Keepin' It Real
So, you've undoubtedly been smacked in the face with a barrage of rumors since The Takeover began, and if you're of sane nature, you sidestepped the onslaught and watched it pass by, hands in pocket, head shaking amid the realization TDB & Friends not only bought Roma, but created thousands of 'journalism' jobs in the process. So there's that.
But mostly, the shitstorm has flown by without a passing glance, and only the brave (or stupid) have dared reach in and grab one midflight. However, I'm going to reach in and grab, for the very first time, a name, because I feel like...this one might be real. Very real.
The rumors are heavy. Heavy, heavy. And it makes sense given,
a. The pursuit of Pastore, or a 'Pastore type', and his exorbitant pricetag/batshitcrazy owner.
b. The latest stamp on Sabatini's passport.
c. Walter's - who desperately needs a nickname, and shall have one soon, assuredly of ridiculous nature, I promise - consumer's CV up until this point, and that the boy in question - yes, boy - seems to very much fit the mold.
d. Roma's needs, wants, desires, dirty fantasies, shit-that-belongs-in-the-back-of-the-video-store, etc.
e. The sheer volume of confirmations and rumors from all corners of the media globe.
Or are people basing this on b? Could be, might be, but it might not be. They don't seem to be fighting it.
It just makes logical sense; very few up until this point have made logical sense while offering so much evidence with which to dash to a hasty conclusion.
So, 'that boy' is Erik Lamela, heavy on the new Messi circuit for many years for obvious reasons - he's Argentinean and good, which is surprisingly symmetry enough for most. But he's not Messi, he's more...Pastore.
Quite the coincidence, that.
The Argentinean press is of the mind that he's already been promised to Roma, a deal been struck (€12m or thereabouts), and while that means nothing in and of itself, the fact that Sabatini flew to Argentina to watch him during a very, very delicate period - on sale items, particularly those with dwindling contractual attachments, will be flying off the shelf fast and furious (see: Pirlo, Andrea) - has had discussions with River Plate, amidst rumors of an agreed price with the club (the big hurdle), along with the "football reasons", and this one seems less journalistic "I need to keep my job so let's extract the question to be 2 + 2 as the answer is 4" and more "shit just got real".
These are his YouTubers. He's good. He's 19. He's a playmaker. He might be in Rome next year. Or he might not be. What I do know is he finally seems like the most likely yet, and that is surely something.
Something tangible.
(The last two are full-game videos, which is far more excellent for the purposes of sizing someone up than "Hey, I just ripped some Adobe products from The Pirate Bay! Look what I can do!")