The Roman Report — 6 July 2026 – 12 July 2026

There are weeks in a transfer window when everything moves at once, when the phone lines hum and the rumours carry actual weight, and this feels like one of those weeks for AS Roma. The most significant development is one that carries both genuine excitement and a note of caution: Gian Piero Gasperini has personally entered the hunt for Mason Greenwood, picking up the phone and speaking directly to the Marseille winger in what sources suggest was a conversation of real conviction. When a manager of Gasperini's standing asks a player "Are you ready to run?" and the player responds in Italian — "Yes, I'm ready, I'll come to score many goals" — you can feel the electricity of it. That is not a polite exchange between agent and intermediary. That is a coach seducing a footballer, and Gasperini, for all his abrasiveness, has always known how to make a player believe he is about to become something greater. Roma are expected to submit a formal offer this week, and Greenwood's father, who handles his representation, was present for the call. The pieces are moving.

Then, almost as a counterweight to that momentum, Milan has dangled Rafa Leão in Roma's direction. Seven seasons at San Donato, the relationship with Amorim apparently exhausted, and now the Portuguese winger — still only 27 and undeniably one of the most gifted players in Serie A on his best days — looking for a fresh start. The trouble is the structure of the deal. A loan with an obligatory purchase clause set at sixty million euros is an enormous financial commitment for Roma to absorb, and while Leão's name alone is enough to set the imagination racing, the Giallorossi have learned the hard way about building a squad on arrangements that strain the balance sheet for years to come. The interest is understandable, the numbers are daunting, and unless something creative emerges at the negotiating table, this feels like a story that is more flattering than actionable. Still, the fact that it is even on the table tells you something about the kind of Roma that Gasperini and the ownership are trying to assemble.

Gasperini's presence is reshaping the squad in subtler ways too. The news that Matías Soulé may be edged toward the exit by the new coach's tactical demands is worth pausing on. Soulé arrived last summer with considerable fanfare — a genuine talent, a player Juventus were reluctant to release — and yet it seems he does not quite fit the engine room that Gasperini wants to build. It is not a damning verdict on the Argentine, more a reminder of how completely a managerial change can redraw the map of a squad. Gasperini's Roma will press and press relentlessly, and he will demand a very specific kind of physical and tactical intelligence from his attackers. If Soulé cannot or will not provide that, better to acknowledge it now and reshape accordingly than to carry a misfit into a crucial season. Nicolò Tresoldi of Bruges has apparently already agreed in principle to join, which suggests the club is thinking ahead clearly, even if Artem Dovbyk's own future needs to be resolved first before that particular domino falls.

Amid all the movement and money and managerial phone calls, there was a lovely moment this week that had nothing to do with any of it. Abel Xavier — or Faisal, as he now wishes to be known, a name bestowed upon him by the brother of the King of the Emirates — gave an interview reflecting on a life lived loudly and then transformed quietly. Those of us old enough to remember Xavier's bizarre single season at Roma in 2004 will recall the bleached hair, the four appearances, the sense that this peculiar figure had wandered into the wrong story entirely. He described himself as a volcano that eventually had to explode, which is a rather wonderful piece of self-knowledge about a man who was so often judged entirely on the surface of things. Today he coaches, does humanitarian work with the United Nations, pops up in Brazilian horror series. There is something very Roman about that trajectory, actually — the spectacular misfit who turns out to be far more interesting than anyone gave him credit for.

What a week it has been, and what a week lies ahead. Roma's new kit is already selling outside Italy before the official launch, which tells you something about the appetite and the optimism surrounding this project right now. Gasperini's formal offer for Greenwood should land imminently, and the decisions around Soulé, Dovbyk, and the midfield — with Timber of Marseille apparently being watched as a contingency if Koné or El Aynaoui depart for England — will start to crystallise. The window is opening fully, the manager is in the room, and Roma are moving with an urgency that feels different from recent summers. Hold on to your seat.