Mattia Destro is heading to AC Milan, and Roma are making a big mistake by letting him go -- especially to a rival club. And no, it's not just because they're losing an amazing beard.
Roma will live to regret dumping Mattia Destro
Roma are almost certainly going to come to regret selling Mattia Destro, especially to a domestic rival.
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It's not even a mistake from a financial perspective, though only just breaking even on the almost €16 million that they invested in loan and transfer fees to acquire Destro from Genoa is something of a disappointment. The structure of the deal -- reported as a small loan fee up front for the rest of this season, then a mandatory €15 million transfer fee in the summer -- actually works fairly well for Roma, giving them a little extra spending power this summer as they deal with Financial Fair Play regulations.
But in terms of how this changes things for Roma's squad in terms of balance, structure, and on-the-pitch play, this is anything but a smart move. It takes away a young striker who has already proven to be a productive forward, and who has a technical skillset that meshes well with how manager Rudi Garcia sets his side up tactically. He's strong enough to operate as a lone striker, but skillful enough to facilitate play for the other attackers in Roma's lineup. Sure, he's been mostly stuck behind Francesco Totti this season, but being stuck behind Francesco freakin' Totti is nothing to be ashamed of.
Taking Roma’s one true center forward out of the squad will force them to go in to the transfer market this weekend to get a new one, which they’re reportedly trying to do with Seydou Doumbia. Doumbia is a good striker, but he’s not as good a tactical fit for Roma as Destro was, and it’s decidedly unlikely that CSKA Moscow will make it easy for Roma to get him cheap.
Even if they do, signing Doumbia will make life harder when it comes to constructing their squad for future seasons. Selling Destro removes a home-grown player from an already international-heavy squad, which is a problem with player registration regulations in both domestic and continental competitions. Roma have a fairly strong youth setup that should help ease that somewhat, but it sure would be easier to have a major forward in the squad be Italian, leaving them with an international slot to fill elsewhere.
Even setting aside all the issues directly within Roma’s squad, this is a bad move by Roma for one reason: they’re giving AC Milan, a fierce rival, the exact player that they desperately need.
Milan are doing everything they can to claw and fight their way back in to relevancy within Serie A after several poor seasons, but this season the thing that they’ve lacked more than anything else is a proper striker up top. Fernando Torres wound up being a disastrously poor fit for the rossoneri, and they’ve been having to make do with various wingers and attacking midfielders in playing as a false nine for months. Jérémy Ménez has been mostly successful in the role, but a real striker up top like Destro would do Filippo Inzaghi’s side so much good it’s almost mind-boggling to consider.
So why would Roma, or any Italian team for that matter, willingly give Milan the help that they need? The last thing Roma need is more competition for Italy's three Champions League places (though with Juventus' domination at the top of the table set to continue, there's only really two to fight over). Instead of forcing Milan to look elsewhere, they're practically handing them a key cog for their side for the next several years. That's just not smart.
It’s really hard to find the logic in this deal for Roma. Taking a good player who fits their team in a wide variety of on- and off-pitch ways and selling him to a rival is just hard to digest. Obviously we have yet to see how this move plays out in the long run, but for an instant reaction, confusion is the best -- and perhaps kindest -- way to phrase things.
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