Tiago Pinto prepares strategies for the market

Something everyone knows by now is how the market is mostly done when it is officially closed. In Roma's case, the concept is even more rigid. This is because the Uefa ruling on the financial fair play of the past years has established, in addition to a fine, that the balance purchases-disposals will have to mark the plus sign, will have to have the payroll woe to fatten it, and will have to have the same thing on the weight in the budget of the amortization of the players' tags. It is among these difficulties (which are all but minor) that Tiago Pinto will have to work to plan Mourinho's third Roma, stronger than the second because that is the goal. These are difficulties that could be reduced in the highly desirable case that Roma returns to qualify for the Champions League. This would mean the guarantee of an extra figure of around fifty million as far as turnover is concerned.

In the meantime, however, Pinto is beginning to do the math so that he can imagine who to take and who to say goodbye to, knowing that so much will be paid in and so much will have to go out. It is a bit like what happened in the past summer market when, to many fans’ amazement, he brought Dybala, Wijnaldum, Matic, Celik, Camara, Svilar, Belotti to the Giallorossi. For instance, in regards to him spending 7 million (Celik), collecting about 50 million, and scaling down both the payroll and depreciation, he will have to do this again between next January and June. Also, he is aiming to get ahead of the competition on those players who will expire on June 30 (no more Douglas Luiz, he has renewed with Aston Villa). But how will he do this, regardless of excellent disposals? There is only a margin to work in, such that the total figure between wages and depreciation is about 30 million, taking into consideration six players plus one. The six players are Kluivert, Villar, Carles Perez, Reynolds, Coric, Bianda, the plus one is El Shaarawy who will expire next June 30th. Most definitely Coric's (two million two hundred and seventy-five thousand gross) and Bianda's (one and a half million) salaries will be gone, as well as, willingly, that of the Pharaoh (six and a half million). With only these three players, the savings would be over ten million. With the other four, all on loan, Kluivert (Valencia), Carles Perez (Celta Vigo), Villar (Sampdoria), and Reynolds (Westerloo), saying goodbye to them permanently would mean an additional savings of more than ten million: Kluivert (six million), Villar (one million four hundred thousand), Carles Perez (two million-plus), Reynolds (one million one hundred thousand). That sum is more than twenty million, which means that Pinto would be able to bring in new players who can go to weigh on the payroll by twenty million or so. Even considering some predictable increases (Zaniolo, Cristante, Zalewski), there is a margin to buy a couple of players with significant recruitment. It would be better still if these arrivals could be from abroad because this would mean being able to take advantage of the tax benefits certified by the now famous "Decreto Crescita". Further, in the last market, Pinto managed to make an important cut, bringing to Trigoria several players with zero price tags (Dybala, Matic, Svilar, Belotti), two players with loans (Wijnaldum and Camara) that do not weigh on the depreciation item, and paying only Celik who weighs less than two million annually on the budget. Thus, working on the same players examined under the heading of wages, the six weigh in at close to eight and a half million (El Shaarawy who arrived at no cost weighs zero). By saving the eight and a half million, it means Roma could take three fifteen million players on a five-year contract, which would mean a budget weight for depreciation of about nine million. However, the problem, in this case, would be the market balance. This is because that forty-five million would have to come back from the disposals item, and one can hardly imagine that Carles Perez, Villar, Kluivert, and Reynolds would be able to secure that kind of money. At that point, it would be necessary to give up an important piece unless some other Dybala materializes to reset the outgoings.