Ghisolfi Hire Imminent, Details of De Rossi's Contract Leak

Lost amidst all the hoopla surrounding Roma’s never-ending quest to return to the Champions League was a not-so-insignificant story: this club still doesn’t have a Director of Sport in place. After parting ways with General Manager Tiago Pinto after the close of the winter transfer window, the news lay dormant, with only a few scant stories linking the Giallorossi to various up-and-coming executives.

If we're being honest, it's not the most titillating story to cover, but as we approach the dawn of silly season, Pinto's rumored replacement, Florent Ghisolfi, is increasingly dominating headlines.

Ghisolfi, a 39-year-old Frenchman and former Reims midfielder, hung up his boots in 2015 before embarking on his executive career. After serving as Director of Sport for RC Lens for three years, Ghisolfi jumped to OGC Nice in the fall of 2022. During his first season at the helm, Nice finished a respectable ninth place and is poised to improve on those results, as they currently sit fifth on the Ligue 1 table with one match remaining.

Given his brief tenure with Nice, we can't really draw any definitive conclusion about Ghisolfi's spending patterns or his ability to leverage Nice's assets into healthy profits. Still, if we read between the lines, Ghisolfi's age and ability to remain within a specific budget likely appealed to the Friedkin family, who reportedly want to pivot away from high-priced, aging veterans. In that light, bringing in a DS who values...well, value, makes a certain amount of sense.

While Ghisolfi may not have the luxury of Champions League revenue to facilitate his Roman rebuild, speculation holds that Roma's Financial Fair Play burden should be lighter in the coming seasons, potentially giving him more leeway on the transfer market.

Before we gnash our teeth over Ghisolfi's transfer strategy, the club has another pressing matter to handle: Daniele De Rossi's contract extension. While we've known for weeks that the club was retaining their former captain turned manager, the stories were a bit light on detail. However, according to multiple sources in Italy, De Rossi will pen a three-year deal with the club, rumored to be worth €2.5 million per season.

Pairing a young manager with an equally youthful Director of Sport isn't a novel concept, but after so many trials and travails over the past several years, let's just the Friedkins give this new duo a longer leash.