You wait all that time for a new attacking midfielder, and then two come at once? Let’s not jump to any conclusions here, but it’s what Roma seem to be trying for.
Roma’s lack of a right-footed winger or attacking midfielder has been a gaping hole in recent years, and it’s time to put that right. So much so, that there could be a double coup in the pipeline.
Rodrigo Mora of Porto remains target number one for Roma. This has been a complicated transfer saga, seeming on and off and on again. The goalposts have been moved several times, but the finishing line to this pursuit is almost in sight. Almost.
Roma and Porto are finally seeing eye to eye in the Mora negotiations, according to Filippo Biafora of Il Tempo. Now it’s just down to the final details being signed off, and then he could be Rome-bound.
But in the clearest sign yet that Roma have realised they can’t neglect this issue any longer, the word on the streets is that they don’t intend to stop there.
According to respected sources like Fabrizio Romano and Biafora, Roma are also still in pursuit of Malick Fofana from Lyon.
If you’ve been keeping up with all the developments on Roma’s left-winger hunt – and there have been so many, we’ll forgive you if some have passed you by – then you’ll know Fofana’s name isn’t a new one, just like Mora’s.
Roma were linked with a move for Fofana in the €40m ballpark over the weekend and he’s now looking like a concrete target. But not instead of Mora. As well as Mora.
The prospect of Roma landing both is, all of a sudden, something to be cautiously optimistic about.
Mora and Fofana have different playing styles. The Porto teen plays more centrally, using his technical ability as a playmaker. Fofana is a more natural winger, relying on his pace and dribbling.
There’s probably a wider discussion in how Roma haven’t exactly shown a clear vision of what they want in a left winger, with no two targets this summer seeming too alike. But in this case, Mora and Fofana are different enough that they could complement each other. In fact, most of Mora’s minutes for Porto last season came as a central midfielder, not a winger. Might he be being targeted for a different role than we’re all assuming?
In a 3-4-2-1 shape, Mora’s most functional role would likely still be as the left-sided attacking midfielder – the reverse Dybala, if you will. That’s Fofana’s territory too, but if any position has been crying out for a double reinforcement in this Roma side, it’s the left wing.
It will be a case of one step at a time. We’ve been close enough to the end of Roma’s left-winger hunt too many times without a signing actually coming to fruition to count any chickens before they hatch here.
And the club’s dealmakers seem to know it, with completion of the Mora deal now being seen as an absolute priority before any further headway can be made on the Fofana front.
Whisper it quietly, but lack of pre-existing Serie A experience aside, there are almost echoes of Roma signing Stephan El Shaarawy and Diego Perotti in the same transfer window to bolster the left side of their attack. Two players with different skillsets but similar levels of ability who were able to make a quick impact.
If Roma can get Mora and Fofana in and the duo can follow in those footsteps, they might not be going far wrong.
But if we’ve learnt anything by now, it’s to be patient before we can really be safe in the knowledge that Roma have secured their solution(s) for the left wing. We watch and wait until that happens for sure.