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Roma have reportedly entered into another intractable and improbable transfer negotiation with yet another oil rich club flush with too much talent for one position. In addition to testing Manchester City's patience with Edin Dzeko, Roma have submitted an €11m offer for PSG keeper Salvatore Sirigu, who now has some substantial competition for minutes after PSG signed former Eintracht Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp.
As to why PSG felt the need to sign Trapp when Sirigu has helped steer them to three straight Ligue 1 titles, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi cited Trapp's excellent aerial ability:
We are sure that his qualities will strengthen the Club. He is known to be a very complete goal keeper who is very strong in the air and who has excellent reflexes on the goal line. He has shown in the German League very strong mental qualities. For sure, our fans will love him.
In a vacuum, those sentiments mean very little; everyone wants a keeper who controls the airspace around the six-yard box, but that standard praise for Trapp is actually a subtle dig at Sirigu, who is not exactly renowned for his surface-to-air defense. Indeed, among Europe's top 5 leagues, Sirigu 1.80 claims per 90 minutes ranks 97th while his 0.24 failed claims per 90 minutes is the fourth-worst mark among keepers who have made at least 20 appearances across the top five leagues. Pretty alarming stuff.
But this is a particularly strange trend when you consider that he's 6'4" and should have no problem controlling the penalty box. Does that make him a lousy keeper? Of course not, we're still talking about a top-of-the-line keeper, one on the right side of 30-years-old and one who has kept a clean sheet in 46% of his league matches since moving to PSG, after all.
The blemishes on his resume, slight though they may be, combined with PSG's new toy, might allow Roma to snare him for below market cost, thereby solving Roma's keeper quandary for potentially the next decade.
I'll say this for Roma, at least they're going big this summer.