Roma midfielder Leandro Paredes is for sale providing a club offers the right money, manager Luciano Spaletti has hinted.
The Argentine spent last season on loan at Empoli, interestingly playing alongside our former target Piotr Zielinski in midfield, and has drawn the attention of Manchester City, Milan and ourselves as a result.
The4thofficial recently produced a lengthy scout report on the former Argentina youth international in which they compared him to our legendary former midfielder Xabi Alonso – due to his calmness and passing ability at the base of midfield.
“Paredes is a strong player in our opinion and we want to use him this season,” Spalletti told Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport.
“But often strong players need to be sold. It even happened with [Gonzalo] Higuain. For me Paredes is a good player and I hope he remains in Rome.”
According to Football Italia, Premier League champions Leicester City have submitted a €22m offer for the 22-year-old, but there’s no word yet whether that’ll be enough for a transfer.
Roma lost Miralem Pjanic this summer to Juventus so would likely be loathe to see another technical midfielder depart.
Unlike our central additions Gini Wijnaldum and Marko Grujic, Paredes is a deeplying playmaker and prides himself on his ability to control a game rather than rely on his physicality. In this respect, he’s more similar to Mo Dahoud, our primary midfield target before a deal for the German proved impossible – but we’d still be surprised if we did make a mov for Paredes.
With Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Lucas and the aforementioned duo all competing for two or three spots, we’re probably well stocked in central midfield right now.