Philippe Mexes signed a new 4 year contract with Roma today which will keep him at the club till June 2011. He will earn the expected €2.5 million plus bonuses (up to €3.5 million). In addition to that there is a €17 million buy out clause in his contract, which is €10 million more than it was previously. This is excellent news. He also sounded out Chivu and publicly asked him to stay. We shall see if it has any effect.

I always felt that it would be Chivu who would stay and Mexes’ agent was being greedy and trying to get the best deal which would mean a move abroad. I feel really bad now for having doubted Mexes’ loyalty. Now that I look back on it, he did reject a much bigger deal from Manchester United when we first signed him to come to Rome. I think they were offering him 4 times as much as we offered initially. He’s replaced Chivu as one of my top 5 favorite Giallorossi right now.

This is what Mexes said about his contract renewal in an interview with Roma Channel:

“I have just signed and I am very happy. Now I will go to Trigoria then we will meet again in July. I knew that my relationship with Roma would be a long one. When you sign and play with a team, you certainly don’t want to leave after only two seasons. This has been a difficult year for me, but now I am happy and I hope I will continue to do well. Roma are competitive and we will fight to obtain important results from now on.”

And this is what he said about Chivu:

“I will be disappointed if he were to leave, he is a humble and calm player. If he goes I will wish him good luck and I will ask him to come back.”

The Mexes rumors have been put to bed with the news that he has agreed to the terms of a new 4 year contract worth up to €3.5 million a year. Rumors that Mancini will be leaving have also disappeared for some odd reason other than the silly rumor that Liverpool are interested. It seems like Inter are focusing their attention on Chivu who looks more and more likely to join those mercenaries with each passing day. It’s funny how the more a player reiterates his desire to stay in Rome, the more the rumors. There have been like 20 different possibilities that the media have come up with for the trade. In addition to a cash component and the rest of Pizarro’s contract, the likes of Samuel, Solari, Grosso, and Gonzalez have all been thrown into the mix.

Another group of players have come up who have expressed their desire to join Roma. These are Di Natale, Di Michele, and former Roma youth product, Amelia. What’s quite frustrating is that I rate these players pretty highly but Roma have not shown much interest in them. If they really want to join Roma I’m sure Roma can come to an agreement with their respective clubs. Amelia wants to leave Livorno at all costs and has expressed his desire to go to Juventus, Lazio, Roma, Milan, etc… He shouldn’t be too hard to acquire if Roma really wanted to. That can give Curci an opportunity to go and play regular football in a smaller team. Palermo are impossible to do business with and so Di Michele looks like a long shot even if Roma want him. Palermo have this inhumane obsession with Aquilani.. Zamparini is seriously weird and illogical. Udinese went out of their way to claim that Di Natale won’t be joining Roma.. very troubling.

Torino did a similar thing to state that Rosina will not be joining Roma. Why do these teams resist?? Other rumors have all but disappeared such as Iaquinta, Cicinho, and Semioli. And then there are the most ludicrous rumors that come out of nowhere.. Huntelaar, Zenden, Joey Barton, Adriano, Trezeguet, bla bla bla.. Useless rumors that just excite/upset us for no reason.

All I can say about it is that it’s ridiculous..

After a very successful season, Roma look forward to the future. It is very clear that we need reinforcements to be able to compete in the long run. When the starters get hurt, Roma really struggle. Individual games did not undo Roma as the starting 11 did very well to beat the top teams in the World. Roma have managed to beat the Champions League winners, as well as the champions of the French, Italian, Greek, and English leagues. So in order to get more consistency in the squad and become more competitive important signings are necessary making this summer crucial for the future of our beloved AS Roma.

I will run you through some of the transfer market rumors and strategies:
Roma have approximately €22 million available to spend in the transfer market. However the situation is slightly more complicated than just going out for certain targets. Players currently in the squad need to be secured by giving contract extensions and completing loans.

Philippe Mexes, Christian Chivu, and Amantino Mancini have yet to extend their contracts. Every major club in the World is going for these three players and so Roma face a hard battle to keep them. They have all expressed their interest to stay in Rome, however many have requested contract extensions that may be too rich for Roma. In addition to these three, Roma need to fight off advances for Daniele De Rossi who is also wanted by everyone.

Loans and Co-op deals are the next order with Mirko Vucinic, Christian Wilhelmsson, Francesco Tavano, Marko Cassetti, and David Pizarro all not fully Roma players. Tavano seems to have left and will not be coming back, while Wilhelmsson might come cheap given Nantes’ relegation from Ligue 1. Inter Milan are playing hardball with David Pizarro and want Chivu or Mexes included in the deal for him which in my opinion is a very bad deal for Roma. Pizarro can go back to Inter if they want to be that unreasonable. Vucinic and Cassetti will be signed with Vucinic being sold or loaned out afterwards due to limited playing time and some below-par performances.

Other loans that must be considered are Vincenzo Montella, Samuel Kuffour, Gianluca Comotto, Matteo Brighi, and Shabani Nonda who were all out on loan last season among others. It seems like Brighi is the only one with a future at Roma though, however Montella might also stay despite not being in Spalletti’s plans. Other players out on loan include Edgar Alvarez and Carlo Zotti in addition to youngsters Paolo Seppani, Leandro Greco, Daniele Magliocchetti, Daniele Galloppa, and Alessio Cerci.

The sale of some of the players out on loan right now would bring in some more cash to help Roma sign new players however certain players will be too expensive. Vucinic will cost an additional €7.5 million, while Cassetti might be around €1.5 million. I am all for signing both of these in addition to Pizarro and Wilhelmsson. The initial agreement to sign Wilhelmsson was around €3 million and around €6.5 million for Pizarro. As mentioned earlier, Roma are looking to get a discount on Wilhelmsson due to Nantes’ relegation and Inter are making things complicated for the Pizarro deal.

In more positive news, Roma are rumors to have made a major offer for Alessandro Rosina. The Torino starlet has had some incredible performances for the Granata this season. The offer supposedly consists of an €8.85 million cash component in addition to the other half of Gianluca Comotto’s contract and the loan of Gianluca Curci. If accepted, Rosina would not only join Roma, but Curci would go to Torino and get valuable experience playing in the Serie A and learning from Christian Abbiati.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a very interesting summer in Rome.

In the first Roma game I remember, they had just lost to Valencia 1-0. Despite beating them 3-0 a week later in Valencia, Roma were eliminated from the second Champions League group stage after 1-1 draws with Ajax Amsterdam and Arsenal. Later that season, Roma finished 8th and were eliminated by Milan in the Coppa Italia final.

Through the good times and the bad, I have followed Roma, and from season to season my love for this club grows. Since Batistuta left and retired, I moved away from Argentina and turned to the Azzurri because of Francesco Totti. Right now I live, eat, and breathe football. How much I enjoy my week depends on how Roma did in the previous game. With the start of each season I have renewed high hopes for Roma, and I have faith that they will win something soon.