Official: Paulo Fonseca Will Leave Roma at The End of the Season

After weeks and months of speculation about Paulo Fonseca's future with Roma, the club officially removed all doubt this morning. Following the club's 2-0 defeat to Sampdoria over the weekend, Fonseca was summoned to a meeting with the Roma leadership; a quick meeting that reportedly lasted only 50 minutes.

While speculation ran rampant that Fonseca would be sacked immediately, cooler heads eventually prevailed but today the club announced that, while he'll finish the season, Fonseca won't be returning to the club next season.

Per the official release:

Dan Friedkin:

On behalf of everyone at AS Roma, we would like to thank Paulo Fonseca for his hard work and leadership over the past two years,

Paulo guided the team through many challenges, including the Covid pandemic and a change of ownership, and did so with selfless integrity and great character.

We wish him all the best for his future endeavours and know that he will be a great asset wherever he goes

Tiago Pinto:

I would like to thank Paulo for all his work for the club over the last two seasons.

Even if the results have not always been there on the pitch, we know that he has left many positive elements that will continue to help our development - like the many talented and young players he has encouraged and improved, and our progress in the Europa League this season.

We are building a path to success at Roma, and Paulo has played an important role in that.

Paulo Fonseca

Over these last two years we have experienced a number of highs and lows, but I have always given my all for this club and this city - a city that has always been so welcoming.

I would like to thank the Roma fans, everyone we have worked with at Trigoria, the players, and all those who have helped us during this journey - in particular Dan and Ryan Friedkin, for their continuous support since they arrived, and Tiago Pinto, an incredible professional, whom I wish the best as he continues his work for the club.

We still have some very important games in front of us this season that we want to win, and we will continue to give our all in order to do so

With that simple press release, Roma has removed all doubt about Fonseca's future, leaving us with one less thing to speculate about over the next few weeks. Fonseca caught a tough break signing on with Roma only to see the club change hands, the pandemic ravage the sport, and Nicolo Zaniolo effectively lost for the entirety of his tenure in Rome.

We'll now shift our focus to Roma's pursuit of Maurizio Sarri and whoever else may join the fray over the next few weeks.