Antonio Sanabria to Roma for €4.5M? Marquinho Moves to Verona?

With less than 100 hours to go before the transfer window slams shut, Walter Sabatini and Roma laid down a few million Euros on a teenage sensation, while preparing to shed themselves of some unwanted midfield weight.

Sanabria Set for Roma, Sassuolo

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but it appears as though the Antonio Sanabria swindle is finally over. The final price tag? €4.5m. Not a small price to pay for a 17-year-old by any means, but if he's half as good as they say he is, it will be money well spent, and, if you follow the stock market or even just the weather, They are always right.

But with Sanabria joining Luca Antei--suddenly one of the league's most promising defenders--Roma fans suddenly have ample reason to follow Sassuolo.

Verona Await Marquinho Response

For a man so unwanted by his current team, he sure is picky about his next locale. After turning down a move to Genoa earlier this month, word on the streets seems to indicate that Marquinho has a standing offer from Hellas Verona, but is waiting for a desperate 11th hour move from Inter Milan.

With only one point separating Inter and Hellas Verona, you have to wonder which side would be the better fit for the man formerly known as Singular.

De Sanctis: Roma in trophy hunt

MDS chimes in on Roma's suddenly tough February :

They say that when you are a great team you have to take advantage of your rivals’ slip-ups. It was important for us to make a really strong statement on Sunday following the Juve and Napoli games on Saturday.  Six points ahead is still a strong position for Juve to be in but we just need to concentrate on our own job...We have a crucial period coming up soon. We play strong teams like Parma and Sampdoria in addition to the derby and the two Coppa Italia semi-finals.

The Giallorossi knocked out Juventus in the last round of the Coppa Italia and face the prospect of three derbies in the space of a week should arch-rivals Lazio overcome Napoli...We consider the Coppa Italia an important target and we want to get to the final regardless of who the opponents are.  We can’t underestimate the fact that Roma have won nine Coppa Italias and we want to make the fans proud by becoming the fist team to wear a silver star [awarded for winning 10].

The final four months of the 2013-2014 Serie A season should be a mad dash, and it appears as though MDS is ready for the insanity.

Gervinho: "I have great chances at Roma, I couldn’t win at Arsenal"

There is nothing better than winning trophies. That was the reason why I had joined Arsenal, but couldn’t win any. Now I am at Roma where we have great chances to win titles this season and in the years to come

There isn't a ton in that quote or that link, but its pretty self-evident; Gervinho's Roman days are a sight better than his time in London. We'll have much, much more to say about Gervinho later in the week, stay tuned.

Strootman To Undergo Knee Test

Well, well, well, look who got themselves a new website. LaRoma drops a hint that Kevin Strootman is experiencing some mild knee discomfort--I'm guessing it's mild, but Google is really doing a hack job on this translation--but with Radja Nainggolan suspended next week, and with Marquinho potentially gone, this is certainly something to keep an eye on. To say nothing of the suddenly plausible Scudetto chase.

Luis v Rudi

La Roma offers up an interesting, albeit strange, comparison between the Roma of Luis Enrique and the current incarnation. I'm not quite sure why they felt the need to contrast these two managers--it's not as if one succeeded the other--but some of the numbers are strangely similar, the identical 29.4 minutes of possession per match, for instance.

But, I mean, come on, is this even a fair comparison for Enrique to begin with? Perhaps it was his own doing, but can you actually compare the respective qualities of Bojan/PDO/Jose Angel/Simon Kjaer to Destro/Gervinho/Ljajic/Benatia?

Ultimately, Enrique didn't have the stomach for Roma, but Garcia's Giallorossi are far more equipped to make some noise than either of his predecessors squads.

Sensi Worried by Foreign Influx

Milan, Roma, Juventus and Inter have so many foreigners in their squads, but all those who come to our country are third choice foreigners.  They are coming here just because they are being discarded by teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United.  If we want to see the new Messi, he’s going to be in Spain – whereas the reserve is coming to Italy.

We'll end this one with an opine from Sig.ra Sensi herself. Italy is not short on young talent of it's own, look at Matia Destro, Mario Balotelli, Mattia De Sciglio, Stephan El Sharaawy, Domenico Berardi etc., but does bringing in reserves from other shores inhibit that development? Perhaps a case can be made that Italy's own reserves are being jeopardized, but surely a blue chip Azzurri talent won't suffer from this influx, what do you think? Wouldn't Italy's thinner rosters offer a better opportunity for a young, foreign talent to blossom?