Nicola Zalewski has completed his surprise move from Roma to Inter on loan with an option to buy.
After extending his Roma contract until 2026 to facilitate the loan, Zalewski will represent Inter for the rest of the season, after which they can buy him for a fee in the region of €6m.
It’s the first move of Zalewski’s career after coming through the Roma academy and making 123 appearances for the first team. During that time, he only scored twice.
Zalewski rose to prominence during the 2021-22 season, when Jose Mourinho converted him into a wing-back and gave him an important role on Roma’s journey to winning the inaugural Europa Conference League.
But the Poland international ultimately stagnated and struggled for confidence, even on rarer opportunities to play further forward in a more natural position. There were no instances of Zalewski scoring last season.
He has played 17 times this season, again failing to find the net, and was frozen out for a period after rejecting a summer exit when Roma were willing to sell him to Galatasaray or PSV.
Now a deal has been agreed with defending champions Inter, where Zalewski is taking the place of new Villarreal loanee, Tajon Buchanan.
Giallorossi Yorkshire verdict
Dom: Truthfully not happy he’s going to Inter, if they’ve seen something they could get a gem. Overall he’s come nowhere near fulfilling his early promise. Whether or not only being a full back helped is hard to say but there was basically 0 goal threat and he’s been overshadowed by older players and new signings like El Shaarawy and Saelemaekers too much. Always too focussed on winning free kicks than his battles on the pitch. Good luck to him, there’s clearly talent there but we’ve not seen enough of it.
Ed: Zalewski wasn’t adding anything other than being a liability so signing a decent backup to Angelino like Biraghi would be a no brainer.
Mark: Saw him at Leicester and he was amazing. I’m disappointed he’s going. There he was tripping past players for fun.
Samuel: This exit feels overdue, but it’s still a shame Zalewski didn’t fulfil his potential for Roma. He had a long spell of games after breaking through from the academy, which doesn’t happen often. Ultimately, two goals from 123 games speaks for itself as a statistic. Would he have fared better as an out and out winger to start with? We’ll never know, especially since Inter will use him as a wing-back too. I’m grateful for his form in the Conference League run, but he became too frustrating a player.
Thomas: It’s been a frustrating few years, after that Bodo game when he assisted that Zaniolo goal everyone thought that was the game that would make him and he’d press on from that. Hasn’t worked out, but many have said before that the weight of playing in Rome, especially for fellow romans, is always heavy and few are able to handle the pressure. Sad to see him go to Inter, especially since he’ll now inevitably become the greatest player Poland has ever had for them. In bocca al lupo to him.
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