Both Rome-based papers Il Tempo (via ForzaRoma) and Il Romanista have jumped on the news of significant movement in the Chris Smalling transfer novella. It’s reported by several sources that the English defender has directly phoned Manchester United, telling his parent club he wants a permanent move to Roma.

This is a surprising turn of events in December, given the smart strategy for Smalling (and United) would have been to wait it out until summer 2020. But now the Giallorossi have Smalling’s wishes fully aligned with their own future, that says a great deal about how much belief there is in this current Roma side from it’s own players.

Instead of worrying about whether Roma will make top four, it’s becoming clear the guys in the locker room are only focused on the Giallorossi’s chances of moving up the table.

Key to convincing Smalling that his future lies in the Eternal City is said to be the influence of his wife. Apparently the Smalling household is a firm believer in the ‘happy wife, happy life’ mantra and the missus is reportedly completely in love with life in the Italian capital.

Gianluca Petrachi is ready to make Rome and Smalling a permanent match, raising Roma’s transfer offer to 15 million euros including bonuses. That would take Smalling’s total transfer cost to 18 million euros, factoring in his original 3 million loan fee paid in mid-August.

As for Smalling himself, the defender would seal a 4-year contract in Rome with the option to extend into a fifth year past the summer of 2024.

That is an extraordinary offer from Roma to a 30-year old defender, but take a look at Smalling’s ranking in any ball recovery statistic around Serie A, and the man is delivering extraordinary performances in the #6 shirt.

It’s also compensation for Smalling having taken a 1.5 million-a-year paycut to join Roma from United in the first place.

Valencia Make Offer for Alessandro Florenzi

Well we all knew this one was coming, and the winter transfer saga that will dominate Rome’s sport pages is underway now that the Gazzetta dello Sport have reported a first bid made for Alessandro Florenzi by Valencia.

Los Ches fancy Florenzi’s chances of following in Amedeo Carboni’s footsteps, and making the move from playing full-back in Rome to becoming a La Liga household name. The guy reportedly pushing the make this deal happen is middle-man Gianluca Fiorini—an Italian agent representing Valencia’s interests abroad.

Roma are linked with spending a lot of money they don’t have right now. On a purely objective level, Florenzi is Roma’s best source of raising funds on the January transfer market besides Cengiz Under. Unless another surprising development springs up in Germany...

Patrik Schick: My Future in Roma’s Hands

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or make it a point to avoid Bundesliga football, you’re well aware that Patrik Schick is on fire. With 4 goals and 2 assists in 8 appearances, the Czech wonderkid is proven an integral part of RB Leipzig finishing 2019 as Bundesliga’s winter champions. Though injury - a familiar problem - put the brakes on Schick’s adjustment to life in Germany, everything he touches has turned to goals ever since he’s regained full fitness.

Now he’s slotted into a better role in Germany, and provided he can stay free of injury, it looks like Red Bull Leipzig would be mad not to take up their 28 million euro option to sign Patrik Schick permanently.

And yet Schick himself claims the onus is on Roma, and not Leipzig, as to where his career takes course. “The future isn’t up to me,” said Schick to football magazine Kicker (via ForzaRoma) this Christmas. “It all depends on Roma.”

We’d previously assumed the deal was all in Leipzig’s hands. Does this mean the option on his loan can be countered by Roma? Or could Leipzig and Schick be pushing Roma to accept an early January offer and seal Schick’s stay in Germany?