Following the Farewell: What’s Next for Roma?

Back in the dead of winter, in what I can only assume was a slow news day, we looked ahead to the summer, asking what pressing storylines were weighing upon you most heavily. While some of these have been rendered moot, following the wild swing of emotions we all experienced yesterday, I thought it best to shift the discussion a bit, if only to give ourselves a break from wallowing in self pity

So, with that in mind, now that Francesco Totti has, either willfully or not, moved on from his Roma playing career, what are the next dominoes to fall? Back in the winter we discussed six pressing issues:

1. Kostas Manolas and the Transfer market
2. Daniele De Rossi’s Contract
3. Luciano Spalletti’s Contract
4. The Stadio della Roma
5. The Buybacks
6. Franck Kessie

AC Milan did us a favor by removing point number six from the equation, while the Stadio della Roma is about as real as three dollar bill, leaving us with only a few concerns to tackle in the present tense. The immediate future of Kostas Manolas, as well as potential buyback candidates like Lorenzo Pellegrini, should be settled by July or August, leaving us with only two pressing matters to tackle in the immediate wake of Totti’s retirement, the respective futures of De Rossi and Spalletti.

You’d be hard pressed to find three men who have loomed larger over Roma in the past 15 to 20 years than Totti, De Rossi and Spalletti, so quite naturally, all three could walk away from the Giallorossi in the span of weeks, if not days.

While Spalletti’s departure is seen as all but a certainty, there is the prospect of a dreaded press conference early this week, one in which that speculation could become official. However, with Totti “retired” and the controversy along with it, is there a chance he might be convinced to stay?

De Rossi’s future, meanwhile, is the 800 pound Gorilla in the room. Several weeks ago we discussed the possibility of a new contract for DDR, one that was rumored to be in the €3.5 to €4 million range for one to two seasons, but to date there hasn’t been any progress—no counter offers, no negotiations of any sort and definitely no signatures and claps on the back.

While De Rossi may not be quite as lauded as Totti, he is every bit as loved, and if Roma wants to avoid the nightmare scenario they just endured, they’d be best served by wrapping up this ordeal before the summer begins.

We’ll have more on this in the coming weeks, as well as the usual swath of transfer rumors, not to mention any managerial rumors that may prop up, but now that Totti’s career has closed, it’s time to move onto the next melodrama.

It’s the Roman way.