Roma Edits Squad Before Adding New Players

A few players have been officially sold and more will go as Roma attempt to satisfy Financial Fair Play while keeping its core of top players...

For many fans, including myself, it was surprising to hear that Roma still needed to satisfy Financial Fair Play for the 2025/26 fiscal year, which ends June 30th. For the past several seasons, Roma has come quite close to reaching its requirement, but not close enough. The Friedkins have routinely paid fines to compensate, even if it seems counterintuitive to charge a club more money for having failed to make enough money.

Gian Piero Gasperini is well aware of the situation at hand, mentioning yesterday, “I’d like to keep them all, but there are budget restraints. We’ll have to be good at overcoming them and figuring out how to keep the best players.”

There’s no clear sources on precisely how much Roma need to meet the FFP demands, but it is believed to be approximately €30 million. Tony D’Amico should be rejoining Gasperini as his sporting director, as he awaits the greenlight from Atalanta. Expect a little bit of money to go the way of La Dea for relinquishing the director. With that presumed number, it helps us do the math to find out just exactly where Roma land. It has been an active first week of June, with several loanees having their clauses activated, and others who have their futures a bit more murky. First we will address what’s been done so far, then what’s about to happen, and finally what is expected to happen:

Saud Abdulhamid: Lens have activated his buyout clause of €3.5 million. This is in addition to the €500,000 paid for his loan last summer. In 1300 minutes played, he scored twice and created four assists. A little less than his 25 matches played were from coming off the bench. He’s a star for Saudi Arabia, but his lack of tactical understanding - either due to his personal mental ceiling and/or little time allowed to acclimate in Italy - makes this fine. He was acquired for €2.5 million two seasons back, so we’re not talking about a deal that moves the needle here.

Buba Sangare’: This one might be more of a loss long-term. The Spanish right-back has been purchased by Elche for €4.5 million, for a total plusvalenza of €3 million. What makes this a sweet deal though is that Roma have the right of first refusal on any future sale, and 20% interest of any future capital-gain.

Riccardo Calafiori: This one may have raised your eyebrow, but Roma will receive €6 million from Basel following a long-standing legal dispute with the Swiss side. Basel argued Roma was only entitled to a portion of the initial transfer fee to Bologna, while Roma contended the 40% clause applied to all future resale proceeds. From Roma’s point of view, this meant that they were entitled to 40% of the 50% fee that Basel earned when Bologna sold the defender to Arsenal for €45 million. The two clubs referred the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and ultimately negotiated for a settlement that was close enough to the €9 million the Giallorossi believed they were entitled to.

Tomasso Baldanzi: Roma have a contract that stipulates Genoa must pay €10 million to redeem the playmaker, but are negotiating with Daniele De Rossi’s side given the injuries the player endured throughout his loan. Expect about €8 million coming Roma’s way, as the player is an essential component to Capitano Futuro’s tactic of connecting the midfield to the attack.

Jan Ziolkowski: Nottingham Forest want him for €15 million, which is about five short of Roma’s asking price. The player is undoubtedly talented, but a lack of playing time - which has to be primarily due to Gasperini’s play style - means the future cornerstone of the Polish defence will probably be the catalyst in solving Roma’s balance sheet.

I don’t think these will be the only summer sales. For the sake of bringing in players more in tune with Gaspball tactics, as well as for players’ individual goals, the boat will rock a little more. Evan Ndicka is a very important player for Roma, and I’d hate to see him go… But I do understand it. Manu Kone is in a similar situation, and when English sirens and Spain’s top teams come calling, it’s hard to say no. My gut tells me that Matias Soule will be sold, and a different type of profile with a higher ceiling will be brought in. I fully expect Gianluca Mancini to resign his contract any day now.

Fans sometimes cry that Roma, or any team for that matter, get rid of their young players before seeing their full potential. At the least, Roma have taken measures to ensure they capitalize as their former players appreciate in value. Very few turn into a Calafiori, but with this current policy, they’ll be in a better position not to sell the next one, but actually sign him on.