It seemed like a story over, but instead something is back on track. Roma is back where it all began, but with a different look. Amid signs that cross paths and names left on the table, a flashback pops up
Roma, sorpresa nuovo allenatore: è a un passo da una vecchia conoscenza (Foto: Ansa) – serieanews.com
It all seemed archived. A closed track, complete with a public statement by Claudio Ranieri. But no. Because in the last few hours a name that has never completely disappeared in Trigoria has come back into circulation with insistence. Roma is one step closer to choosing a coach. And the surprise is that the solution, in fact, had already been there for some time.
The Friedkins have moved, and how. They talked to different profiles, probed approaches, evaluated solutions. The first name that had been approached months ago now seemed to have faded. Too cumbersome, too revolutionary for a Roma that wanted continuity at that moment. Then, as time passed, the scenario changed. The desire for identity became an urgency. And some initial resistance crumbled.
The context, meanwhile, has done the rest: a certain weariness seeps out of Bergamo. Relationships that have frayed, a technical cycle perhaps really coming to an end. And so that first name, shelved but never forgotten, is back in the news. And so Gian Piero Gasperini is back in pole for the Giallorossi bench.
For a long time the strongest alternative was Stefano Pioli. A more corporatist profile, more compatible with certain corporate balances. Ranieri would have wanted him: there were also personal reasons behind this preference. And Roma really made more than one attempt, courting him for at least a couple of months.
But at some point the negotiations stalled. Not so much for technical reasons as for a perception: that Pioli might be disliked by the square given also his Lazio past. And this, in a context such as Roma, is not a detail.
Gasperini di nuovo in pole per la Roma: gli altri esclusi
Among the names approached by Roma in recent weeks have been Cesc Fabregas and Francesco Farioli. But they were two very different cases. Fabregas was really one step away and received a serious proposal from Roma. But Como managed to lock him up with an offer that could not be refused. For Roma, never been in the running all the way.
Gasperini di nuovo in pole per la Roma: gli altri esclusi (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Francesco Farioli, however, was only probed. A chat, nothing more. He is a respected, modern coach, but the time is not right. And perhaps neither is the context. And then there are the excellent absentees: Maurizio Sarri and Massimiliano Allegri. Two big names, brought up every time there is talk of important benches. But from circles very close to the club comes a stark denial: neither Sarri nor Allegri have ever been contacted. Never.
Roma got back in touch with him. He reopened the dialogue, this time with more technical guarantees and a clearer project. Gasperini listened. He also registered Atalanta’s stiffening. And now he is there, closer than he has ever been in recent months. An old acquaintance. But, perhaps, the right name at the right time.
This article Roma, surprise new coach: it’s one step to an old acquaintance – EXCLUSIVE appeared first on SerieANews.
