Now that Roma has seemingly removed themselves from the Mason Greenwood conversation, the club is finally free to shift its attention elsewhere. While we may never know if Tony D’Amico and Gian Piero Gasperini were genuinely interested in acquiring the troubled English attacker, the glut of rumors served as a reminder, if one were needed, that the club is intent on improving its attacking options this summer.
With the total cost of Greenwood’s transfer fee and reported salary demands exceeding €100
million, Roma can now pivot to more realistic options. Fortunately for us, the Gazzetta dello Sport was happy to oblige with a new name to add to the mix, Frankfurt midfielder/winger, Can Uzun—a familiar name to CdT diehards.
I’m not one to toot my own horn, but…beep, beep!
Back in April, when weighing competing visions for Roma’s summer transfer plans, we identified the 20-year-old Turkish attacker as the ideal project for Gasperini
Let’s start with a big ticket purchase, one relatively low on experience but loaded with potential: Eintracht Frankfurt’s Can Uzun. Limited to 811 minutes this season thanks to a series of muscular injuries (See? He’s perfect for Roma!), the 20-year-old Turkish midfielder has scored six goals and provided three assists, drawing rave reviews from across the Bundesliga, leading to a €40 to €45M Transfermarkt valuation.
(Depending on what you read, he may have a significantly higher release clause, but we’ll roll with this figure.)
In this scenario, Roma gets in on the ground floor, offering Uzun a full-time role and the keys to Gasperini’s attack, before flipping him to the Premiership two years later. Win-win. To ease Uzun’s transition, we’ll sign Julian Brandt on a free transfer to provide depth when the fixture list gets packed in the late fall/early winter.
Thanks to a series of minor muscle injuries, Uzun was limited to approximately 1,500 minutes in all competitions last season, but managed 10 goals and five assists in all competitions—a respectable tally for a 19/20-year-old in the Bundesliga. Still, a potential Uzun transfer is about just that, potential.
While he may not profile as a classic number 10, Uzun is precisely the type of “turn and go” attacker that Gasperini’s system requires. Rather than dropping back to recycle possession, Uzun is, to borrow an old playground basketball term, a “cherry picker,” floating around the margins of the opposition’s midfield and defense, waiting to seize the ball, turning his head, getting vertical, and attacking the defense.
Given his age and relative lack of experience, there will be growing pains, but his €45 million price tag speaks to his talent and potential.
