After the signing of Santiago Castro and the full agreement for Konstantinos Koulierakis with Wolfsburg, Tony D’Amico continues to move quickly in the market. This time, he’s hot on the trail of a new right back to help fill the void left by the departures of Zeki Çelik and Kostas Tsimikas and the impending farewells of both Angeliño and Anass Salah-Eddine. The player he’s in hot pursuit of is a name that hadn’t previously been linked with Roma: Givairo Read of Feyenoord.
According to Fabrizio Romano,
Roma has submitted a €25 million bid to Feyenoord for Read, and negotiations for the player are ongoing. As with the Castro and Koulierakis moves, there was little talk about the player before negotiations began—a clear change from the drawn-out, failed negotiations for Greenwood and Summerville.
Read is a 20-year-old Dutch right-back who made his senior debut as a 17-year-old in a substitute appearance in the Europa League against Roma three years ago. He then grew into an important role as an 18-year-old the following season—playing just about 2,000 Eredivisie minutes. His minutes were cut in half last season due to injuries, but he remains a highly regarded talent.
In fact, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City were linked with Read during the January transfer window before injuries cooled their pursuit. This summer, Romano reports, another Premier League side—Nottingham Forest—has already had two bids for Read rejected by Feyenoord (the highest believed to be €19 million). So, Roma will likely have to act quickly to avoid renewed interest from other suitors.
In terms of profile, Read is an ideal fit for GPG’s system. He’s an attack-minded, high-energy, technically gifted full-back who is a true wing-back rather than a stay-at-home right-back, and he has drawn comparisons to Denzel Dumfries in the Netherlands. He’s the kind of player who loves to make overlapping runs that stretch the defense, and he constantly attacks the far post, a la Dumfries.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that D’Amico is going all in on Read. Now, let’s see if he can get this deal over the line and bring in a player opposite Wesley to make Roma a nightmare on the wings for opposing defenses.
