Could Roma Look to the Free Agent Market for Help?

Now that the dust has settled from the January transfer window, we’re left to ask: Umm, why didn’t Roma do anything? You know, other than signing a 23-year-old left back with an ACL injury and a penchant for fighting teammates. I’m afraid I don’t have much of an answer for that, except to say, when you look at the balance of Roma rumors this winter, it sure looks like Roma was in a selling mood, perhaps indicating their financial situation is worse than any of us imagined.

So, what’s a team with holes to do? Why, shop the clearance rack of course! Fortunately for Roma the irregular shirts and poorly hemmed jeans of the footballing word, a/k/a the free agents, remain a short term solution for many clubs, and while Roma seldom shops this aisle, there may be help waiting on those racks.

While you can’t expect miracles from these guys—they’re without contracts at this point in the season for good reasons—it doesn’t mean they can’t lend a helping hand for a few months. So with that in mind, here are a handful of unemployed gentleman Roma might want to offer a contract.

Gabriel Paletta

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Not the sexiest name out there, but with Hector Moreno moving on, Roma at the very least need another body in defense, and Paletta comes with oodles of Serie A experience, having put in stints with Milan, Atalanta and even Parma. Roma could do worse for an emergency center back, that’s for sure.

Jérémy Toulalan

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One of the most fun names to pronounce, the 34-year-old French midfielder suddenly finds himself without a job after walking out in solidarity after manager Jocelyn Gourvennec was sacked last month. Talk about loyalty, talk about balls. This guy is Roma through and through! Sign ‘em up! Toulalan is the kind of no nonsense, ball controlling midfielder that would enable EDF to spell DDR or even Kevin Strootman without missing a beat.

Alessandro Diamanti

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Sure, it’s been over a year since the man with the oddest assortment of tattoos in the game played in Italy, and yes he’s 34-years-old and a long way from the man who had a seven goal/ seven assist campaign for Bologna in 2011-2012, but Diamanti did manage to contribute five assists while averaging 1.4 key passes per match for Palermo in 2016-2017, which is, you know, something.

Antonio Cassano

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Kidding! Don’t shoot the messenger

William Vainqueur

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We’ll end this brief list with the one man who could actually make an impact for this current squad, our old friend Willy VQ. Vainqueur, you may recall, was part of the French invasion that spread a wave of ambivalence over the whole of Roma two seasons ago. Vainqueur was neither poor nor prolific during his lone season with Roma—his greatest accomplishment was perhaps giving me a headache trying to remember what order the ‘u’s and ‘e’s in his name went—but he is precisely the jack of all trades sort of midfielder a team with no identity needs.

Vainqueur could ostensibly fill in for any of Roma’s three starting midfielders, and perhaps even supplant one of them and/or make them expendable this summer, and as such should be among the most sought after free agents this month. He’s not a glamorous player, but he does so many little things so well, he really is the ideal free agent pickup.

So, what do you think, do any of these names tickle your fancy?