For months now, we’ve been hearing rumors that Joshua Zirkzee was Roma’s preferred profile to arrive in January and solidify the striker position. However, with the managerial change at Old Trafford, it looks
like Zirkzee is no longer on the market. Meanwhile, Giacomo Raspadori, who was rumored to be arriving in tandem with Zirkzee, still hasn’t given the green light to a move to the Italian capital.
With precious days passing quickly, it seems that Roma has shifted its focus to a new target—Robinio Vaz of the French club Olympique de Marseille, a name that has not appeared in previous news reports. Vaz, an 18-year-old French attacker of Senegalese descent, is regarded as the next big prospect for the French team. However, it appears that Vaz may not have the opportunity to fully develop in France, as reports suggest Roma has reached an agreement with Marseille for a permanent transfer of the player.
The rumored price…€25 million. It’s a steep price when considering Vaz has played in just 14 Ligue 1 matches (3 starts) this season for a total of 379 minutes. Nevertheless, in that limited playing time, the 18-year-old has tallied 4 goals and 2 assists for an eye-popping 1.42 goal contributions per 90. It’s a limited sample size, but one that speaks to what appears to be enormous potential. And for this reason, Roma has chosen to pounce.
It’s said that the reason Vaz has become available isn’t that the club was looking to cash in, but that an agreement hasn’t been reached between Vaz and the club on a renewal. And for this reason, Vaz is available during the January market.
With the rumored agreement in place between the two clubs, it now comes down to Roma reaching an agreement with the player. We’ll see how this plays out in the coming days, but with the news emerging quite suddenly, Roma is ready to make this happen and deliver one of Europe’s hottest striker prospects to Gian Piero Gasperini as Roma makes a second-half push towards a top-four finish and Europa League glory. Stay tuned.
