Official: Roma Signs Jordan Veretout

Between both senior sides, it's been an awfully busy week for Roma's Human Resources department, as Roma signed a full six players this week, highlighted by World Cup standout Manuela Giugliano on the women's side and Italy up and comer Gianluca Mancini on the men's side. Of course, running parallel to those official signings were the persistent (and some might say pernicious) rumors of Gonzalo Higuain and Jordan Veretout.

Well, I'm pleased to say that Roma (finally) wrapped up one of those deals, pushing their weekly total to seven.

After a month-long tug of war between Roma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, the Giallorossi finally secured the services of Jordan Veretout, a 26-year-old French midfielder formerly of Fiorentina, St. Etienne, Aston Villa and Nantes. Veretout moves to Roma on an initial €1 million year-long loan, after which the move will become permanent for an additional €16 million, with a further €2 million in presumably easy to achieve bonuses, bringing the total to €19 million. For his part, Veretout will sign with Roma through 2024.

Renowned for his versatility, Veretout played three different midfield roles for the Viola last season, sitting just in front of the defense, serving as a standard central midfielder and even a few appearances as an out and out attacking midfielder. Just where he'll sit for Paulo Fonseca remains to be seen, though he'll like serve as a regista, but Veretout was nothing if not productive for Fiorentina, racking up 6,000 minutes over the past two seasons, scoring 13 goals, handing out four assists and drawing 22 yellow cards (yeesh) along the way.

Similar to the Mancini deal, Gianluca Petrachi was not only able to spread the payments out over a longer period but he managed to knock the total bill down several million; remember, when this rumor first popped up, Roma was set to hand over €26 million, and while that seven million in savings may not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme, it's testament to Petrachi's bargaining power.

The bigger benefit to landing Veretout, as opposed to Mancini or Diawara, is that he's already a finished product. With his amalgam of attacking skills and defensive acumen, Veretout should show us shades of Miralem Pjanic and Kevin Strootman, and figures to be a starter from the word go.

With Veretout and Amadou Diawara added to the fold, Roma's midfield is practically bursting at the seams, meaning Petrachi will likely have to find new homes for Veretout's fellow Frenchman Maxime Gonalons and Steven Nzonzi.

Either way, in Veretout Roma are getting an incredibly gifted and versatile midfielder, one who will give Fonseca's midfield new and exciting permutations.