Pau Lopez had offers from Barcelona and the Premier League, assured his agent, but the goalkeeper took a pay cut to push through the Roma move.
He completed the transfer this week from Real Betis for €23.5m plus bonuses and half of Antonio Sanabria’s contract.
“Barcelona called me, and so did three Premier League clubs who wanted to focus on him, but he chose Roma,” agent Albert Botines told the Corriere dello Sport.
Pau Lopez had offers from Barcelona and the Premier League, assured his agent, but the goalkeeper took a pay cut to push through the Roma move.
He completed the transfer this week from Real Betis for €23.5m plus bonuses and half of Antonio Sanabria’s contract.
“Barcelona called me, and so did three Premier League clubs who wanted to focus on him, but he chose Roma,” agent Albert Botines told the Corriere dello Sport.
“When the offer came in from the Giallorossi, he had no doubts. He told me: ‘I want to go to Roma.’ I had no doubts, either. Betis didn’t want to sell him and he was considered off the market at the start of June, but then Roma pushed really hard to get him.
“In order to thank (director of sport Gianluca) Petrachi for his efforts and to prove how much he wanted to wear the Giallorossi jersey, Pau Lopez wanted to ‘sacrifice’ a portion of his salary to contribute to the transfer fee.
“Fortunately, it all went well and he has started training with his new teammates. Pau Lopez wants to help the team get back into the Champions League, do well in the Europa League and win the Coppa Italia.”
Image credit: @asromaen Twitter