An announced farewell that becomes the first piece of a Boca Juniors with yellow-red hues. Old ties turn into a new project with deep roots
Paredes fa asso pigliatutto: va al Boca con 3 romanisti! (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Some stories, even when they seem closed, always find a way to reopen. All it takes is a crack, a pause, a regret left unfinished. Or a phone call, the kind that starts with “oh, you remember…”. Leandro Paredes’ season at Roma had started with one foot in and one foot out. It was supposed to be a return appearance, a passing interlude before the final goodbye.
Instead, he stayed. And, for a moment, he even seemed convinced he could get something back. Claudio Ranieri gave him confidence, began to let him play regularly, and basically even changed a few games. But then, as has often happened in the Argentine’s career, the flame went out faster than expected. A few over-the-top attitudes, a few too many bad moods, and the relationship with Ranieri slowly crumbled. No official statements are needed: just look at the technical choices.
Today Paredes is, again, out of the project. But he doesn’t sit still. He doesn’t wait for things to happen: he builds them. And this time he is doing it as a protagonist, putting the pieces together for a homecoming that looks more like a well-conceived plan than a romantic getaway.
Boca Juniors is not just a possibility. It is the natural destination. It is the Buenos Aires air, the Bombonera choruses, the dirty games and the sweaty jerseys. It is a world that Paredes knows, and where he wants to return as a star player. Not only on the field, though. Because this time the operation is bigger.
Boca, non solo Paredes e Dybala: nel mirino altri due cuori giallorossi
Paredes has moved. He made his calls. And he has convinced. The first pawn that could follow him answers to the name of Paulo Dybala. It is not a hypothesis out of the air. Dybala is back from yet another physical stop, is on the mend, and has made it clear-with disarming sincerity-that he does not mind at all the idea of closing the circle at home.
Boca, non solo Paredes e Dybala: nel mirino altri due cuori giallorossi (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Playing with Paredes again, maybe with the 10 of Boca on his shoulders, is not a bar dream. It is a real negotiation, fueled by mutual esteem and that sense of unfinished business that stays with you.
But the Romanism, in this story, does not end there. Because in the new cycle at Boca, Daniele De Rossi could also re-enter. Not as a player, this time. But as a coach, his first experience after being exonerated by Roma. One of the strong names to replace Fernando Gago, freshly exonerated after the Superclásico. It would be curious: Roma and then Boca, just as De Rossi did in his playing career before ending his career in Buenos Aires.
And with De Rossi, as it happens, Nicolás Burdisso could also return to Argentina. The sporting director, who bid farewell to Fiorentina a year ago, has a direct link to both Paredes and De Rossi. And at Boca he has already worked as a ds at the beginning of his new career. Now he would go back there to take the keys to the car and try to put it back on the road with a new, modern, but heartfelt vision.
It will not be nostalgia, if it works. It will be an idea. It will be a project that starts from the roots but looks forward. And although for now it is just a fit that is being built, there is already enough material to think that this Boca can become something very different from what it is now.
This article Paredes makes ace catcher: goes to Boca with 3 Roma players! appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.