Fabio Borini

[King Binny]

Roma’s consideration to sell Fabio Borini to Liverpool – even if it subsequently allowed Mattia Destro to join the club – is questioned by Antonio Labbate.

Why? It’s the one word which came to mind when Roma admitted earlier this week that they were evaluating an offer from Liverpool for Fabio Borini. Well, so some say, such a sacrifice would then neatly allow the Giallorossi to re-invest those funds in a bid for Mattia Destro, the Siena man who is co-owned with Genoa, but is also wanted by Inter and Juventus. At the risk of sounding repetitive, why?

Destro is a fine prospect and one who could potentially explode under the guidance of Zdenek Zeman, the new Roma boss who has a penchant for attacking football that any young forward would benefit from. But Borini is hardly on his last legs. Fabio was, after all, born nine days after Destro in March 1991.

Being interested in the former Ascoli and Inter youth team player is understandable, willing to invest the €10m plus that it would take to sign him is also praiseworthy in the present economical climate, but not when it would come at the expense of one of the few positives to come out of La Magica’s problematic campaign under Luis Enrique last term.

Arriving on loan in the capital on deadline day in August, Borini wasted little time in proving himself to the club. So impressed with his ability, the outfit bought a 50 per cent share in him from Parma during the January window and then sealed the other half of his contract with a successful €5.3m blind auction offer last month.

The former Chelsea youngster ended the season with nine goals in 24 League games and those statistics could have been even more impressive had injury not restricted his use. By the end of term, he had outshined Erik Lamela and Bojan Krkic, he was promoted from the Italian Under-21 set-up to the full side and was part of Cesare Prandelli’s Euro 2012 squad – even though he didn’t feature in Poland or Ukraine.

Destro too caught the eye of the Italy CT, so much so that the tactician was contemplating taking six forwards to the competition after including the Siena youth in his 32-man preliminary squad. In the end, he didn’t make the cut because although he had hit 12 Serie A goals in 30 games, Prandelli’s tactical plans required other characteristics elsewhere.

Borini is a wide attacker, someone who works the flank like an attacking full-back if necessary, while Destro is a more traditional centre-forward. In other words, Destro wouldn’t be a direct replacement for Borini. If anything, he would only subsequently complicate the club’s transfer plans this summer.

On paper Fabio would seem to be an ideal fit for Zeman’s 4-3-3. Mattia, however, would be another central striker option to add to Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, Francesco Totti and Marco Borriello – the latter a man who the club have unsuccessfully been trying to shift for over 12 months now. Roma don’t need four centre-forwards, they arguably don’t even need three with no European football commitments.

Destro, coming off the back of a strong second half of the season, is clearly the more fashionable player right now. The calibre of clubs chasing him underline that claim, but Roma’s need to invest is at the back and not in attack. Unless Liverpool are offering silly money for Borini, then Roma would be taking an unnecessary gamble in cashing in on a boy whose value – both financially and on the field of play – has the real potential to increase.

 

[RedZeppelin III]

from the echo :

LIVERPOOL are set to complete the signing of striker Fabio Borini after agreeing an £11million deal with Roma.
The Reds have been given the green light to discuss personal terms with the 21-year-old Italy international who will then undergo a medical.
The transfer should be completed in the next 48 hours and Borini will become manager Brendan Rodgers' first signing.

An agreement between the clubs was reached following lengthy negotiations after Borini made it clear he wanted to be reunited with the Northern Irishman​

Roma bought half of his rights back in January when they entered into a co-ownership agreement with Parma and then last month they bought the other 50%, taking their overall spending on him to around £7million​

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Guess we needed to go a few million up on what they paid for him but not too bad a price all in all , well especially if he fulfills the potential people say he had .​

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Now when's the mighty CLINT signing ?​

 

[Roopy]

We should really avoid signing Borini AND Dempsey.

Borini:

The Italian Coach always smiled when he recalled the boy, explaining to la Gazzetta dello Sport how the 17-year-old ordered his teammates to turn off the stereo that was pumping rap music, as it always did before every game.

Dempsey:

One of Dempsey's passions outside of football is hip hop music. Using the alias "Deuce," he, along with fellow Texas rappers XO and the late Houston rapper Big Hawk from the Screwed Up Click, are featured rapping the song "Don't Tread" in a Nike football advertising campaign for the 2006 World Cup with the intention to showcase both the sport's working-class roots and the United States team ahead of the World Cup

 

[OLD_Lewy]

oh dear god

 

[localny]

Now I am GETTING EXCITED AGAIN. BRENDAN DON'T MAKE ME BELIEVE.. DONT GET MY HOPES UP

 

[RedZeppelin III]

Deuce Dempsey in da house . Anfield Road can be the new 7 Mile .

 

[Fabio]

I actually like Dempsey more now I know he raps

 

[Jürgen4PM]

What a whopper

 

[Fabio]

It's not been the same since babel left

 

[Sunny]

What a whopper

Roy would say hes a whapper.

 

[Glen C]

hope the deal is done soon so we can see him on the 21st.

 

[ILD]

We should get Babel to have a rap battle with Deuce Dempsey. Settle this score for once and for all. Andy Cole might want in on the action too though, didn't he try 'spit' some rhymes a few years ago.

 

[Jürgen4PM]

I honestly can't see a single positive about signing Dempsey. Even when i come close to coming up with one i remind myself that he's nearly 30 + would cost nearly 10mil and my heart sinks again.

 

[themn]

He's 29.

 

[barrymac20]

Deuce Dempsey in da house . Anfield Road can be the new 7 Mile .

7 mile?

 

[Jürgen4PM]

He's 29.

???

 

[themn]

???

Oh, got ya.

*cough sort out the punctuation yo cough*

NO I HAVE NOT BEEN "PWNED" JON FOX !

 

[Buddha]

I honestly can't see a single positive about signing Dempsey. Even when i come close to coming up with one i remind myself that he's nearly 30 + would cost nearly 10mil and my heart sinks again.

36 goals in his last 2 seasons (29 in the Prem) playing for Fulham as a attacking mid/deep lying striker
No major injuries
29 but only 8 years playing professional football

 

[hmmmmm1]

Borini is Big money to be spent on a ***nobody***

Who at the start of summer knew about this guy.

Hoping it's like wenger finding viera

 

[Buddha]

He was a nobody to me, but it seems he's quite the hot young thing in Italy.

And everything I read about him suggests his attitude is spot on. A rare mix.

 

[Frogfish]

Excited about the Borini signing - this is much more like a player Suarez needs to be alongside. Demsey too, a real handful in the box, excellent header of the ball and a great option off the bench, he'd get plenty of showings if he makes it up here and would be an excellent squad player.

 

[Frogfish]

He was a nobody to me, but it seems he's quite the hot young thing in Italy.

And everything I read about him suggests his attitude is spot on. A rare mix.

What the man said. He is hardly a nobody if he made the Italian Euro 12 squad.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Excited about the Borini signing - this is much more like a player Suarez needs to be alongside. Demsey too, a real handful in the box, excellent header of the ball and a great option off the bench, he'd get plenty of showings if he makes it up here and would be an excellent squad player.

Agree about Borini -

I like Dempsey, as a 'squad player' as you say. But if we've spent 10 million or whatever on him, that's a large chunk of our transfer budge (probably) and I'm not so happy about it.

 

[Frogfish]

Agree about Borini -

I like Dempsey, as a 'squad player' as you say. But if we've spent 10 million or whatever on him, that's a large chunk of our transfer budge (probably) and I'm not so happy about it.

Wow - £10M ? I've not kept up, rather busy, is that what we are reputed to be offering ?

 

[Buddha]

Nothing concrete in terms of fee.

Some rumour doing the rounds that Fulham have offered Dempsey + 9m for Carroll (can't see it myself)

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Wow - £10M ? I've not kept up, rather busy, is that what we are reputed to be offering ?

It seems the fee will either be between 6-10 (if it's 6, I'm ok with it) or 9+Dempsey for Carroll.

 

[Frogfish]

Thanks Guys.

Hmm £6M would be just about right, maybe £7m tops. If they want Carroll then It'd have to be Dempsey plus £13M plus add-ons (sell on %).

 

[Sunny]

Borini is Big money to be spent on a ***nobody***

Who at the start of summer knew about this guy.

Hoping it's like wenger finding viera

Wait a minute. For season upon season we've moaned about not picking up new up and coming players before their star rises and their price becomes prohibitive. Now we're paying £10m for a player who was regarded as one of the few bright sparks for Roma last season and whose goals per minutes on the pitch ratio was only bettered by Ibrahimovic and Di Natale. There's just no satisfying some people. Then again, it seems some just have to have something to moan about.

 

[Buddha]

If they offered 11m + Dempsey for Carroll we'd be getting Dempsey and Borini for Carroll.

That's not too shabby.

 

[Sunny]

I really struggle to get in any way excited about Dempsey. I know a few on here rate him so I'll trust their judgement somewhat and I'm open to be convinced.