Official: Roma Signs Alva Selerud

At this point, there’s no sense in joking anymore: Roma clearly has an addiction to Scandanivan footballers, pushing their total to eight after unveiling their latest addition: 22-year-old Swedish left-back Alva Selerud. Joining from Linköping FC, Selerud signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Roma earlier today.

While nominally listed as a full-back, the scant information available on her career in English reveals what every manager craves: a practically positionless player. Even without an expanse of data on her, we can safely assume her game resembles Emilie Haavi's, another ostensible full-back who seldom plays the position.

How Roma manager Alessandro Spugna decides to use Selerud is a matter for another day, so let's hear from the woman of the moment:

“I am incredibly proud and thankful to have signed for AS Roma,” Selerud said.

“From my very first meeting with the club, I got the impression that I was really wanted and that they really believed in me.

“Rome offers an environment where I can develop and become an even better footballer. With Roma I will have the chance to face top teams both domestically and in Europe and to compete for trophies, which is a dream of mine.”

Photo by Fabio Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images

While Selerud may lack a nominal position, she will likely slot in the midfield/wing-back rotation with Haavi, Annamaria Serturini, and Benedetta Glionna, among others. On the club's new signing, Head of Women's Football Betty Bavagnoli praised Selerud's enthusiasm and willingness to take on a new professional challenge.

“We are delighted to welcome Alva to Roma,” said Betty Bavagnoli, the club’s Head of Women’s Football.

“She is a young player who immediately expressed to us her great desire to take on a new challenge in a different football environment to the one she has experienced throughout her career to date.

“We really appreciated the enthusiasm she showed at the prospect of joining our squad and we are confident that such an attitude will help her to play an invaluable role as we continue to push on.”

Given her positional versatility, Selerud should see a clear path to playing time with Roma alive in three competitions and leading Serie A Femminile.