Since his Roma arrival two-and-a-half years ago, director Tiago Pinto has proved himself to be savvy in the transfer market, with numerous high profile players making their way to the capital on cut-price deals, but it is Pinto’s ability to move players on that has recently drawn praise in the Italian press.
Already this summer, Pinto has signed off on the acquisitions of Houssem Aouar and Evan Ndicka on free transfers, adding them to an impressive list of players, which includes Paulo Dybala and Nemanja Matic, to have arrived for free.
But, it is the list of outgoing players that is arguably more impressive. In fact, Roma have raised over €100m in player sales since the arrival of Pinto at the beginning of 2021.
This summer alone, Roma have already raised somewhere in the region of €30m thanks to the departures of Justin Kluivert to Bournemouth, Benjamin Tahirovic to Ajax and Christian Volpato to Sassuolo. Carles Perez, and Ruben Providence have also left for fees this summer.
Last season, the most notable of Roma’s sales was that of Nicolo Zaniolo to Galatasaray, which brought in a fee of €15m to the club. Gianluca Di Marzio notes that Zaniolo is the only starter Roma have sold since Pinto came in.
Every other player that has been moved on, excluding Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who left on a free, was either not part of the starting XI, or not part of the team’s future plans.
Di Marzio notes that Pinto’s success is largely thanks to his contacts and relationships with other clubs and individuals involved in the transfer market.