Massara: ‘Roma discussing Tsimikas with Liverpool, Malen speaks Dybala’s language’

Roma director Frederic Massara confirms they are discussing the return of Kostas Tsimikas to Liverpool, while Donyell Malen ‘speaks the same football language’ as Paulo Dybala.

The showdown with Milan kicks off at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.

Donyell Malen made an immediate impact on his Serie A debut, scoring in the 2-0 victory over Torino, but was cup-tied for Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League win against VfB Stuttgart.

He returns to the starting XI here, with support from Paulo Dybala and Matias Soulé, but Mario Hermoso has been ruled out for a month.

“Malen is a talented player, he speaks the same football language as Dybala, so they immediately found themselves in sync,” Massara told DAZN Italia.

“We expected a strong impact, and we certainly got it.”

Roma have been very active in the January transfer window, sending Leon Bailey back to Aston Villa and Tommaso Baldanzi to Genoa, while Malen and Robinio Vaz arrived.

There are also reports Kostas Tsimikas could be recalled by Liverpool from his disappointing loan spell, while Al-Shabab’s Yannick Carrasco and Nicolo Fortini at Fiorentina have been linked as potential replacements.

“They are all situations that are evolving, we are in a dialogue with Liverpool and we’ll see how that evolves over the next few days,” confirmed Massara.

“Carrasco is a talented player, but in January it is never easy to do deals. We have a week left to see if there are any solutions that can truly strengthen the squad, which is already competitive.”

Gian Piero Gasperini had been rather irritable in recent weeks due to the transfer strategy, but seemed overjoyed after Malen’s goal on his debut against Torino.

“We were all happy in Turin, both for the new players giving a good impact, but also it was in general a good performance.

“Our only objective is to put the coach and players in the best condition. We were all happy, and now we are focused on tonight’s game, which we cannot wait to play.”