ROMA have signed 16-year-old Cambridge United whizkid Mbunya Alemanji for £70,000.
The teenage star has put pen to paper on a three-year deal with the Serie A giants but insists he is trying to “keep humble” after the mega move.
Roma have signed Cambridge United whizkid Mbunya Alemanji
The Italian side have never seen the young forward play in the flesh but have signed him based on video footage.
Alemanji will initially play with Roma’s Under-17s side but will eventually move up to the first team.
Having completed the transfer, Alemanji said: “It is a big move but I’m just trying to prove why I’m there.
“My friends have been saying to me: ‘Do you realise you’re at AS Roma?’ I’m just trying to keep calm.”
Alemanji was born in Germany but moved to England when he was three.
The teenager had only been with Cambridge for three years after an intial six-week trial as a 13-year-old.
Alemanji shares an agent with former Manchester United and current Lyon star Memphis Depay.
And thanks to highlight videos sent to Roma’s interim sporting director Morgan de Sanctis earlier this year the move has gone through.
Four Premier League teams crack the top ten highest wage bills in Europe
Alemanji added: “It was during lockdown – my agent contacted me and said: ‘Roma are interested in you.
“They are such a big team that I didn’t really think much of it.
“The next week he contacted me again and said you might have to travel to Rome in two weeks.
“I was like, ‘Wow.’ It took longer for it to happen but I eventually signed.”
Bayern Munich are now the joint-fifth-most successful team in Europe
Alemanji’s deal will see him spend one year as a scholar before he turns professional.
He will live at Roma’s training ground, where he will be surrounded by their first-team stars, which has already stunned the young star.
He added: “I came out of my room – we had to do Covid tests – and I saw [former Chelsea winger] Pedro. I was shocked.”
Neymar ‘tests positive for coronavirus’ after Ibiza holiday as PSG confirm three cases just eight days before season
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
