Opinion: How El Shaarawy and Perotti are thriving in Rome

The January transfer market can be a very volatile period for players, clubs and managers.

Players have very little time to prepare and adapt to their new surroundings, clubs must agree to deals in a short period of time and managers must learn to implement the new players at their disposal in a matter of days.

With so many factors working against January signings, it’s no surprise that across the entire football spectrum, the success stories are usually few and far between.

Which make the early form in Rome of Diego Perotti and Stephan El Shaarawy so impressive. Very few January signings have thrived better in such a short amount of time than these two.

The newly acquired pair have proven to be crucial pieces in Luciano Spalletti’s attacking 4-2-3-1 formation and seemed to have settled flawlessly in the Italian capital.

Let’s take a deeper look at some of the incredible numbers surrounding the attacking duo since their respective moves to the Giallorossi:

1: The combined number of league goals the pair had scored this season before coming to Roma.

3.2: In the six league matches since their arrival, the Giallorossi are averaging 3.2 goals scored per match. Before their arrival? Roma were averaging 1.8 goals scored per match.

4: Since his arrival in Rome, Diego Perotti has made four assists, more than any other team mate during this time.

5: Despite only arriving in January, El Shaarawy’s 5 goals scored in just six matches places him fifth on Roma’s scoring chart for the season.

17: The attacking duo have created 17 total chances so far for Roma.

68%: Perotti and El Shaarawy have been responsible for 68% of Roma’s 19 league goals since joining the club - scoring seven and assisting six between them.

The stats speak for themselves and prove just how influential the Italian and the Argentine have been for Roma during their short tenure thus far at Roma. If they keep improving as they settle at the club, what they could achieve in the future is frightening.