According to Alfredo Pedulla, Nicolo Zaniolo is going to be added to Roma’s squad list for the latter stages of the UEFA Europa League.
Zaniolo has had a high-profile falling out with he higher-ups at Roma in recent weeks, and he’s been angling for a move away from the club.
Indeed, according to some reports, he wanted to join Leeds United on transfer deadline day, but a move didn’t come to fruition.
Zaniolo’s time at Roma seems to be up. He’s fallen out with the manager and the board, and according to Pedulla, he’s still not been welcomed back into first-team training.
However, the fact that Zaniolo has been included in the UEFA squad list may well suggest that there is a way back for the Italian.
We’ve seen in recent days that the door is never closed at Roma. Rick Karsdorp has just been re-integrated into the squad after his own high-profile falling out with Jose Mourinho, and we have to wonder whether Zaniolo can work his way back in too.
The inclusion in the Europa League squad could be seen as something of an olive branch. It shows Zaniolo that if he does return he can play a part in European competition and that he’s not completely out of the reckoning.
However, there is another way to look at this.
Indeed, Roma may have registered Zaniolo as an administrative formality.
The midfielder does count as one of Roma’s homegrown players for UEFA registration, so perhaps they’ve just registered him because it makes sense to do so in order to comply with squad rules.
Zaniolo is currently still banished from training, and while it’s nice to imagine him working his way back into the fold in Rome, that looks very unlikely right now.
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