Monday Morning Rumor Round Up: Paredes Deal Done, Zapata and Sanches Down to The Details

It appears that Roma’s summer transfer market policy is to move in two ways, as Ernest Hemingway once wrote about going bankrupt: gradually, then suddenly. Over the course of the last 24 hours, the Giallorossi are reportedly “down to the details” on their long-rumored deals for Duvan Zapata and Renato Sanches; meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has just reported that Roma’s deal to bring Leandro Paredes back to the club is a go.

The Zapata and Sanches deals are said to be loans with options to buy that are triggered after a set number of appearances (50% of the season for Zapata, 30 games for Sanches). Meanwhile, the Paredes deal is reportedly a straight sale for €4 million. Paredes is signing a contract for his Roma return that will last until 2025, with an option to extend his stay at the Stadio Olimpico until 2026.

While it’s good to see the Paredes deal finally done, the “down to the details” element of the Zapata and Sanches deals will likely make most Romanisti chuckle. Anyone who’s been following this summer’s mercato will tell you that “down to the details” is code for “not done yet,” and there’s no better example of this than the tortuous and torturous road that Marcos Leonardo is walking on his way to playing at the Stadio Olimpico.

The highly-touted Brazilian international has informed Santos that he will no longer play for the club or train with their senior squad; even the threat of legal action hasn’t shaken his resolve. Gianluca Di Marzio reports that the forward’s agent will be meeting once again with Santos today to try to get this deal over the line, and he notes that if Tiago Pinto is able to increase the offer for Marcos Leonardo by just a smidge, that may be a difference-maker in allowing the player to cross the Atlantic.

I’m always annoyed by transfers that happen later in the market; it makes it that much harder for a new player to acclimate to the squad and deprives them of a serious training camp. If you ask me, one of the reasons that Edin Džeko had a dud of a first season with Roma was that he came to Rome so late in the market; it’s not a coincidence that with a full training camp under his belt, he became one of the best strikers in Serie A the following season.

Still, the Giallorossi haven’t had much of a choice with any of these deals. Everyone knows that the Marcos Leonardo deal is taking forever because of Santos’ broken promises to the player (and their precarious standing in the Brazilian Serie A); similarly, the signing of Duvan Zapata is happening as not even a Plan B, but a Plan G or H, so it’s understandable that it’s taking until later in the window. Even the Paredes deal coming in mid-August makes some sense, as clearly the club had no reason to believe that Nemanja Matić would be demanding a move to Rennes this summer.

Yet I’m certainly annoyed that the Renato Sanches deal has taken so long to transpire; this is a player who was told at the beginning of the window that he was not going to be a part of PSG’s plans this season, who has been rumored to be joining Roma for weeks, if not a month, and it’s taken Tiago Pinto this long to come close to sealing the deal?

Let’s hope that the Marcos Leonardo, Zapata, and Sanches deals come to fruition within the next 48 hours, and when I say come to fruition, I mean added to the squad list and ready to train. The suspense is terrible, and unlike Willy Wonka, I’m not hoping it lasts.

Until then, welcome back to Lovely Leo! We’ll have more on what his move to Rome means for the Giallorossi in the coming days.