Yes, you may've read about Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal being interested in Kostas Manolas. But I can reveal another English club is keen on the Roma defender.
Kostas is a very particular player. He reminds me a little of Pietro Vierchowod, but he's not a leader yet.
This is the situation: the player wants more money, he's waiting for a new salary this summer, moreover he's an ambitious player. He gets €1.8 million and obviously this can't be enough (for example, Juan Jesus gets €2.3m...). His manager Ioannis Evangelopoulos hasn't received new salary offers from Roma (and he won't). And in the meantime Roma has changed the sporting director (now the s.d. is Ricky Massara, Walter Sabatini's right-hand man).
Another problem is that Kostas Manolas and Luciano Spalletti haven't a good connection, because of the defender's behaviour (Kostas is professional and strong, but he has a low pain tolerance. He takes a hit and asks for a substitution, for this reason he has been complained about by Kevin Strootman during pre-season). He has a contract until 2019, but probably will be sacrificed by Massara to reach break-even (Roma has problems with FFP and this summer needs to reach break-even point).
Roma won't propose another contract to Manolas, because they have already decided that he will be the sacrificed (and Roma fans are scared about Antonio Rudiger too...). Last summer Roma has refused an offer (€40 million) from Arsenal, but his agent is in talks with many clubs, mostly Premier League clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea, but Everton is interested too.
Roma isn't strong enough to renew his contract and to refuse offers for him, moreover as I said before they don't want to. Anyway, Roma won't sell him in January, otherwise Spalletti, as he said in his press conference, would be very angry.
SABATINI AND SPURS
Walter Sabatini some time ago was in London. Officially to see the match between Tottenham and Chelsea (Roma's sporting director Ricky Massara was with him, to talk with West Ham about Sofiane Feghouli), but the truth is that he could take the former place of Franco Baldini at Tottenham.
Roma fans are still discussing Sabatini's legacy, because he has devout fans and fans who are angry with him. When he works, he makes every single decision not only for the team's sake: he likes to satisfy his fashion sense!
When Roma needed to strengthen right and left back, he kept spending money for young gambles like Gerson (almost €20m when Spalletti still needs a sub for Edin Dzeko and Radja Nainggolan). Of course he made many good operations, but he didn't manage in six years to complete Roma's squad.
He's good for teams who have a lot of money to spend and don't need to win immediately. He could work for Chelsea only if Antonio Conte manages to hold him in check. Would be different at Tottenham, where Baldini had almost full powers. Certainly he's in talks with Tottenham, but Sabatini is not an ordinary director.
SZCZESNY BEST AT ROMA IN 20 YEARS
Wojciech Szczesny is absolutely a star for Roma fans. Few goalkeepers have been better than him in the last 20 years with Roma's jersey.
This summer Sabatini chose to buy Alisson, but Spalletti didn't agree with this choice and asked for the return of Szczesny. If it was for Spalletti, the Pole would be confirmed as the goalkeeper for the next season. Right now Roma hasn't enough money to buy Szczesny (due to financial fair play), but it would be possible after a big sale (like Manolas).
At the moment it is impossible to say if Arsene Wenger will give Roma the OK to buy the goalie Wojciech is improving quickly, game after game, and nobody in Rome wants to see him go.
SPALLETTI DOESN'T WANT CHARLY MUSONDA
Charly won't go to AS Roma. Simply because Spalletti doesn't want him. Roma's coach said publicly (in the last two press conferences) that he's a "little boy" and that he doesn't expect "that Musonda comes here and helps us to win games". More than a public rejection.
Apart from that, Roma fans think he's not the right player for the needs of Spalletti, who prefers fully mature players, like Gregoire Defrel or Sofiane Feghouli (but Roma is still far from reaching agreement with West Ham). Musonda is talented and could move to Roma on a free loan, and Massara likes this, but Roma should stop being a stepping stone.
