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AS Roma fans may not see 22-year-old midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo, arguably one of the top prospects in Italy, in a Giallorossi jersey come next season as his future with the club is up in the air. During Tuesday’s post-deadline day news conference, general manager Tiago Pinto talked about his methodical approach to the market and hinted that he “can’t guarantee that he will stay at the club, and nobody else can guarantee so.”
Those are obviously strong words that put a question mark on Zaniolo’s future and it’s the kind of news that will not sit well with Roma supporters. So how did the club and the player reach this point?
Zaniolo arrived at the club in the summer of 2018 within one of the most talked-about swap moves of recent years in Italy that featured the transfer of Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan to Inter Milan. Then-Inter coach Luciano Spalletti, who previously coach Roma, pushed to sign Nainggolan and the club was forced to include a young player in the deal with AS Roma. The choice was between goalkeeper Ionit Radu and Zaniolo, who at the end was paid €4.5 million by former sport director Monchi. Nainggolan joined Inter Milan for €38 million, but soon enough we all realized that the real winners of the swap were Roma with a young budding star on their roster.
Already in September of 2018, Roberto Mancini called Zaniolo in the national team even before he made his Serie A debut. On Sept. 19, AS Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco decided to include him in the starting XI at Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage, which proved to be a night that changed his life forever.
From that moment, Zaniolo was quickly deemed as the best Italian talent and the future looked bright for AS Roma, who immediately offered him a new contract despite the interest of several outside suitors. AS Roma was his clear-cut first choice, so in 2019, the two…
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Source : cbssports
