Rome: wage bill too high – the Friedkins want to cut it to 100 million. Here’s who could be on their way out

As reported by *Corriere dello Sport*, Roma currently spend around €140 million gross on player wages. The target set by the club’s owners is to bring this figure down to below €100 million gross in total.

However, assuming a summer transfer campaign that brings in new players strongly requested by Gasperini, the cut that the Giallorossi management will have to envisage will therefore exceed €40 million gross.

To complement this policy and comply with the ‘Squad Cost Rule’ – the UEFA regulation stipulating that squad costs must not exceed 70% of revenue – work will be carried out on two fronts.

The first concerns players deemed surplus to requirements by Gasperini. This list includes players with significant financial weight such as Tsimikas and Ferguson (who are on loan at Trigoria) and who earn €4.6 million and €3.3 million per season respectively, but above all Dovbyk, who earns more than €6 million a year.

In addition to the players who are to be sold or whose contracts are not to be renewed, there are also the situations regarding those players whose contracts expire on 30 June 2026, i.e. at the end of this season. These are significant and substantial contracts, such as those of Paulo Dybala, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Stephan El Shaarawy and Zeki Celik. Adding up their respective salaries brings the total to €30 million, with the decision seemingly already made regarding the Argentine, whilst doubts remain for all the others despite negotiations currently being on hold.

It is therefore possible to make cuts to stay within that crucial €100 million figure, but regardless of who ultimately leaves Trigoria and the potential capital gains that will be realised by 30 June to keep the aggregate deficit within the limits of no more than (according to Roma’s forecasts) €60 million, the question that Gasperini himself is asking is: how will they be replaced?

Many of the names mentioned are potential first-team regulars in this squad, which will also have to try to sign Malen on a permanent basis by 30 June. If high-earning players leave, they will have to be replaced by players on much lower wages. The decision in the winter transfer window to focus on young players such as Robinio Vaz and Venturino points in this direction and, in all likelihood, will not have changed. The tensions between Gasperini and the club’s owners all stem from this.