Roma completed the summer transfer window without signing the rapid, one-on-one attacking winger that Gian Piero Gasperini explicitly requested, despite pursuing an extensive list of targets across the months of negotiation. The club's most serious early approach was for Mason Greenwood. Gasperini made direct personal contact with the player and spent weeks attempting to persuade him, with Roma prepared to invest around €45 million overall, according to Repubblica. That pursuit ended when Fenerbahçe entered the race with financial terms Roma could not match.
Crysencio Summerville followed as the next primary objective. Roma advanced substantially in discussions with the player, arrangements were largely in place, and a private aircraft was prepared to bring him to Rome—until Al-Hilal's intervention collapsed the deal entirely. A third significant target, Antonio Nusa, saw Roma agree personal terms worth approximately €3.2 million per year, but Leipzig refused to open negotiations on the conditions necessary for Roma to close the transfer. Rafael Leão was explored in an initial phone call early in Tony D'Amico's tenure as director, but Roma immediately recognized the operation and salary structure were financially prohibitive.
Throughout the summer, Roma evaluated numerous other profiles with varying intensity: Diego Moreira, Mika Godts, Said El Mala, Abde Ezzalzouli, and Malick Fofana. The Belgian Fofana was considered very close at one stage before progressively disappearing from consideration, partly due to technical doubts about his full suitability for Gasperini's demands. In the final phase of the window, the focus narrowed to Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Luiz Henrique, and Jamie Leweling. Gittens was among the coach's preferred options, but Chelsea resisted loan approaches and his name was even incorporated into a potential larger operation involving Manu Koné before Gasperini halted that plan. Henrique remained on standby as an alternative while Roma pursued Leweling, but the extended wait for the German consumed the remaining hours; when Leweling ultimately declined the move, insufficient time remained to complete documentation with Zenit. For Leweling himself, Roma had reached an agreement with Stuttgart worth approximately €35 million. A Friedkin family private aircraft was readied for departure to Germany, but the player never converted his initial openness into a definitive yes. The flight was postponed and then cancelled.
Gasperini must now find solutions from within the existing squad to address what the article describes as one of the absolute priorities of the summer transfer window.
Testo Originale / Source Text
“È stato il grande tormentone del mercato della Roma. Probabilmente anche la richiesta più chiara formulata da Gian Piero Gasperini: un esterno offensivo rapido, forte nell’uno contro uno, capace di partire da sinistra e attaccare lo spazio. Il mercato è finito e quel giocatore non è arrivato,…”
Read the full article in Italian at GialloRossi.net.
