Team Focus: Will Dzeko & Salah Signings Shift the Balance of Power From Turin to Rome?

After Rudi Garcia’s first season at Roma, the team was associated with Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘The Great Beauty’, the Oscar winning film set in the Eternal City. A year later the focus of cultural discussion in Italy’s capital is altogether different. An article in the New York Times - “Romans put little faith in mayor as city degrades” - has caused quite a stir.  

It offers a reminder of how quickly perceptions can change in this part of the world. One moment, Rome is proud of itself and optimistic. The next it is ashamed and beset by pessimism. This has manifested itself in Roma too. Twice runners’ up under Garcia, the reaction to the same set of results couldn’t contrast more starkly. One was met with euphoria, the other disappointment.  

Meanwhile, Milan has rediscovered its lustre and sparkle. The New York Times, in a separate piece earlier in the year, named it the No.1 place to visit in 2015. The EXPO and other regeneration projects around the city has given it a shiny new look. Its clubs have the same feel. Refreshingly after their recent decline and fall, both went big early in the transfer market. Scant regard was paid to needing to sell before they could buy.  

Much to the frustration of Roma fans, the club seemed to be standing still and risked being caught up, if not let behind. Garcia’s words at the end of the last campaign - “the gap with Juventus will be greater next season” - were brutally realistic. In some quarters they were even construed as defeatist. Needless to say they didn’t go down well with the hierarchy. It left Roma accused of lacking ambition while the Milanese were displaying it.  

This wasn’t entirely fair. Under similar FFP sanctions to Inter, directors at Roma believed they had to sell before they could buy and they sold well, cutting a cheque for €20m from Milan for Andrea Bertolacci. Other deals were lined up and put on standby until more money was raised. Had Gervinho not put Al Jazira off with his extravagant demands and Mattia Destro accepted one of his many offers, more business would have been done sooner. For a long time the only new recruit was Iago Falque and although only Luca Toni (17), Mauro Icardi (14) and Domenico Berardi (12) scored more goals than he did in Serie A in 2015 (11), it didn’t really excite the fans. Wojciech Szczesny also arrived on loan from Arsenal at the end of July. 

August 6 might now be looked back on, however, as the day everything changed. At 7pm, Roma announced the signing of Mohamed Salah from Chelsea. A quarter of an hour later, Alitalia tweeted a pic of Edin Dzeko disembarking one of their aircraft. Around 1,500 fans had gathered to welcome him at Fiumicino. “L’Amore è Dzeko” read one banner, a play on the saying: L’Amore è cieco: Love is blind.  

One of the misconceptions about Roma last season was that they struggled defensively. The reasons for this are understandable. Goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis looked shaky early on and the backline in front of him had completely changed. Mehdi Benatia was gone after forcing a move to Bayern and that was considered a huge loss. He had been the best centre-back in the league and one of Roma’s best players in Garcia’s debut season. Leandro Castan, his partner, missed almost the entire campaign after undergoing brain surgery. Left-back Federico Balzaretti was still out with a career threatening injury and Maicon was either out or looked unmotivated.

This false impression was further justified in the collective consciousness by the 7-1 defeat to Bayern, Ashley Cole’s flop and Garcia resorting to playing Alessandro Florenzi as a right-back. The truth though is that Roma’s defence still finished with the league’s second best record (31), keeping 17 clean sheets. Scrutiny fell on it because, more often than not, it got so little help from the attack, which only ranked eighth (54).  

Adem Ljajic and captain Francesco Totti were Roma’s top scorers. Neither got into double figures (both 8) in Serie A. Juan Manuel Iturbe, the biggest signing in Serie A last summer, was underwhelming. He had troubled adapting from a team like Verona that stood off opponents, invited pressure and then broke into wide open spaces into one like Roma that instead took the initiative, controlled possession and encountered more compressed spaces.  

It just so happened that Gervinho, a revelation last season, also regressed, which meant Roma lost that sense of anarchy and unpredictability that characterised their attack. Within this context, Salah represents a huge coup and upgrade for Roma. Lightning fast and direct, he scored six goals and laid on three assists in his 16 appearances in Serie A with Fiorentina last season. He was involved in a goal every 101 minutes.  

Also conspicuous by its absence from Roma’s team was a 15-to-20 goal centre-forward. Juventus had Carlos Tevez, Napoli have Gonzalo Higuain and Inter a certain Mauro Icardi, who shared the Capocannoniere title with Luca Toni. Roma had no one that stood comparison. Garcia didn’t trust Destro. A classic penalty box striker and little else, he didn’t combine or interact enough with his teammates for the coach’s liking and so, even at 38, Totti started 63% of their league games.   

Dzeko’s arrival must indicate that the captain, now entering the final year of his contract, is prepared to accept a more limited role on the bench this season. If the Bosnia international delivers the Scudetto, one imagines it’s a compromise Totti is willing to make. Garcia could adapt his formation to a 4-2-3-1, but even if he did it would be difficult to see Dzeko’s international teammate Miralem Pjanic not starting in the hole, particularly after he led the league with 10 assists last season.  

Dzeko leaves England and the Premier League with the fifth best goalscoring record (48) during his four years in the division. Only five players have scored more headed goals in that time (10) and of all players with more than 30 goals over that period he is only second to former teammate Sergio Agüero for minutes per goal (120.9). Dzeko could well be the final piece of the puzzle, just as Gabi Batistuta was when he joined in 2000. 

Some are even now making Roma favourites. Garcia meanwhile remains cautious. Rather than play down his team’s chances, however, he has at least reviewed their position. “The Scudetto is possible,” he admitted. Optimism is returning.

Will the signings of Dzeko and Salah help fire Roma to domestic glory this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below