Manchester United defender Alex Telles impressed on his debut against Paris Saint-Germain
Manchester United defender Alex Telles impressed on his debut against Paris Saint-Germain AFP / FRANCK FIFE

KEY POINTS

  • AS Roma needs a replacement for Leonardo Spinazzola
  • The club has identified Manchester United's Alex Telles as a loan signing
  • Manchester United will only allow Telles to be sold

AS Roma is looking for a short-term replacement as Leonardo Spinazzola recovers from injury.

Spinazzola suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in Italy’s 2-1 win over Belgium in the quarter-finals of the 2020 European Championship but has since had surgery to repair the rupture and he’ll be out for a yet undetermined amount of time.

Sky Italia originally reported that Roma has identified Manchester United fullback Alex Telles as a potential loan signing for most of the upcoming season.

Roma’s new coach Jose Mourinho is looking to acquire Telles from the former club he managed, but there may be some obstacles in doing so.

Telles was brought to the club in the last transfer window for a fee of £15.4 million ($21.3 million) from Porto in order to provide competition for first-team left-back Luke Shaw.

However, Shaw had a resurgent season with Manchester United, and the club is keen on keeping Telles as the second choice for Shaw, should anything happen.

Shaw had himself a solid outing with the England national team as they came extremely close to bringing home the 2020 Euro title but were ironically edged out by Italy on penalties.

Fabrizio Romano also reported that Roma will still be making a move for Telles in “the next days” as Mourinho does value the player highly, seeing him as the perfect hold-over for Spinazzola.

This keenness to keep Telles is a signal from Manchester United that they will only let go of the Brazilian if they sell him, and that is a problem Roma will have to determine sooner rather than later.

The 28-year-old fullback has shown that he can score goals from time to time as evidenced by his 21 goals in 129 appearances for Porto across four seasons.

However, his best skill set is his ability to read the defense and disrupt plays before they even happen. Moreover, he can use his footwork to out-position the opposing team’s attackers.

Mourinho’s time as Manchester United coach was shaky and as it stands, the club might not be willing to help out the Portuguese in his time of need in Italy.

The transfer window is set to close on Tuesday, August 31, giving Roma a couple of weeks to decide whether it would be worth it to make a bid for Telles or look elsewhere.

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