Federico Fazio Leaves Tottenham, Joins AS Roma
Tottenham have completed their second sale of the summer with Federico Fazio joining the Serie A giants, Roma, on a season-long loan.
After Mauricio Pochettino confirmed three players’ exits nine days ago, one which would be Federico Fazio, the 29-year-old Argentine center-back quickly signed with Roma.
A two-year spell with Tottenham didn’t go according to plan for Spurs after spending £8 million on the former Sevilla defender who helped the La Liga side win the Europa League during the 2013-14 season.
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On Roma’s official site, they just announced the signing of Federico Fazio, who arrived yesterday evening and had recently undergone a medical.
The loan deal which has an option-to-buy clause is set to expire on June 30, 2017 and starts at a fixed fee of €1.2 million (£1 million). It will rise to €3.2 million (£2.7 million) upon completion of certain targets.
“I am very happy to join a great team like Roma,” Fazio said. “I really want to start training and get to know my new teammates and coach.”
Before officially signing the 6’4″ center-back, Roma manager Luciano Spalletti talked about what he liked from the Argentinian defender earlier this week.
“He has important characteristics, has won the Europa League,” Spalletti said (via Hertfordshire Mercury). “In England he did not play continuously, he has experience, is a sound player, is very strong in the head. We are curious to see him at work continuously.”
With Tottenham and Roma completing a deal, yesterday’s report where Tottenham were interested in Espanyol goalkeeper Pau López looks unlikely to happen now.
In order for Pochettino to secure the services of López, Fazio who was being targeted by the Catalan club, needed to go the other way on a loan deal with an option to buy.
Either way, whichever club the 29-year-old joined, once everything was finalized, Tottenham would be selling at a loss. It’s unlike Daniel Levy to accept less than what Spurs paid for when acquiring a player who didn’t work out, before selling them.
Usually, the Tottenham chairman tries to get near the maximum value to recoup his losses. Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino wanted a sale to quickly happen, therefore a deal where Spurs sell at a loss was inevitable.
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What started as a somewhat promising Premier League debut season for Fazio two years ago (32 appearances in all competitions), didn’t exactly translate very well last season.
In fact, a bad game overall against Arsenal (wherein Pochettino played a heavily rotated side in the League Cup) saw Federico Fazio get axed from the 18-man squad for the rest of Tottenham’s campaign.
It was quite harsh, but with Toby Alderweireld partnering up with Vertonghen and Kevin Wimmer, a solid third-choice central defender waiting in the wings, Fazio’s playing time was going to be reduced eventually.
Though only making one appearance throughout the entire year (none in the Premier League) is unheard of.
Because Mauricio Pochettino has stated that no center-back will be signed this summer, the Argentine manager will be calling upon a couple of academy graduates to step up: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Dominic Ball and Anton Walkes (a midfielder).
With Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Wimmer starters, Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama (who hasn’t played as a center-back since his Celtic days) could see some playing time in central defense if needed.
But mainly, the fourth center-back position will be given to either Carter-Vickers, Ball or Walkes. Whoever proves to be the best out of this bunch could see themselves playing alongside Wimmer in cup competitions.
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Federico Fazio’s time with Tottenham was essentially one year (last year he wasn’t even there following his only appearance), but in that brief time he and the other center-backs who partnered with Jan Vertonghen, Younès Kaboul and Vlad Chiricheș, helped Mauricio Pochettino in the end.
And that was to address this area with the signings of Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer. So while Spurs suffered badly two years ago in central defense, it helped them make the necessary adjustments to fix a glaring weakness.