Diego Perotti to Roma Transfer Nearly Complete

While it pales in comparison to the Edin Dzeko transfer saga from the summer, the Diego Perotti-to-Roma rumor ran through its own gauntlet, stopping and starting several times over the past month, surviving both a managerial change and overtures from abroad. Despite all the twist and turns, it appears as though fact and fiction have merged, with the actual signing mirroring many of those rumors.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, you may recall that many of us scoffed at the notion of Roma adding two more attacking players this winter, Perotti and Stephan El Shaarawy, but here we are on the last day of January and Walter Sabatini has nabbed himself two more wingers.

While the financial particulars of this move haven't been publicized, it's widely speculated that Roma will pay Genoa €2 million for an initial six month loan, with an additional €8 million due once Perotti meets certain appearance incentives. Perotti, 27-years-old, is capable of playing centrally or out wide and has made 16 appearances for Genoa this season, including this afternoon against Fiorentina.

Given what we've seen from Luciano Spalletti thus far, Perotti's tactical flexibility and deft touch in the final third will come in awfully handy, allowing the bald one to mix and match his attacking options to an even greater degree.

But Roma may not be done just yet, word is starting to trickle out that Sabatini has an agreement in place with Inter Milan for 25-year-old fullback Davide Santon, who will add some much needed defensive versatility to a backline facing a few weeks without fullbacks Lucas Digne and Vasilis Torosidis.

I'm not sure why Roma always backloads their transfer market dealings, but it certainly makes for an exciting couple of days, doesn't it?