Amadou Diawara’s Agent Throws His Roma Future Into Doubt

A scarcely believable interview with Amadou Diawara’s agent hit the press this morning. Daniele Piraino took to the microphone with Tuttomercatoweb.com to express his disappointment with how Diawara’s squad-listing was handled against Verona, as well as discontent over being benched against Juventus. Diawara’s representation going around Paulo Fonseca (let alone Guido Fienga and the club) to speak to the press about team matters is yet another sign that Roma’s current hierarchy is in chaos.

“It was a real displeasure for Amadou that the club forgot to list him in the squad [against Verona],” said Piraino to TMW, “but what blame does he really have in the matter? The fact it’s been made out to be the ‘Diawara Incident’ is a shame, because he certainly didn’t appreciate that and the responsibility isn’t his own.”

“In this moment, [to not have started against Juventus] is a real shame. He was happy with how his teammates played, but he was counting on playing from the beginning, above all because of what he does for the team and what he deserves.”

“There’s just one week left in the transfer window. If the forgetfulness over listing the player in the squad sums up the club’s true choices, we have to bring this up with the club. We want clarity on Amadou’s true role and importance within the club’s project.”

Is Diawara on the Way Out?

Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

What Diawara’s agent is really angling for, this week, is anyone’s guess. A pay rise? A move to a bigger club? A change of coach?

It certainly hasn’t helped Paulo Fonseca’s case that one of his most trusted players has let his agent go behind the coach’s back.

While we can easily understand defending Diawara against being singled out for the Verona incident—which truly was no fault of his own—you can’t brush over the fact that Diawara’s actual performance on the pitch against Verona was not just bad, but redundant. He failed to involve himself in a game that was asking for someone in Roma’s midfield to push forward, and that’s actually one facet of Diawara’s own game that has improved (in the bigger picture) in just one season under Fonseca’s tutelage.

Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

Then there was Diawara’s performance against Juventus, which was actually brilliant in pegging Juventus to their own half, but still not enough to warrant coming out the press in this way.

If it is true that Diawara’s absence from the squad list in Matchday 1 was because the club always had it in mind to sell the midfielder and simply didn’t count on him still being here in September, then you wonder if anyone in Roma’s management actually communicated the club’s intention of selling to Diawara’s agent at the beginning of summer (which is the convention to let a player know he’s on his way out).

That’s really the only motivation we can find for Piraino’s pantomine ourburst this morning. But the club and player would do well to focus on football and actual performances on the pitch otherwise, despite being big advocates of him ourselves, Amadou Diawara is welcome to leave.