Rumor Roundup: Florenzi to Everton, Leverkusen Like Schick, Keeper Carousel & More

Now that Roma's ownership conundrum has been solved, it's on to more pressing and entertaining matters: transfer season! Don't let the fact that Roma do not currently have a Director of Sport (nor are they seemingly intent on hiring one anytime soon) deter you from diving headlong into the rumor mill. In fact, now that the Pallotta to Friedkin handover is officially complete, the rumors are falling like rain.

So, come with us as we take a quick spin through the rumor mill.

Folks in Everton Like Florenzi

To those of you clutching your Roma pearls hoping that the club's former golden boy, Alessandro Florenzi, would return to Paulo Fonseca's good graces, please ignore this story. According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Everton and their Roman leader, Carlo Ancelotti, are keen on bringing the 29-year-old full-back to Merseyside. For Everton, it could be a double Serie A swoop as they're attempting to pry Allan from Napoli.

Florenzi, meanwhile, has no shortage of suitors, as clubs as varied as Leeds, Atalanta, Cagliari and even Juventus are reportedly interested in his unique set of skills.

Bayer Leverkusen Look to Schick

Just when it seemed like Patrik Schick's Bundelisga adventure was coming to an end, Bayer Leverkusen have emerged as a new possibility for the Czech forward. While Roma and RB Leipzig, Schick's ‘19-’20 club, danced around a €29 million option to buy Schick, according to Calciomercato, Bayer are prepared to pony up €30 million for the 24-year-old, using their Kai Havertz windfall to foot the bill.

Mattia Perin a Possibility in Goal

By this point, the writing is on the wall: Pau Lopez isn't long for Roma. While the club are putting out feelers for the Spaniard (with Valencia an early candidate), they're simultaneously searching for his replacement. Yesterday we ran over the pros and cons of signing Salvatore Sirigu, but another one of Gigi Buffon's one-time replacements has been linked with a move to Roma—Mattia Perin.

The oft injured keeper was once hailed as the next great Italian keeper, but saw his career stalled by successive ACL injuries between 2015 and 2017. Perin rebounded well enough to make 33 starts for Genoa during the ‘17-’18 campaign before making the odd yet lucrative decision to sign with Juventus the next season.

After a season back on loan with Genoa, Perin is once again surplus to requirements at the Allianz Stadium and could be a stop-gap solution for Roma, according to Calciomercato.

Nikola Maksimovic for the Defense

For such bitter rivals, Roma and Napoli sure seem to be linked in the transfer papers quite often, and actually got together on a big piece of business last season: the swap but not a swap of Kostas Manolas and Amadou Diawara.

The two southern rivals seem primed to repeat that business this summer, too. For the past few weeks, we've assumed they'd hook up on a Cengiz Ünder for Arkadiusz Milik swap, but that trade seems damn near impossible with Milik's heart set on Juventus, but that doesn't mean Ünder won't be wearing the less detestable baby blue next season.

According to multiple sources, Roma and Napoli are discussing an Ünder for Maksimovic trade; one in which Roma would receive the 28-year-old defender plus €10 million in cash. Maksimovic is a decent defender, but one would hope that Roma could do a bit better by leveraging Ünder.

That's just a quick smattering of today's transfer speculation, but expect the club to announce their first official signing, Pedro, in the next few days.