First he left the building, then he left Brunico altogether: Marquinhos is gone. Gone, gone, gone. There should be more, but there isn't. He's gone in perhaps one of the few mutually benficial deals in recent club history. The uber rich Parisians get the single best centerback - and a good kid to boot - on the planet under 25, and the significantly less rich Roma nets a minimum 25m euro profit in one year, used to either fill in the holes in the coffers or fill in the holes on the squad list. Bubbly on both sides. It's a win, win, win, win, win. Viva la whatever.
Much of the credit here goes to what becomes arguably the best signing in recent Roma history: Leandro Castan. Finder's fee? Commission? Maybe. Strippers out of a cake dripping in oil and Canal+ cleavage coverage? Sure. Show the man his due love. Whatever the case, the buy was smart, and the sale was equally so. No sane mind could turn down 30m plus (details to come, et cetera) for a teenager on a club which can't even get into the Europa League. Build a squad capable of competing for annual UEFA monies, then we'll talk about turning down twelve month profits of 25m euros in your deepest position on paper. (That doesn't say much, mind.) The only difficulty was in attempting to play it cool and not gushing through the phone whilst accepting the offer once it hit that magic 30m mark.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Non vi dimenticherò mai, questo che ho vissuto qui a Roma , è stato una gioia per me e lo porterò sempre nel mio cuore ...</p>— Marcos Aoás Corrêa (@m_aoas) <a href="https://twitter.com/m_aoas/statuses/357916812005998592">July 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Someday this might be a club which can scoff at bids for its best players, no matter their value. Today is not that day. Thanks for the memories. Come back anytime.