Matteo Moretto Transfer Column: Mats Hummels, Deco, Alphonso Davies, Kingsley Coman and Federico Chiesa
Chris Smalling's exit looming, Roma have Mats Hummels' decision to make
Center back Chris Smalling is set to join Al-Fayha in Saudi Arabia, and they are finalizing the transfer. In view of that, Roma are considering going for Mats Hummels, who remains a free agent. However, at the Roma club, they need to decide whether to go all in for Hummels, go for someone else, or just stick with what they have.
The Hummels matter seemed as if it would pass, but now things hit the buffers a little, as reported by Sky Sport Italia. We will see if Roma decides to finally get back in touch with Hummels.
Hummels was linked with a move to Real Sociedad, but now they have brought in Nayef Aguerd from West Ham on loan. RCD Mallorca was also linked, but those rumors were denied by the player and the club itself. I'm not sure that was a real option. Other clubs in Spain have asked, but Real was the closest, and now they have installed their team. We will see if Roma take a definitive step with Hummels.
Porto snap up the Juventus defender after Roma miss out
Tiago Djalo was very close to joining Roma. They knew that Loic Bade wanted to stay in Sevilla, but they tried on the last day of the transfer market. After his move for Kevin Danso fell, and then they tried Bade.
After the Frenchman's decision to stay in Sevilla, Roma reached an agreement in principle with Juventus, but Djalo will go to Porto. It is a loan deal without an option to buy, and Juventus will pay part of his salary.
No doubt Juventus will help with this, it is not enough half and half, but Djalo in theory should leave for Portugal tomorrow, back to his country of origin.
Rumors of discontent between Deco and Barcelona
On Sunday, Sport reported that Deco was unhappy with how things had gone at the club since arriving, and was considering leaving. This story wasn't out long ago Barcelona released a public statement stating that they were very satisfied with the former agent, and naming the story as an “attack on the club”.
In this matter, I think it is important to follow the line set by the club. The way the club denied the story, so loudly and so quickly, speaks for itself. I think Deco has the full confidence of President Joan Laporta. So when it comes to what Deco thinks, I can't speak to the details of it, but the main problem was the manager, and so far it seems that they have made a good choice. It is a quality team, Ilkay Gundogan has left, Pau Victor and Dani Olmo have entered.
All in all, Barcelona's summer has been centered around Nico Williams and Dani Olmo. When Barcelona realized that Williams was not giving them a definitive answer, they opted for Olmo.
So they also had a lot of player offers. I think the most realistic option was Marc Pubill from Almeria, the right-back whose move to Atalanta collapsed and won Olympic gold with Spain. A deal for Federico Chiesa from Liverpool was not as close as some say it was. Barcelona asked about Kingsley Coman, he was highly appreciated by Hansi Flick, but because of the salary limit, it is something they decided not to pursue.
Real Madrid only had one name in mind after Kylian Mbappe, Endrick Felipe and Leny Yoro
I don't think Real Madrid seriously considered another addition this summer. It's something they were probably mulling over until maybe August, but the only name that was really on the table from that point was Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies.
Real Madrid knows that Davies is available to accept a deal to leave for free in just four months, and as we said when it came to Leny Yoro, his determination not to spend money through the window is true for Davies.
At the time, Real Madrid needed Yoro more than Davies, but they had the self-confidence to say no, not to go into the transfer market and stick with what they have in Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba and Eder Military. In January, they know they can tie a deal for Davies, and depending on how their players recover from injury, and how they play, maybe they will reconsider theirs in the winter transfer window.
Matteo Moretto will be back with more transfer news in the coming days, providing exclusive information on the biggest stories in Spain and Italy.
