AS Roma director Tiago Pinto has been quoted as saying by FootballItalia that he still wants to sell Nicolo Zaniolo, who reportedly wants to move to Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Pinto has said that he is not giving up on selling Zaniolo, who has been the subject of interest from Tottenham, AC Milan and Bournemouth.
The Roma director has said that the attacking midfielder has turned down a move to Bournemouth despite the Premier League club willing to accept their demands.
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano reported last week that Zaniolo wants to move to only Tottenham or AC Milan.
However, neither the Premier League club nor the defending Serie A champions are willing to meet Roma’s demands.
Pinto said about Zaniolo: “I have no problem answering that question, now everyone knows what happened. Nicolò asked the club to leave, along with his agent we tried in every way to find a solution, this solution arrived and might not Nicolò might not be very happy with the solution.
“We’re all in a difficult situation now, because he put in the transfer request and with all the Financial Fair Play parameters we have around us, we cannot afford to just accept Zaniolo saying no and us signing a replacement.
“There are 48 hours to go in the transfer window, we’ll see what happens, but it is truly a difficult situation for the club and everyone.”
The Roma director added: “We have another 48 hours, I as tradition speak to the media after the transfer deadline and that will be the moment to answer your questions.
“As I always say, the interests of Roma come ahead of the individual, I hope everyone thinks the same. I still have hope we can find a solution.”
In our view, a window of opportunity has opened for Tottenham Hotspur in regard to signing Nicolo Zaniolo.
It seems that Roma are desperate to sell the 23-year-old in the final two days of the January transfer window.
Maybe, just maybe, Tottenham could persuade the Italian club to reduce their demands.
Perhaps Tottenham could offer to do a loan deal now and include an obligatory clause to make it permanent in the summer of 2023.
