Roma have secured the services of a new striker after welcoming Artem Dovbyk in exchange for one of their biggest ever transfer fees.
Dovbyk, 27, arrives from Girona after finishing last season as the top scorer in La Liga. Roma have spent an initial €30.5m (with a potential €5.5m following in add-ons, as well as a 10% sell-on clause) to bring him to Serie A for the first time in his career, and given him the number 11 shirt.
Dovbyk, whose previous clubs include the now-defunct Dnipro in his native Ukraine and Danish side Midtjylland, has signed a five-year contract with Roma, where he will become the figurehead of their new attack alongside fellow new signing Matias Soule and existing star player Paulo Dybala.
Giallorossi Yorkshire verdict
Let’s take a moment for this to sink in. This has been a dramatic transfer saga and it’s led to a spectacular conclusion.
The joy in this transfer is down to the magnitude of how Roma convinced a player in the form of his life, in his prime years, to join them. Dovbyk himself deserves credit too for making it so clear that this was the move he wanted.
How will he get on? In all honesty, you can never be sure. In recent years, some of the strikers Roma have spent big on have either only been effective for a brief time (Tammy Abraham) or an abject failure (Patrik Schick). Those are the only two signings in Roma history more expensive than Gabriel Batistuta, a striker who was a certain success thanks to his role in the Scudetto of 2000-01. Dovbyk’s fee could eventually surpass Batistuta’s too with add-ons activated, so expectations should be lofty.
But this is a player adapting to a new league, which could either be a negative (as he has to change with his new surroundings) or a positive (as unfamiliar opposing defenders struggle to deal with him).
For now, this is a time for celebration. Never before have Roma brought in an active top-scorer from the previous season of one of Europe’s top five leagues. Granted, Dovbyk scored plenty of penalties along the way, which may distort his numbers, but his xG was high as well, and Roma have had some prominent strikers who haven’t been as good from the spot either (Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku springing to mind).
And after falling just short of asking prices for other targets since Abraham’s 2023 decline and injury, Florent Ghisolfi has sealed a massive deal for the club.
In a best-case scenario, Dovbyk can be a new focal point up front for Roma, a target man to lead the line, hopefully more mobile and prolific than Lukaku but with a similar or superior rate of finding the net.
Welcome and good luck, Artem.
Leave a Reply