As a player looking for playing time at a club, Joseph DaGrosa hopes to bounce back this year. The boss of General American Capital Partners (GACP) left the Girondins de Bordeaux last December. Its shares of the club, up to 14%, had been bought by King Street, now 100% owner. Since then, DaGrosa has smelled good deals. And could find its sesame in Italy, on the side of AS Rome.
The Republicca reports that James Pallotta, owner of the Roman club, talks with the American entrepreneur. But DaGrosa was not the first at Pallotta's door. The billionaire Dan Friedkin was very close to seal an agreement for the acquisition of AS Rome, to the tune of 700M €. This was without counting on the economic crisis, following the coronavirus pandemic. Friedkin's offer would have dropped to € 490 million, including € 270 million to pay off the club's debts. DaGrosa would be able to put more money on the table.
AS Rome's remount against Barça in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Champions League
A low-cost “City Football Group”?
At the beginning of May, Joe DaGrosa highlighted the opportunities that were going to be created following the crisis. "We think that clubs will have a hard time surviving in many cases and that there will be opportunities to acquire clubs that are really solid in terms of performance on the field, but which are in financial difficulty," he explained in the columns of Forbes . At the microphone of NBC in April, he clarified his ambition: " Recreate the City Football Group at a lower cost ." What is the City Football Group? It is this sovereign fund of the United Arab Emirates which holds Manchester City, New York City FC or even Melbourne FC City, and which would have even approached AS Nancy Lorraine according to L'Équipe .
It remains to be seen how this project could be orchestrated from AS Rome. According to La Republicca , Palotta could remain involved in the project in order to lead it alongside DaGrosa. Ranked 5th in Serie A, Roma are 3 points behind and one more match against Atalanta, 4th and first team to qualify for the next Champions League. His sporting performances could influence the future of promising young people, such as Lorenzo Pellegrini (23) and Nicolo Zaniolo (20). The resumption of football in Italy has been set for June 20.
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