Roma oversaw one of their busiest transfer windows in recent memory in the summer of 2024, bringing in enough players to practically field a new team.
Although Florent Ghisolfi wasn’t formally unveiled as Roma’s new technical director until late May, he quickly got to work in constructing a new squad for Daniele De Rossi.
But with knowledge of who would be making Roma’s transfer decisions delayed somewhat, it was a more challenging summer than usual for reporters to keep up with who the club were chasing – as evidenced by the fact that some targets were only discovered days before they officially signed.
It is an age-old dilemma in journalism: is it better to be first, or right? Well, how about both?
Here, Giallorossi Yorkshire looks back at the sources that first spoke of Roma’s interest in the players they went on to sign.
Buba Sangare
Roma’s first signing of the summer was certainly an under-the-radar one, as they brought in burgeoning talent Buba Sangare – aged just 16 at the time – from Levante.
Little was known about the right-back, and unsurprisingly it was a Spanish rather than Italian source that first picked up on Roma’s interest.
On 15th June, Deportes COPE Valencia revealed that Roma were negotiating the final details of a deal with Levante for Sangare, who before then had not been known to be on the Giallorossi’s radar.
Sangare was announced as a new Roma signing on 1st July.
Enzo Le Fee
Using his knowledge of his native French market, Ghisolfi’s first move to reinforce Roma’s midfield was the addition of Enzo Le Fee from Rennes.
Once again, it was a source in the player’s homeland who unearthed Roma’s pursuit. On 27th June, Le Parisien explained that Roma had made Le Fee one of their priority targets.
It was stated that De Rossi had given his approval to the deal, which was led by Ghisolfi, who had been on Lorient’s staff when Le Fee made his professional debut.
Ultimately, Le Fee joined Roma in a €23m deal on 10th July.
Mat Ryan
One of the quickest-developing and least expected moves of the summer saw Mat Ryan arrive as Roma’s new backup goalkeeper after being released by AZ.
In fact, although Ryan had been linked with Roma almost a decade before, nothing was known of their interest this year until the club reached a basic agreement with the Australian for a contract. That news was broken on 14th July by Gianluca Di Marzio.
Three days later, Roma announced the addition of Ryan.
Samuel Dahl
Similarly to Sangare, Samuel Dahl is a young full-back who was first stated to be of interest to Roma by his native media.
In Dahl’s case, it was on the 11th July when Sportbladet revealed Roma’s heightened interest in bringing him to Italy, anticipating that a deal could be closed within a matter of weeks.
Dahl was described as a priority for Roma in Daniel Kristoffersson’s report, which was almost immediately backed up in Italy.
Roma announced the addition of Dahl on 28th July.
Matias Soule
In this case, it was actually two existing Roma players who spoke about Matias Soule coming to the club – tongue in cheek, of course – before work actually began on the transaction.
“We see each other often, they are always by my side,” Soule said in May of his compatriots Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes. “Jokingly they told me come to Roma to play with them.”
Later that month, on the 24th, Gazzetta Dello Sport suggested there was actually genuine interest from Roma in signing Soule from Juventus after his loan spell with Frosinone.
After lengthy negotiations, Roma bought Soule and confirmed the deal on 30th July.
Artem Dovbyk
Towards the end of his sole season with Girona and during the early weeks of the transfer window, there was some speculation of Serie A interest in La Liga’s top scorer, Artem Dovbyk.
Roma were not mentioned until 24th July, which was a very late stage given that at that point, Dovbyk appeared to be on the verge of a cross-Spanish switch to Atletico Madrid.
Gianluca Di Marzio broke the news that Roma were considering joining the race for Dovbyk at the last minute, weighing up the feasibility of a hijack of the deal.
Spectacularly, they managed to pull it off, eventually signing Dovbyk on 2nd August for the fifth highest transfer fee in the club’s history.
Saud Abdulhamid
Another of Roma’s lesser expected moves this summer was the acquisition of Saud Abdulhamid from Saudi Pro League outfit Al Hilal.
Roma were revealed as a club that had entered the race for Abdulhamid on 13th July by TEAMtalk, in a report written by Italian journalist Rudy Galetti (and sub-edited by Giallorossi Yorkshire’s Samuel Bannister).
Ultimately, Roma worked their way up the hierarchy of suitors for Abdulhamid and acquired him officially on 27th August to reinforce the right-back position.
Alexis Saelemaekers
On deadline day, Roma completed deals for two new players, the first being Alexis Saelemaekers in a swap of loans with AC Milan that saw Tammy Abraham go the other way.
Milan’s interest in Abraham had been known for a long time. On 12th July, Calciomercato‘s Daniele Longo revealed that the Rossoneri had offered Saelemaekers to Roma as a counterpart, but the Giallorossi weren’t as keen.
The first indication that Roma may actually reciprocate the interest in Saelemaekers being included in the deal was a day later, when Corriere Della Sera suggested that they had expressed an interest.
For the rest of the window, there were rumours about different counterparts being included, as well as other destinations Abraham could have been separately sold to, until both players made their loan moves official on 30th August.
Manu Kone
The other deadline-day addition was Manu Kone, who came in on loan with an obligation to buy from Borussia Monchengladbach.
For the Frenchman, it was a French source to uncover Roma’s interest, on 16th August. Foot Mercato‘s Santi Aouna stated that Roma and Napoli were interested in the midfielder.
Two weeks later, Roma excitedly welcomed him to the club just in time.
Mario Hermoso
While the window closed on 30th August, Roma’s shortage of defenders prompted them to pick up two free agents afterwards.
Ironically, the first who came in was a player who had been linked with Roma – via Calciomercato.it – since all the way back in February: Mario Hermoso.
The left-footed centre-back was still attached to Atletico Madrid at the time, but named as someone who Roma might regard as an opportunity at the end of his contract, although they would face widespread competition.
That was, of course, before anyone knew who would be overseeing Roma’s transfer market. The first suggestion that Ghisolfi could make a move for Hermoso after his appointment was from DAZN’s Orazio Accomando on 28th May, with a claim that Roma had enquired about the player, even though they seemed to be behind Napoli in the race at the time.
Eventually, it seemed like Roma were focusing on different defenders, with Kevin Danso and Tiago Djalo undergoing medicals with the club. But when it became clear neither were signing, Di Marzio hinted on 30th August that Hermoso was about to come back into view for the Lupi.
Hermoso completed his move to Roma on 2nd September.
Mats Hummels
Mats Hummels was another case of a player approaching free agency and attracting a multitude of suitors in advance.
The idea that Roma could be in contention for the German legend’s signature was first floated by Corriere Della Sera in a report printed on 4th June, three days after he played his last match for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final.
It ultimately took another three months for Hummels to arrive at Roma after waiting to make the best decision possible – with Di Marzio explaining at 10:04am on 30th August that he too was in the frame alongside Djalo, amid the prospect of Chris Smalling leaving, and at 9:08pm it becoming clear via Fabrizio Romano that the Djalo deal was off – as he became the show-stopper at the end of an exceptionally busy transfer window.
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