrini, there is going to be rotation because Dybala is going to get hurt at some point and he's older. And I think that they're going to be very aware of that.
00:14:27
Speaker
And a lot of people tend to get hurt under Gasparini separately from that. I could see a but a very interesting formation is in the games where you're resting Sule playing Pellegrini under Dybala and Dovbeck as kind of like your two nines.
00:14:41
Speaker
That would be interesting because I think it would give Pellegrini the space he needs in Gasparini has always been good at getting the best out of the players that he has and playing into their best traits.
00:14:52
Speaker
So I think he is a tremendous beneficiary of this. I think he's also a beneficiary of three important competitions. Romare should absolutely be looking to win the Europa League and win the Copa Italia this year.
00:15:03
Speaker
And with that, in the more games you're playing, more people are going to have opportunity. Pellegrini was obviously, we i would deem a loser of last season, where there are a lot of players that were were winners of last season. and With a new manager, you're goingnna have an opportunity to show your case.
00:15:18
Speaker
the This is a guy that has a lot on the line now. He's pretty much out of the national team setup. Gattuso just came in. So you're now proving new manager at the club level and then trying to break back into the national team ahead of a World Cup.
00:15:31
Speaker
I think we all think he's capable of doing that. The other guy I would kind of liken to him is Coop Miners. um but I think Coop Miners under Gasparini at Atalanta was better than Pellegrini's ever been.
00:15:42
Speaker
But who's to say that Gasparini doesn't elevate Pellegrini to that level this season? He's probably the best attacking attack-minded midfielder this team does have. historically um he's been a part of this team for a long time so that's one that I am pulling out as somebody to maybe watch to see what he can do because if you can get a good Pellegrini into this team that's big because he can also play off the left which they don't really have a great off the left kind of guy Yeah, for sure. And I will say, he that's this is his best position.
00:16:14
Speaker
right I know when Mourinho tried to utilize him in a two-man midfield, it's not Pellegrini's best position. His best position is inside forward, number 10, shading towards the left.
00:16:30
Speaker
um So he can definitely turn his turn... or see his form go back, kind of turn the years back, as we've seen Gasperini do that for countless players.
00:16:42
Speaker
ah So very looking forward to see what Pellegrini or Gasperini can get out of Pellegrini. Yeah. And then ah the other thing I want to talk about, again, we have ah several months to go, so there there could be some new additions, is that two-man midfield.
00:16:55
Speaker
Because for me, the two-man midfield is something that's really hard to get right. I say a lot of times that I don't love it. But at Atalanta, Gasparini got this right so many times. His two men midfield.
00:17:06
Speaker
I mean, the guy that you have talk about is Ederson, what he was able to do with Ederson and then whoever his partner was, Martin DeRune, Toon Coop Miners. This is going to be the key piece of this team. And if he can't get this right, they're going to struggle.
00:17:19
Speaker
I think 100% the new Ederson in my mind is Manu Kone. And he is probably a better technical player than Ederson. The question is, what is he going to be able to do in this two-man midfields? Because it is a difficult job.
00:17:32
Speaker
But this is a very, very good player that I think we're both really excited to watch under Gasparini. He's going to be a key player. But the question is, who is he going to play alongside him? Because there were a lot of guys that played last year. and Paredes is leaving.
00:17:47
Speaker
So now you're talking about a midfield crew that's like Brian Crestante, Pellegrini, potentially. We don't think that would be his best position. But then you've got like Pizzilli, who had a great season and now is having a great U21 Euros, who could potentially be the beneficiary there.
00:18:02
Speaker
So that's that's just a piece that I'm watching going into next season because it's Manu Kone and then who? Are they going to sign somebody? Is it going to be in-house? And that's something that you need rotators there too, because you cover a ton of ground in the two-man midfield.
00:18:15
Speaker
And you're going to play a lot of games this year. Yeah, I'm in agreeance with you. Kone for me is going to take a next step. I thought yeah he had a shout for team of this season for the Serie I do agree he has kind of tactically better play than Ederson. He doesn't cover as much ground and maybe less of ah ball winner in the midfield, but I think he is actually a better pure passer than Ederson.
00:18:40
Speaker
So Gasparini is going to have to find a running mate to Mane Kone, but we've seen Gasparini be able to kind of plug anybody in next to Ederson and at Atalanta and get the best out of them.
00:18:54
Speaker
So there's nothing to me that shows why Gasparini wouldn't be able to find a guy and make the most out of him, whether it's Cristante, whether it's someone whether it's going to get someone on the mercado whoever they get i i have very much faith in gasper i need to figure out how to make it work but then i there is a there is a part of me that does think like there's going to be some growing pains here right there there there kind of has to be like we're talking about this how the way we're talking about this for the first it could only go right rome is going to win yeah yeah
00:19:30
Speaker
No, that's a good point. It's a hard system to play in. It's not. Gasparini himself said the best quality the best result would be to qualify for Champions League. like I understand that's Gasparini doing his job to not set the expectations too high and let the Italian media that reports every single minute of every single day That Roma should win the league. He's trying to lower the bar. So if he does overachieve, it looks better.
00:19:58
Speaker
I do think that for me, their minimum bar is to qualify for the Champions League. Not their best result, in my opinion. I understand what he's doing, but he said it himself. like It's going to be so obviously not going to be a walk in the park.
00:20:12
Speaker
i mean I mean, that's another question that have is The concern about Gasparini, right, is the bad parts of Gasparini. That Gasparini system can feed a lot of goals, very attractive to watch, but you get you get run out of some games.
00:20:25
Speaker
He said a lot of bad stuff last year. We talked about it so much. Is he ready for a club like this? Is he the right fit? Because that mentality for me is not good enough because at the beginning of last season, the three of us were on here saying Roma are top three contenders last year, and they are probably better now than they were then.
00:20:44
Speaker
And for me, there's no reason that they can't win the Scudetto. I think they're better than Napoli. I mean, off off of like just pure 11, they have better players in my opinion. So maybe not at the end of Mercado. now Maybe not, maybe not. But To come out and say before it starts that we can't win the Serie that it's a little bit bad for me because this is bringing me back to Gasparini last year and the mindset that he has.
00:21:09
Speaker
Does he really have the mindset of big club mentality, win every competition, or is it just try to be good enough every year? Because this isn't Atalanta. It is different. Like Roma is not the biggest club in the world. Yes.
00:21:21
Speaker
But they're like one of those, they kind of teeter at all points of being there. So it isn't the same as Atalanta. I think expectations are going to be higher. And if they don't make the Champions League,
00:21:33
Speaker
I would consider it a failure. As of right now, there's so much that's going to happen in summer. If they don't make the Champions League, I would agree it's considered a failure. But this is, to me, I understand 100% where you're coming from, the Gasparini mindset in terms of, is he about winning all three competitions? He's only ever won one trophy, the year ah Europa League, two seasons ago.
00:21:53
Speaker
But to me, this is more just a cat and mouse game for Gasparini to set expectations for the media and to Roma fans. Like, listen, I've had a lot of success at Atlanta.
00:22:05
Speaker
ah Overachieved, right? You've got great players. You went 18 games unbeaten. You would have won the league if it started in December. I think that's just him trying to not set expectations too high and then under-deliver.
00:22:19
Speaker
and ah very It's a normal tactic. Allegri did it a lot with his Juventus 2.0. Allegri would constantly be in the media saying, listen, this is... We're our goal every year is Champions League. We're no longer Scudetto.
00:22:34
Speaker
But being the the club of Juventus, the fans want Scudetto or Bust. So I think it's just more so a game rather than reflecting his mindset. But I totally agree with you. Like maybe that is his mindset sometimes. And it comes off that way because there is a reason why Atalanta only won one trophy, even though they've overachieved tremendously.
00:22:54
Speaker
And obviously he does have his falls, Gasparini. But I will say, That was his most of his faults came. We saw at the Atlantis stint in his eighth year at the end of it So that that's a long time to manage in a club. I will say, though, they did meet Atalanta Gasperini in the summer, and he committed to them on staying.
00:23:19
Speaker
They invested like 100 mil on the Mercado to try to get him to stay, and then he still threw a fit. So there's an aspect to him. He's old. He's stuck in his ways. It could go sideways, but like I mentioned, the Roma players are great. They're very good, solid players. Not many of them have...
00:23:34
Speaker
high egos and we know that's what gaspering struggles with like when lookman uh when he was just shitting on lookman in the press so you there you know what you get with gaspering right he's he's a prickly guy but he comes with a great style of football scoring goals and he does get you results and he does overachieve you yeah that That's a good point. He's a prickly guy, but he does get results. And two guys that he's going to have familiarity with, Brian Cristante, who did play for him at Atalanta, 12 goals there. So that's something to watch.
00:24:04
Speaker
And then Mancini also had him. So I would expect a ah that's a bit, I mean, that's a good guy to have a relationship with. Has been at the club for so long, kind of like the alternate captain or no, the cap. No, it's Pellegrini the captain. No, Pellegrini. Yeah, but Pellegrini was the captain, however, maybe not after these past year falling out.
00:24:23
Speaker
But like those, Cristante and Mancini are two of the maybe four pillars of Roma over the last five, six years. Right. And he's got a great relationship with both of them. Yeah, so there's a lot to be done this summer. We we fully expect them to bring in some players. im I'm not sure they need to break the bank because they do have a they they pretty much have a team set.
00:24:41
Speaker
um But we're going to be watching what they do now. Again, with the new appointment of Massara, we expect that Mercato to start amping up and really start making some moves there. we I think we would expect...
00:24:53
Speaker
The Mercato to start for just Italian clubs in general besides Napoli any time now, any day now. yeah that A lot of a lot of like Milan, Roma, Juventus, they were appointing sporting directors. So that was obviously the job one.
00:25:05
Speaker
But no one's done anything for besides Napoli, a little bit of Inter. And you got teams all around just making but making business happen. So Serie A's got to get on their horse there.
00:25:16
Speaker
Yeah, but they have been in the news as of late. A couple of things. Mila Svilar is very close to a new deal. That's actually, that's an important one because he was linked to Milan. He was linked to the Premier League. So if they get that one done, that's important. Really, that one's not done yet, but it seems like it should happen the next couple days.
00:25:33
Speaker
The other thing was Angelino had looked like he was going to all halal. But apparently that was all fake news and none of that actually happened. So he appears to be staying, which is big. A couple, a couple. This is Angelino is a guy that can get nine, 10, 11 assists under Gasparini.
00:25:50
Speaker
He had a great season. Great season. Yeah. We've seen if you Gasparini, the positions that excel under his for his for a system, wingbacks, strikers, and probably like center mids. Yeah.
00:26:05
Speaker
ah It's a defense that really takes that back. So he's so aggressive. But Angelino could be could have easily been in the team this season. This year had a great season and could get even better next season under Gaspar. Yeah, I think yeah great they kept him. I think he's probably the best technical left wing back Gasparini's ever had. Robin goes in. It's very good. I think Angelino is actually better, though.
00:26:25
Speaker
So this is a really good one. I would also say, sorry to keep cutting you off. When I saw these reports, my mind was blown. The fee was like $22 million. I was like, there's why are they?
00:26:35
Speaker
yeah How is that even being entertained? I know he's slightly on the older side, but he's not even 30. I was shocked when I saw that coming off the season he had. But then he came out and was like, it's all a lie.
00:26:47
Speaker
So that's good for Romo. Yeah, I mean, he's he's literally like a top four, like one of their best four players on the team. Absolutely have to keep him. um A couple other things that happened. Enzo Le Fay has left for $22 million. I think he went to Premier League. Did he go to Brighton?
00:27:02
Speaker
Southampton. Southampton. Yeah. So that was a failed experiment. Not the end of the world. Didn't really see anything from him last year. Leandro Paredes is off to Boca Juniors. And then a couple other rumors that were swirling.
00:27:14
Speaker
Very worrying. One of them, Evan and Dika. Apparently, Arsenal is in on him. That one is scary. I would be disappointed if he does leave. I think it would be very bad for Roma if he does leave.
00:27:25
Speaker
Him and Aljolino were probably the two best players on the team last year and Svilar separately. That one I hope doesn't happen. They got to keep him. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, if he does go, it'd probably be for a big fee, so they would have made some money. But the end of the day, you need to keep him. He was, in my opinion, one of the best, probably the third best center back in the entire league last year.
00:27:45
Speaker
um ars so Also, Arsenal, you got... Yeah, you don't need him. You have three center backs already. You don't need a fourth, and they play a four back, so it doesn't make sense. Roma got to keep him.
00:27:56
Speaker
Roma got to keep him. And on the back of this, at the center back position, they're also like linked to Lukumi. And I don't know if this was because of Indica possibly leaving or not. We both agree, regardless, they should get Lukumi if they can.
00:28:09
Speaker
um That would really solidify the defense as a back back so of g back three that Gasparini is potentially going to play. Last year, we saw Zelke Celleck play as a right center back, which... If we were going to improve in one position, that would be one of them.
00:28:23
Speaker
And if you go back three next season of Evan and Dika, Mancini and Lukumi, you're maybe the best in the league. Yeah. I mean, and Lukumi with the ball on his feet is so underrated. who and I don't ah think Lukumi, unfortunately, is going to be on Bologna next year.
00:28:40
Speaker
Whoever gets him is getting a bargain for $28 million. It's only active until July 10th. So if you want to get him for $28 million, you got to act fast. But great player and is definitely ready for the next step in his career to play European football consistently.
00:28:55
Speaker
Although Bologna has been able to do that. So maybe he ends up staying. I mean, I genuinely think if they only signed Luke who made this summer, it would be a successful season, like a successful summer. And they keep other current. And they keep everybody else. Yeah.
00:29:08
Speaker
I don't think that would be crazy. And that would be a massive. And again, steal for 28 mil. um The last rumor we want to talk about. It's hard to say if it's true or not. I have seen a lot of things on Twitter. Motsy might know better than me if it yeah actually has legs or not.
00:29:23
Speaker
I've seen, I don't think it, I think it has no legs. the What we're referring to is apparently Juventus called Dybala over like the past couple of days and Dybala has major interest in rejoining Juventus. And I guess he he removed Roma from his Instagram bio.
00:29:42
Speaker
But luco Luca Mamblano is the person who reported that, who he whatever he says about Juventus' Mercado typically turns out to be false. So I don't know if there's any legs to it.
00:29:56
Speaker
I'd be hyped if Rennes is going to get DiBolo for $12 million, although it would be classic Juve. So yeah, it's very really tough to know if this is true or not. But there are links to DiBolo leaving Roma to go to Juve for $12 million because he has a release clause.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah. And that's it on this podcast. We don't really like to talk on rumors because there's so much out there. If it does happen, we'll talk about it when it does happen, but I don't really want to get into it right now. Agreed. Agreed.
00:30:22
Speaker
All right, cool. Well, that's all we had. We want to just cop out here. It gives you guys a quick preview of Gasparini. We're going to be doing a couple of other these. We had some other big appointments in Maximiliano Allegri. We've got Pioli back in the league.
00:30:34
Speaker
So we're going doing this all summer, talking new teams. And then any transfer news that we have, we're going to keep hopping on give you guys content all summer. Yes, if you are still listening, paisanos, please like, follow, subscribe, comment, ah send the podcast to other people. It really helps us grow.
00:30:50
Speaker
ah We appreciate your support. Do not be a gaguz in Forza Calcio Portia.