Roma Review of 2016 Part 3: January transfer window

John Solano, Roma fan: “Where Roma were at the time, we definitely needed some sort of spark and some reinforcement. Clearly what we were doing at the time was not working.”

Kevin Strootman, Roma midfielder: “Every now and again you need something different, a new signing in the changing room to do the things you can't. Buying players in January is always a risk, but you won't put a foot wrong with players like Stephan and Diego."

Wayne Girard, Roma fan: “I was definitely feeling down when I started to think about the organisation of the team - flipping defensive players season after season with no continuity. The morale was low and the players weren’t Italian which made me question the communication between the backline. This made me frustrated but then [Walter] Sabatini was able to get a player who I thought was super important in Diego Perotti.

"When Perotti came in and Rudi was gone, it was a total fresh start. I felt that the team was really complete at that point, even though Dzeko wasn’t playing well at the time. Even with Dzeko not firing, Roma was definitely the strongest team in the second half of the season.”

"You can't rely on a handful of individual players for a good performance over an entire season. It depends on the mental strength of everyone in the squad. We're dealing with a good bunch of lads and that's why I decided to come back: they struck me as a decent group that I could begin working with. They proved I was right.”

- Luciano Spalletti

Wayne Girard: “Perotti was absolutely instrumental.”

Simone Conte, Roma TV: “I’ve never instantly fallen in love with a player like I did with Diego Perotti. I’d never looked at a player who’d just arrived and thought he was my player. His technical ability made me want to do a special show – Zoom – to showcase it. I think Spalletti was brave to show such faith in him, giving him responsibility just 48 hours after arriving. There was an understanding between them and the fact there are two people like Spalletti and Perotti in the team I support makes me very proud.”

John Salano: “I was really pleased with what we did with Perotti and El Shaarawy. I thought that was arguably our best window of the past few years. Obviously Zukanovic came as well, but he didn’t play as much of a role. At the time, with the transition from Garcia to Spalletti, I was pretty anxious to see where the club would go. Rewinding back to then, before the window even started, it was definitely a moment of unease for just about every single Roma fan.”

David Rossi, Roma Radio: “I was excited about Diego Perotti because he'd thoroughly impressed me in a game I saw him play for Genoa against Napoli. He's a really classy player. He was the big signing that enabled Spalletti to transform the team in the second half of the season.”

Luciano Spalletti: “[Diego] Perotti and [Stephan] El Shaarawy are two quality players - they've shown that. Walter Sabatini is one of the best in the business at what he does. He began talks in his inimitable style. The squad we have now is partly mine but it was built by Walter Sabatini."

David Rossi: “The [Stephan] El Shaarawy signing surprised me but I have to say Roma got that one spot on.”

John Solano: “Initially, El Shaarawy arrived on loan with an option to buy. I was cautiously optimistic only because he was very poor at Monaco. He was coming off a rough season with some injuries with Milan before that. Knowing that the Euros were coming in the summer and that he’d be amped to make the team for that, I was optimistic because it’s hard to disregard that initial strong season he had at Milan. As the months followed, he absolutely proved his worth. It was a no-brainer when they made the move permanent in June.”

Kevin Strootman: "Stephan El Shaarawy and Diego Perotti are top-quality players. We saw that straight away: they were scoring and chipping in with assists, making an immediate improvement to the squad. They showed all their quality on the pitch. They're fantastic players and it's always a pleasure to welcome talent like them.”