AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has confirmed Roma are on the verge of completing a deal to sign forward Stephan El Shaarawy.
El Shaarawy, 23, is currently on loan at Monaco but has been heavily linked with a return to Serie A in recent weeks.
Roma manager Luciano Spalletti revealed at the weekend that he had spoken to El Shaarawy regarding an initial loan move with a view to make the deal permanent fuelling speculation he was close to returning.
With Gervinho expected to make the switch from the Eternal City to the Chinese Super League before the transfer window shuts this month, it would make sense for Roma to make this like-for-like replacement, which Milan’s CEO has confirmed is close to completion.
“It is on the home straight with Roma – we will see if we can close it today,” Galliani is quoted as saying by FourFourTwo.
Shaarawy has made more appearances from the substitutes’ bench (8) than he has started games for Monaco in Ligue 1 (7) this season and is still searching for his first goal.
In fact, only Junior Tallo (29) has registered more shots without scoring a league goal this season than Shaarawy (27).
For more stats on Stephan El Shaarawy, click here to visit his WhoScored player page