Italian Serie A side, Roma are reportedly in talks with former Juventus coach Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri’s agent. The two coaches are the possible replacement of coach Paulo Fonseca that is reportedly involved in a fallout with the club’s talisman Edin Dzeko.
Reports in Italy claimed that Roma director Tiago Pinto was seen in the same location with Fali Ramadani, the agent of Maurizio Sarri, and the director confirmed to reporters that he was at the location to have a meeting with some people including Ramadani.
Edin Dzeko and coach Paulo Fonseca are reportedly not at peace with each other as the coach has refused to give Dzeko regular game time. And that might force Dzeko to leave the club if any strong interest comes for him. He has already been linked to Manchester United and a couple of other Premier League clubs but it seems such a deal might not be possible this winter.
Hence, to keep the 34-year-old Bosnia-Herzegovina international happy at the club, Roma reportedly wants to get rid of Paulo Fonseca as soon as possible. Besides the difficulty the coach is having in maintaining a cordial relationship with his players, there are reports that the club’s board is not happy with the performance of the coach so far this season.
Paulo Fonseca has led Roma to win 11 league games, drew 4 and lost 4 games so far this season. The Italian club is currently occupying the 3rd spot with 37 points in 19 league games.
But Fonseca’s off-field controversy might cost him his job especially if he is not able to resolve his difference with Edin Dzeko who is the club’s captain.
Recently, when Paulo Fonseca was in a pre-match press conference ahead of the Roma league game against Verona, the coach refused to comment on the dispute between him and Edin Dzeko. He told reporters that he did not want to talk about his reported issue with Dzeko. He went on to praise players who have been doing well in the absence of Dzeko.
“I understand your curiosity, but this is a subject I do not want to talk about now. We’ll see next week, ” Paulo Fonseca said.
“The performance against Spezia said it all,” he added, pointing towards a last-gasp 4-3 victory.
“This is not the time to talk about this or the captaincy. We must focus on what will be a difficult match against Verona. Their statistics show they have one of the best defences in Serie A, they are strong in one-on-one situations and don’t let their opponents play.
“I studied Hellas Verona and there aren’t many teams in Europe who play this type of football. Ivan Juric is a fine coach and is doing a great job. His players believe in this style of football and are doing really well.
“Mayoral is playing very well, he works for the team and has always put in good performances. He only recently arrived in Italy and it’s not easy to have the statistics he does.
“El Shaarawy can immediately be useful and I think he has the right characteristics for us. He wanted to come back to Roma and that is very important for a coach to know.”
Stephan El Shaarawy returns to #ASRoma exactly 5⃣ years after his debut goal for the club! 👟 pic.twitter.com/99yJQFSQHy
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) January 30, 2021