If there is one thing we can say with certainty about Roma’s summer mercato now that the season is over and Champions League football has been secured, it’s that Gian Piero Gasperini is going to want more attacking options. The Giallorossi may have ridden Donyell Malen’s remarkable second half of the season into the Champions League places, but the Giallorossi remain alarmingly thin in attack.
Dybala remains one of the most gifted players in world football when he’s on the pitch, but building a squad
around his availability has become a dangerous game. Meanwhile, Stephan El Shaarawy is headed toward the exit after six-and-a-half seasons of service with the club, while rumors regarding Matias Soulé’s future continue to bubble beneath the surface. Regardless of whether Soulé stays or goes, Roma need another forward. Full stop.
That’s what makes the latest reports linking the club with West Ham winger Crysencio Summerville so intriguing.
According to reports from both Italy and the Netherlands, Roma have identified the 24-year-old Dutchman as one of their primary attacking targets this summer. The connection makes sense on several levels. Gasperini has built much of his success around dynamic attackers capable of stretching defenses and creating advantages in space. Summerville checks every one of those boxes. He’s quick, direct, fearless in one-versus-one situations, and versatile enough to play across multiple attacking positions: a Gasperini forward to a tee.
Of course, Roma supporters have heard that phrase before. Every summer brings a parade of wingers, forwards, attacking midfielders, and mystery wonderkids supposedly destined for Trigoria. Yet signing a player like Summerville (24, proven, ready to go) feels essential because Roma simply cannot enter another season hoping Dybala stays healthy for fifty matches. It’d be a fool’s errand, and one that would likely lead the Giallorossi on a path back out of Champions League football.
The club’s attack was transformed by Malen’s arrival, but asking him to carry another season’s worth of creative and scoring responsibility without meaningful reinforcement would be asking for trouble. Summerville’s profile complements Malen’s nicely as well. Two Dutch internationals operating in a Gasperini system built around aggressive attacking football?
There are certainly worse ideas floating around the rumor mill these days. Take Mason Greenwood, for example.
Roma have been linked to the former Manchester United attacker on and off for months, and nobody should pretend Greenwood lacks talent. He has plenty of it. But Roma are trying to build something sustainable under Gasperini. They are trying to return to the Champions League and establish themselves among Italy’s elite again. Why bring in all the (highly justified) off-field controversy by spending upwards of €50 million on Greenwood when an alternative like Summerville exists and is available? He’s younger, immensely talented in his own right, and arrives without the enormous off-field controversy that would immediately dominate headlines. This should be an easy call.
The problem, as always, is that Roma are not shopping alone. Reports this week also suggest AC Milan have begun exploring a move for Summerville, while interest from elsewhere remains a possibility. That should serve as a warning to incoming sporting director Tony D’Amico as he begins his tenure: you snooze, you lose.
Romanisti know that aphorism to be true, and only have to look back to last summer to see confirmation in the form of the endless and endlessly frustrating Jadon Sancho saga. Week after week passed with little progress before the entire pursuit ultimately collapsed. Roma cannot afford a repeat performance. Dragging negotiations into August while waiting for perfect conditions is a luxury clubs rarely enjoy, particularly those with the finances of Roma (even post-Champions League infusion).
The logic behind a move for Summerville is easy to understand. He fits the manager. He fits the age profile. He fills a positional need. He already has a fellow Dutch international thriving in the squad. Most importantly, he would give Roma another legitimate attacking threat in a season where the club will be balancing domestic and European ambitions. The question now is whether Roma can move decisively enough to get the deal done. If they can, it bodes incredibly well for Roma’s ability to take their return to the Champions League and use that energy (and money) quickly and appropriately.
