Diawara In Distress: What's Next For Amadou?

At this point, is there a more controversial figure at Roma than Amadou Diawara? I don’t think so. And that really says something, with José Mourinho, Bryan Cristante, Nicolo Zaniolo, Rick Karsdorp, and Gianluca Mancini being part of the team.

The 25-year-old Guinean joined Roma in July 2019 from Napoli and was once worth easily €20-25 million. A talented, athletic defensive midfielder, Diawara was already a Serie A mainstay (for his age) before coming to Rome. Now. hee's worth, what, €5-6 million at best?

With only eight official games last season, Diawara has been surplus goods at Roma. The personification of deadwood. However, we’re still waiting for a shred of Diawara transfer news. Please give us something, anything!

This is the third transfer window in which Diawara is on the market, but he seemingly refuses, rejects, or ignores any interested clubs in Italy and abroad. Or so we are told in the media. Galatasaray, Valencia, Lecce, Torino, Hertha Berlin. Maybe Amadou does want to leave and join one of those clubs, but there’s always something missing. The final piece of the puzzle. What is that guy’s problem anyway?

Is it about wages? Prestige? Is Diawara unconvinced by the project of certain clubs? Is it because Berlin or Valencia are not as beautiful as Rome? Does he like pizza more than kebab? Who knows. We know that Tiago Pinto has been trying to offload Diawara for a while now, but we’re almost to August, and all we have had so far are the same old rumors, nothing remotely official or serious.

Things have gotten so bad that Roma threatens to exclude Diawara for the upcoming season. Also, I don’t believe we’ve given up our pursuit of Davide Frattesi just yet. Mourinho’s no admirer and prefers Cristante and Edoardo Bove in that role, while Pinto already reinforced the position by signing Nemanja Matic (and maybe even Georginio). Then there’s the matter of Jordan Veretout, who remains on the roster (for now).

In any case, Diawara and his agent need to find a solution fast, or he’ll end up on the sidelines through June 2023 and possibly beyond because here comes the really fun part: his contract runs until 2024. 20 frikkin’ 24. Nice piece of business. It leaves Diawara plenty of time to look for greener pastures and frustrate the hell out of Pinto, the Friedkins, the fans, and even the Pope himself.

Yes, we had a nice short spell with the Diawara-Veretout combo; it worked like a charm—for a little while. But it’s time to move on. Paulo Fonseca was probably his last “fan” in Rome, but he left 14 months ago. Fonseca’s at Lille now; perhaps he’s the one who can clean up this Diawara mess?

In any event, Amadou’s football career is going downhill fast, and that’s a shame. At 25, he can still play 10+ years of professional football, but it will not be in Rome. He won’t get the same salary at Lecce or Hertha, but money isn’t everything. The sooner Amadou realizes this, the better. It’s not too late to redeem himself and have a good run somewhere in Turkey, Germany, or France.

Over the years, he has earned enough millions in Rome without breaking a sweat. Now it’s time to repay himself and invest in his career for a change. I’m sure the Pope agrees.

Do the right thing, Amadou.