Football Season Guide

When the-special-one Moutinho signed for the club, all Roma supporters started rejoicing for they knew that they were bound for some glory after several anonymous campaigns. While they sat permanently in the top 7, the Wolves were quite inconsistent in the first part of the season, as they won at home and almost-regularly lost away. From January on, things took a different turn and Roma became more consistent, losing only 2 out of the last 17 fixtures. They finished 6th in the end but brought home their first European trophy in 60 years, the first edition of the Europa Conference League. Now, Roma aim to become more competitive in the new season and the management spent the summer working on that direction. First of all, they let go of central midfielder Oliveira and full-back Maitland-Niles, whose loans last season were not particularly successful. They would have liked to re-sign Mkhitaryan (5 goals and 6 assists) but the latter opted to quit for pastures new and that is the main loss so far. In terms of new signings, they hired Celik from Lille, who is set to become a valid alternative to Karsdorp at right-back. Then, they signed two free agents who are expected to lift the level of the squad. Despite being 33, Matic should still have enough steam for a couple of good seasons and he will become the leader in the middle of the park. On the other hand, Dybala will bolster their attack, although there are questions over his health since he was plagued by injuries in the last 2 years. Roma are still looking for players in all areas, in particular at centre-back and in the middle of the park. Moreover, they are hunting for a scoring alternative to Abraham (27 goals all competitions last season) and an attacking midfielder, which could herald Zaniolo’s departure.