Should Roma Sign Victor Ibarbo on a Permanent Basis?
This season has been one paved with inconsistency for Roma. Having started out as genuine title contenders in Serie A, they have fallen away, losing sight of Juventus and fighting to keep hold of a top-three spot they previously took for granted.
Victor Ibarbo joined the club in January, on loan from Cagliari, and while Roma have struggled to put two wins together in recent months, the Colombian forward is finally beginning to start consecutive games.
On Wednesday night, he was in Roma's starting lineup for the second game in a row as they won 3-0 away to Sassuolo, but although he is getting more involvement, a question hangs over Ibarbo's head: is he worthย โฌ12.5 million?
This is the price Roma must payย to sign Ibarbo on a permanent basis at the culmination of this season. It leaves coach Rudi Garcia with an important decision to make with just five league matches left to playโhe must assess whetherย Ibarbo is worth his price tag.
Ibarbo is not yet at his peak; he turns 25 years old on 19 May, and thus has plenty of time to mature as a player. He is also a relatively versatile player, able to play almost anywhere across the forward line, though while at Roma he has been used as one of Garcia's inverted wingers in a 4-3-3 formation.
He fits the system and, stylistically, is a ramrod. At 6'2", he is tall and powerful, and in this sense he's not the typical, lithe winger that can be found elsewhere in the Roma squad. He stands out from the likes of Adem Ljajic, Gervinho and Juan Iturbe because of his physical characteristics, but his statistics aren't comparably favourable.
Since joining Roma, Ibarbo has made just six appearances. In part, this small number is down to injury. He was already injured when he arrived at the club and picked up aย calf injury on his debut against Fiorentina on 3 February.
However, looking into his six Roma appearances, as well as those he made for Cagliari earlier in the season, provides a revealing array of statistics that do not back up hisย โฌ12.5 million valuation.
He is yet to score or provide a goal since joining Roma, and even over the course of the league season as a whole, his scoring record pales in comparison to Ljajic, who has eight to his name. Ibarbo's passing also falls short of Gervinho's levels. The Ivorian has four assists compared to Ibarbo's two, while his pass success percentage is also higher.
Most alarmingly, per WhoScored.com, Ibarbo's 3.1 average dispossessions and 2.8 bad touches per game are significantly worse than any of his aforementioned trio of team-mates. Some would describe his style as languid. Others would call it clumsy. Put simply, he is not as technically proficient as his peers.
Garcia has two wide positions to fill going forward. Gervinho has been Roma's star man in this area in the last few years, while Ljajic and Iturbe have shown enough quality to suggest, in the long-term, they are a better fit than Ibarbo for Roma's 4-3-3. Additionally, homegrown attacker Daniele Verde has shown great promise in his few appearances this year, a feeling echoed by the Guardian's Paolo Bandini.
With so much competition, Ibarbo will struggle to cement a regular place in Roma's starting lineup. The Giallorossi have paidย โฌ2.5 million already to bring him in on loan and that is a sunk cost, but to spend anotherย โฌ12.5 million to sign him permanently would be a waste of financial resources that are vital with Champions League qualification far from certain.
Roma have underperformed this season and will need to invest wisely in this summer's transfer window to revitalise their ailing fortunes. Ibarbo has yet to convince he is worth being the subject of such investment.
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