Assessing Roma’s left-wing options after drawing a blank in the transfer window

Roma came out of the summer transfer window struggling to shake the sense that they hadn’t got everything done that they wanted to this year.

While returning sporting director Ricky Massara provided Gian Piero Gasperini with seven new outfield players, largely with a focus on the future, Roma fell short in the chase of a few targets this summer, including in midfield but chiefly on the left wing.

Indeed, the lack of a right-footed left winger in the squad other than a Stephan El Shaarawy now in his thirties has been a glaring issue since even last summer, when it was only temporarily addressed with the loan signing of Alexis Saelemaekers – who more often played on the right as a wing-back anyway.

The only winger Roma signed this summer was another loan player: Leon Bailey from Aston Villa. But he too is left-footed, bringing different characteristics to Paulo Dybala, Matías Soulé and Tommaso Baldanzi with his penchant for pace, but favouring the same right-hand flank as most of the existing wingers and attacking midfielders in the squad Gasperini inherited in June.

There wasn’t a deficiency of targets. Roma first tried to take Claudio Echeverri on loan from Manchester City, but were too proud to do so without having an option to buy. City believe strongly in the Argentine’s potential and wanted to have his future kept firmly in their hands and ultimately sent him to Bayer Leverkusen on a dry loan. Roma, perhaps still regretting having no option to have kept Saelemaekers, didn’t want to develop Echeverri without having a chance of benefitting in the future.

But had they known they would end the window empty handed in their search for an alternative, would they have softened their stance and decided Echeverri for a single season would have been better than no one for at least four months?

Yet Roma still backed themselves to land an alternative. Time remaining in the window was diminishing, but there was still enough on their side to explore different avenues. The attention switched to arguably their most ambitious scheme: to lure Jadon Sancho to Serie A. Despite a deal being agreed with relative ease with Manchester United, he held out for a different option and eventually moved to Aston Villa.

Persevering with the English market, Roma’s third and final genuine plan for the left-wing vacancy was Tyrique George, but Chelsea’s demands were ever so slightly out of reach. And thus, by the end of the window, Roma’s only addition on the wing had been Bailey.

Gasperini cleared the air of any rumours of discontent, but didn’t hide his plan of having one fewer midfielder (only replacing Leandro Paredes and Lucas Gourna-Douath from last season with Neil El Aynaoui) in favour of one more attacker. Those declarations point towards a 3-4-2-1 structure being the foundation, more than a 3-5-2 that could have become an option now Artem Dovbyk is staying and competing with Evan Ferguson – and with Gasperini highlighting his vision of playing Soulé high up the pitch.

In short, Roma will still usually be lining up with a right winger, striker and left winger. Increasingly central to the project and with Gasperini keen for him to have a prominent attacking role, it seems Soulé will be the starter on the right. Up front, it will be a battle between Ferguson and Dovbyk. So, who will take on the responsibilities on the left?

Let’s start with the natural option: El Shaarawy. That’s who Gasperini has gone with in the games before the first international break of the season, having handed the captaincy to the player he gave a senior debut to half a lifetime ago, at the age of 16 for Genoa.

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For Roma’s balance, El Shaarawy is the option that counters with Soulé most evenly. Playing the pair of them behind a striker, in theory, gives two opposite angles for Roma to get shots away from.

However, El Shaarawy doesn’t have the pace he once had and, in an ideal world, would be a rotation player. Last season, he only started 12 league games, despite being available for all but a couple. The season before, he started half of Roma’s league games. Evidently, the plan has been to phase him out.

Out of necessity, Roma may have to reverse that plan until January. But there are other options for Gasperini to consider.

First and foremost, there would be the ‘fit all your best players in the team’ option. In other words – and this may become reality soon – use Dybala on the left next to his compatriot Soulé.

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There was a time when Roma built around Dybala as the central player in their plans. There will come a time when they are no longer reliant on him. Realistically, thanks to Soulé stepping up after Dybala’s injury in March but with the 31-year-old building back his form, we’re somewhere in between those two points now.

If fit, Dybala still has to play as much as possible. But when he came on against Pisa, it was Soulé who stuck to his favoured right-hand side and Dybala who was deployed on the left. From a small sample size against a low-ranked side, there were some positive signs it could work.

Dybala made more crosses and more passes into the penalty area than any of his teammates – just from half of the action. La Joya likes to play centrally anyway, so wouldn’t drift out too wide, but his delivery was encouraging. If Roma revise his role to be that of their main creator rather than goalscorer (there was a time when he was effectively both), he could reinvent himself once more.

But Dybala’s availability will remain a question mark, Roma remaining optimistic of his fitness but not guaranteed of it. If they have to protect his minutes, that’s where El Shaarawy could come back in, or another alternative.

Speaking of unavailable players, Bailey’s debut has been delayed due to injury. Given Roma haven’t added another winger since his arrival, may he have to adapt to a different role to where he would have originally imagined playing?

Bailey would complement Soulé by offering pace, with both players liking to take opponents on. It has been very rare for Bailey to be stationed on the left during his Villa career, but the only winger or attacking midfielder who made more crosses than him for Unai Emery’s side last season in the Premier League was Marco Asensio. Roma’s new Jamaican may have to reimagine his role and get around players before whipping the ball in.

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But do Roma need that much width anyway when they have capable attacking left-backs such as Angeliño and Kostas Tsimikas? (Could those two even play together, one further forward than the other?) It ought to be remembered that Echeverri is a number 10/winger hybrid, while Sancho – a somewhat misunderstood player – also likes featuring centrally.

So, could this be the latest chance of redemption for Lorenzo Pellegrini? Roma made no secret of their desire to get him gone this summer, but no exit was forthcoming. Pellegrini has played in attacking midfield before, usually from the left-hand side if part of a duo as well, and Gasperini will take him into consideration.

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There have been claims he could see him as more of a midfielder to play in a deeper pairing than an attacker, but Pellegrini will have to take any opportunity he gets after reaching the last-chance saloon for his Roma career.

Finally, what if Roma dispense of the 3-4-2-1 altogether and change to a 3-4-1-2? That way, Gasperini would be able to stick with his preference for a two-man midfield, but would be able to cover up the lack of a starting left winger. A few combinations would work: any of Soulé, Dybala or Pellegrini behind Dovbyk and Ferguson, or Soulé behind Dybala and one of the two strikers, for example. It’s a shape Gasperini switched to at times with Atalanta last season and might not be out of the equation for Roma.

Either way, Roma will have to deal with their shortcomings in the market until January. Bailey may have felt like a better signing if another winger had arrived as well, just like El Aynaoui would have seemed a better signing in midfield if another followed (especially in the wake of his declaration for Morocco and impending absence for the Africa Cup of Nations).

Yet this is the squad Gasperini has been handed and it will be up to him to work his magic as Roma aim to build momentum on all fronts.