Loan Updates: Do Shomurodov and Solbakken Have a Future With Roma?
For the past five years, we've worked ourselves into a tizzy, wondering, hoping, and praying that Roma would return to the Champions League. Thanks to a spate of ill-advised purchases in the late 2010s, the club's sale, and the global pandemic, the Giallorossi haven't sniffed Europe's preeminent club competition in five years.
Roma was never a genuine threat to win the competition, mind you, but they were a regular visitor to the knockout rounds during the heyday of Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi. But thanks to DDR's impressive debut as Roma's manager and Serie A on the precipice of earning a fifth Champions League place, the Giallorossi's return to the game's biggest stage could soon be upon us.
However, if that doesn't happen, whoever Roma eventually appoints as its Director of Sport will be forced to re-arm the squad on a shoestring budget. It's not an impossible task, but it's certainly not an enviable one. CL or not, Roma has stumbled into a cost-saving measure by replacing the aging and expensive Rui Patricio with Mile Svilar, who is delivering better results at a fraction of the cost.
At the request of several readers, we decided to do a loan update, only to realize that Roma doesn't have that many players out on loan. Considering that, we will limit our focus to two players who could offer similar savings to the club next year, at least in terms of not having to dip into the transfer market.
First up, a player some of us may have completely forgotten about.
Ola Solbakken
Current club: Urawa Reds
Loan terms: Expires June 2024
Signed through: June 2027
How Did We Get Here?
After scoring six goals in the inaugural Europa Conference League, including three against Roma, the Giallorossi moved quickly to acquire the Norwegian winger during the January 2023 transfer window. While he didn't light the world on fire, Solbakken managed a goal and two assists in only 500 minutes that spring. That wasn't enough to unseat anyone in José Mourinho's rotation, but it was certainly enough to warrant a more extended look.
But that look never came as Solbakken was loaned to Olympiacos at the end of the 2023 summer transfer window, where he played all of 48 minutes before being shipped off the Urawa Reds in January.
Does He Have a Future in Rome?
If Solbakken were 19 rather than 25, this would be an easy question to answer. After all, he's a tall, powerful, left-footed forward, and players like that don't grow on trees. In that scenario, it's easy to talk yourself into giving Solbakken another chance, especially now that De Rossi has implemented a more attacking system that is crying out for a counterweight to Stephan El Shaarawy on the wings.
However, if you believe that cream rises to the top, then Solbakken's wasted spells at Olympiacos and Urawa speak volumes. That's not a shot at either club, but the fact that he couldn't get a shred of playing time at either stop doesn't bode well for his future in Rome if not Europe entirely.
(Here comes the but)
But... he has three more years on his deal, and De Rossi's system requires multiple wingers capable of playing a rather intense brand of football, so it's not out of the question that he returns next summer and carves out a rotation role.
His chances of being a game-wrecking winger are slim, but he could be a decent weapon off the bench for DDR next season.
Eldor Shomurodov
Current club: Cagliari
Loan terms: Expires June 2024
Signed through: June 2026
How Did We Get Here?
Signed in the summer of 2021 for an eye-popping €18 million, former GM Tiago Pinto was rolling the dice on the then 26-year-old Uzbekistani winger, who had a grand total of 24 league goals in his previous five seasons. Given the expectations that came along with that hefty transfer fee (relative to his historic production), the odds were stacked against Shomurodov. While we had issues with this transfer, with four goals and six assists in approximately 1,100 minutes in all competitions, Shomurodov brought something to the table during his first season with the club.
In and of itself, that's not a bad return for a part-time player. Still, Shomurodov's contract and transfer fee demanded greater output, which may explain why he was loaned to Spezia during the January 2023 transfer window. After scoring a single league goal in 809 minutes for Spezia last spring, Shomurodov was sent to Cagliari for the 2023-2024 season, where he's managed two goals and two assists for Claudio Ranieri's crew.
Does He Have a Future in Rome?
On the surface, Shomurodov is in the same bind as Solbakken: a tall, powerful winger looking for a place to belong. And while he's older and more expensive than Solbakken, he's at least been good enough to hang around Serie A for five seasons now. So, if nothing else, you can plug him in as a rotation piece and/or spotstarter without stressing too much.
But is that enough to keep him around, or would Roma be better served trying to unload the final two years of his deal on a smaller Serie A club?
Your answer to that depends on how you view his first season with the club. Could he improve on those four goals and six assists with more consistent playing time, or is that simply who he is: a guy who will bag six or seven goals off the bench but wilts when exposed as a full-time player?
Other Loanees: Belotti & Kumbulla
Apart from these two erstwhile wingers, Andrea Belotti and Marash Kumbulla are the only players of note currently on loan. We got a first-hand look at Belotti in Roma's thrilling 2-2 draw with Fiorentina last week. Still, it was par for the course for Belotti: lots of hard running, an unquestionable effort but no tangible impact in front of goal.
Meanwhile, Kumbulla, who we “saw” over the weekend, has struggled to get off the Sassuolo bench. Since moving to the Neroverdi in January, the 24-year-old Albanian center-back has played only 19 minutes for the relegation-battling club.
Both players' contracts expire in 2025, so they'll likely be sold at a discount rate or spend their final contractual year on loan. It's a sour ending to what were both promising transfers, but it may be time for the club to move on anyway.
So, what do you say? Do any of these players have a future with Roma?
