Roma have finally agreed their first signing of the summer after having a bid accepted for Bologna striker Santiago Castro, according to various reports.
It has been a frustratingly slow start to the summer for Roma, especially when there was optimism on the back of a return to Champions League football, with a number of initial targets slipping from their grasp.
But they began working on a deal for Castro last week and things have swiftly reached a conclusion.
The news from Castro’s native Argentina has been confirmed by reliable Italian sources such as Filippo Biafora and Fabrizio Romano.
The fee will be in the region of €35m, with Castro due to take a medical with Roma in the coming days.
Heading in the opposite direction will be fellow striker Artem Dovbyk, who will be joining Bologna on loan after two seasons with Roma.
Castro has been playing in Serie A since January 2024, scoring 16 league goals from 79 games in that time and playing in the Champions League and Europa League.
The 21-year-old isn’t the winger Roma were expecting to sign, since he plays more as a centre-forward, which raises the question of whether Gian Piero Gasperini will switch his tactics to a 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 with Castro alongside Donyell Malen.
Malen could alternatively move to the wing, but that would seem counter-intuitive given how effective he was at proving himself as a centre-forward since his arrival from Aston Villa in January.
Castro could merely be a rotation player for Malen, but he would be a luxury one at that, considering he is set to become the fifth most expensive signing in the club’s history.
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