Scouted: Roma’s Cengiz Under

TALENTSPOTTER

COMPARED TO: His predecessor at Roma, Mo Salah – he has also been labelled ‘the Turkish Dybala’. Will he be the next skilful left-footer to tear up Serie A? LINKED WITH: Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City were all interested last summer. Under’s agent said City wanted to sign him and send him on loan to Freiburg, so he picked Roma instead. He is the latest project of Roma’s former Sevilla director Monchi, who played a crucial role in the careers of Dani Alves, Sergio Ramos and Ivan Rakitic. THE STORY SO FAR: Started out in Turkey’s second tier with Altinordu before a move to top-flight Istanbul Basaksehir, becoming a sensation as they almost won the domestic title. Roma recruited him for €13.4m and, after early language problems, Under scored six goals in six games from early February – becoming the youngest Turkish player to score in the Champions League when he netted against Shakhtar Donetsk. THEY SAID: “He’ll become a pillar of the new national team” – Turkey head coach Mircea Lucescu. SOCIAL MEDIA: A selfie with the Roma icon Francesco Totti (above). HE SAID: “Totti welcoming me to Roma was difficult to describe. He is a legend. I had no idea what he was saying, but it didn’t matter.”