Zaniolo badly advised but Roma are exposing him to public ridicule and now Bournemouth is gone. If it’s a huge problem, he can solve it like City under Cancelo
Born in Naples on 10/03/88, graduated in Philosophy and Politics at the Oriental University of Naples. He has been with TMW since 2008, he was an assistant manager for 10 years. Sent following the National team
Manchester City loaned Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich yesterday. Joao Cancelo and loan in the same sentence, you got it right. He has temporarily sold him to one of the major competitors for the Champions League, to that Bayern who – if he wants – can be redeemed at the end of the season for 70 million euros. The decision stems from an altercation between Guardiola and the Portuguese, from a few too many benches that the player didn’t digest and from a tough confrontation between the former Juve and his coach which led Guardiola to give him the sack, even if we don’t talk of any player but of one of the symbols of Guardiola’s City in the last two years.
I will be told that Roma is not Manchester City. Which certainly cannot afford the same economic concessions. But Zaniolo is not Cancelo, not even remotely. And in any case, it took much less for the Portuguese to receive permission to leave on loan. While Zaniolo is not allowed even after offenses of any kind, not even after threats that forced him in the middle of the night to call the police and, the next day, to leave the capital.
Better to clarify immediately: I don’t think Zaniolo is free from fault. Far from it. He asked for the transfer in the worst possible transfer market session and he did it without having anything concrete in hand. He behaved naively, was badly advised and forced Roma to react. But that couldn’t be worse. Because telling the fans that the player wants to leave, that he doesn’t want to stay in Rome anymore and that it’s better for everyone that he leaves without having made sure that a minute later he’s really gone, means exposing a boy to the consequences today everyone’s eyes. Banners and insults to him and his family, threats as real as social and no prerequisite for going back.
But will Zaniolo have the right to refuse Bournemouth without putting his and his family’s physical safety at risk? Will he be able to say no to the third-bottom team in the Premier League today? Because it’s okay to say that England is another world today, that there are other figures there, but the standings in hand let’s talk about the English equivalent of Hellas Verona, a team that risks finding itself battling in the Championship next year. The technical perspective is therefore much less attractive than the economic one and one can say no to that possibility. A prospect that no longer exists today, with Bournemouth closing for Hamed Traorè of Sassuolo yesterday evening.
Zaniolo would like Milan, Milan would like Zaniolo but it doesn’t go beyond the onerous loan with the right to buy. Roma said no: either it’s done on Bournemouth’s terms or it’s not done. But in the meantime he has completely excluded the player from the technical project, he has forced a hand that will break if no one takes a step back by 8pm tonight. But what was all this for?