New stadium & six new players - Thomas DiBenedetto unveils Roma takeover plans

American millionaire Thomas DiBenedetto has unveiled a grand design to revive the fortunes of Roma and has expressed his desire to make the former Italian champions one of the most competitive teams in Europe.

Boston-based private equity tycoon DiBenedetto is the head of a group of American investors who are set to buy Roma on Wednesday. He is not new to European football, though, as he is a partner of New England Sports Ventures, who bought English giants Liverpool last year.

Speaking to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday, the millionaire explained his short-term as well as long-term plans to make Roma one of the best club sides in Europe.

"The invariable mark of a dream is to see it come true,” he began quoting 19th-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. “And my dream is exactly the same as that of millions of fans: to turn Roma into one of the best clubs in the world, a team capable of winning the Scudetto every year and finally challenging for the Champions League.

“You say 'All roads lead to Rome' over there, don't you?... Well, I hope that one day everyone will travel down those roads to come and see what we have achieved: something important and long-lasting."

DiBenedetto explained his long standing relationship with the Eternal City and enthused: "I've never had any other clubs in mind. I have a long relationship with Rome. The university where I studied and where I am still a member of the council, Trinity College, has organized a campus in Rome for the last 25 years.

“It's a wonderful city and to be able to represent it worldwide through a business and a passion as important as soccer is a great opportunity for me.

“It [Roma] has a glorious history, though not always a successful one. I remember the last Scudetto they won, which was fantastic, and the great Roma side of the eighties with Conti and Falcao. We will respect the club's tradition and we will always try to honor it. I say that our future is our past."

Coming on to business aspects of the takeover, he explained: “We expect to complete the deal with Unicredit in the next few days. I think it's a bit too early to talk about the club's new organization. We fully respect the people who are working at Roma at the moment and we will speak to them.

“But we have our own ideas as well and we are committed to creating the best team possible, on and off the pitch. We'll bring together people capable of unearthing young talent and building a competitive team.

"It's in our interest after all: only by being successful will we get a return on our investments. As I said, our aim is to turn Roma into one of the biggest clubs in the world, a team that the city can be proud of, but naturally that will take a bit of time."

Looking ahead to summer overhaul as well as long-term plans, DiBenedetto continued: "[My first move as president would be] to get the balance sheet in order and bring the club in line with UEFA's financial fair-play requirements, since we don't meet them at the moment. But that doesn't mean we can't make immediate investments in the team.

"My team is made up of people who know world soccer very well. When the time comes, we'll speak to the current management - who are doing a good job - and we'll assess things. I think some players will be sold and others will come in, at least five or six."

DiBenedetto is also apprehensive about Italy losing a Champions League place to Germany and believes that a change in the ownership as well as the building of stadiums in the country will see Serie A regain it's lost stature.

"It's depressing and worrying that the Italians have lost a Champions League place. I think the main problem is the lack of club-owned stadiums – comfortable, welcoming and set up to exploit other business opportunities. Football's so important for the Italian economy and culture that it often reflects the image of the country as a whole.

"It's about time the government and the institutions did something practical to enable clubs to build new stadiums. That's the only way to get back to winning in Europe, to attract the best players back to Italy.

“It's just a shame that all those supporters don't have an adequate stadium: the Olimpico simply just gratifies the Romanisti's passion; the stands are too far away from the pitch and the noise from the crowd is not the same at that distance. That's another reason why a new stadium is a must, an English-style stadium so that it benefits the players too. A modern version of Campo Testaccio."

However, the takeover is not complete yet as SkySport 24 reports that the meeting between the American businessman and the Roma officials commenced at 12 in the afternoon local time on Monday and stretched on until 10 pm in the evening. Negotiations are set to continue on Tuesday at 9 am local time.

Follow Goal.com on to get the latest soccer news directly. Check out Goal.com's page; be part of the best soccer fan community in the world!