From January the department will be thickened: Solbakken has arrived

Ola Solbakken is the new kid on the block, who will play up front and, above all, who can improve the performance of a department that has somewhat dried up in the first part of this season. He will not play right away, though. Bodø has put his foot down, and despite the agreement already put on paper with Roma (legitimate because it was signed when his previous contract expired), until December 31st, the blonde attacking outfielder will formally still be a player of the Norwegian club. However, form is substance, and the Scandinavians' stiffening multi-faced in the last Conference League edition sanctions Solbakken's entry into the new group only beginning in 2023. Probably in a stance that has the acrid flavor of spite, the aftermath of the stormy ending in the last confrontation between the Norwegian (in which Ola was absent due to injury), complete with local police intervention and a posthumous Uefa investigation, have had an influence. 

The fact is that the Norwegian will only be able to train with his new teammates (he is, however, following an individual work program in the meantime) starting next January 2nd. That is, after the week-long retreat in the Algarve and the Christmas holidays, just two days before the resumption of official commitments. Almost two months after the last match played in the Bodø jersey, on November 13 last year. The time, of that long break, could have had more fruitful effects on his insertion into the new reality, if his former club had been more flexible. But so be it. Still, the player has hinted that he wants to burn the candle at the seams in order to make himself available to Mourinho as soon as possible. The occasional terse words released mainly through his social profiles leave no room for interpretation: "Hungry," was his recent message to Roma fans.

The curiosity to see him at work with the Giallorossi is also growing on the part of the fans, because of that impregnable blonde striker who in the group stage of the cup he later won sent Mou's rearguard into a tailspin. He also scored three goals in two matches, all of them of fine workmanship, and has remained in their eyes. In the first edition of that Roma-branded tournament, Solbakken went on to top six in the scorers' standings (plus a goal in the preliminary rounds), long contending for the scepter of bombers with the two finalists Abraham and Dessers. It was a real feat for Ola, who stopped at four goals in the league (and in the 91 matches with Bodø signed a total of 20, but dispensed 24 assists to teammates). Then it was Pellegrini and his teammates who took him out of the tournament, on what was plausibly the night when the final spark between the Norwegian and the Roma world was struck. The stadium was packed, colorful and in the throes of excitement and chants. The Giallorossi's opponents were dumbfounded by the spectacle already in the pre-match warm-up and then were buried by the poker in the match. Before long, however, that audience will also be Solbakken's.