Ah, what a classic video. For those who don’t know the background story, this video was from that infamous match back in October of 2014, which saw Gianluca Rocchi become a household name and the post-match thread on CdT almost go into full meltdown mode. However, this match was full of some great moments, with one of the best having to be the above video. As a fight broke out on the pitch, Strootman had had enough with some of the Juventus fans around him and decided to show them how he really felt. (And random sidebar, that match also gave us the great Rudi Garcia world’s smallest violin gif, another classic)
“I would never join Juventus like Pjanic” - Kevin Strootman, July 2016
Believe it or not, Strootman has only played Juventus in Serie A once, missing the other 5 possible encounters through his various knee injuries (including the aforementioned match). The only appearance? That 3-0 drubbing back in January 2014 in Turin that quickly turned the 10 match win streak into a distant memory and hopes of a Scudetto into nothing. The Dutch Jesuus will without a doubt be excited to to finally get a crack at Roma’s main rival and a team that he obviously isn’t too fond of.
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A Certain Roman Winger May Be Staying Behind in Turin
Believe it or not, one of the goal scorers for Roma in that October 2014 match was none other than Juan Iturbe. Yes. THAT Juan Iturbe. And to make things even weirder, it came from an amazing Gervinho through ball. So you may be asking, where am I going with this? Iturbe can’t seriously be seeing the pitch on Saturday in one of Roma’s biggest matches in years. Well, there has been great news from various Roma news outlets this morning.
Rumors are circulating that Sinisa Mihajlovic is keen on Iturbe to reinforce his front line, which is currently the third best scoring side in Serie A. Iturbe would serve a familiar role, being an option off the bench behind fellow “Roma rejects” Adem Ljajic and Iago Falque. Despite reported interest from clubs such as Atalanta, Bologna, Genoa, and Lyon, it seems Torino is the most likely of destinations for Manu due to the two clubs extensive dealings this past summer, including the aforementioned Ljajic and Falque along with the Giallorossi’s purchase of Bruno Peres.
The rumors of the deal are a loan with option to buy (how surprising!) However, this may include a clause that forces Torino to pay for the redemption of Falque (who is currently only on loan at Torino) for a fee of somewhere around 6 million euros. One can only assume that the potential redemption price of Iturbe wouldn’t be much higher, but at this point, it seems time for Roma to just move on and cut their (huge) losses.