Hull City Near Deal for Roma Starlet Robinio Vaz
Hull City are pushing hard to make a statement in their first season back in the Premier League – and they’ve picked out one of Serie A’s brightest young forwards to do it.
The newly-promoted club are, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic, close to agreeing a deal with Roma for 19-year-old attacker Robinio Vaz. The proposal on the table: a season-long loan worth €2m, with an option to buy for a further €30m.
For a player who only arrived in Rome a few months ago, it’s a rapid turn of events.
A quick profit on a winter gamble
Roma paid €25m to prise Vaz from Marseille in the winter window earlier this year. If Hull trigger the option at the end of the loan, the Italian side would bank an immediate profit on a teenager who has barely had time to unpack.
Vaz earned that move on the back of an electric start to the 2025-26 campaign in Ligue 1. He struck four goals and laid on two assists in 14 appearances for Marseille, showing the kind of direct, penalty-box threat that draws big clubs into bidding wars.
Roma stepped in mid-season. Minutes, though, were harder to find.
The forward made 12 Serie A appearances in the second half of the campaign, all from the bench, and added just one more goal to his tally. Flashes of quality, not yet a run of games.
Roma’s FFP tightrope
The potential deal with Hull comes against a wider backdrop in Rome. All summer, talk around Roma has centred on financial fair play and the expectation that at least one significant sale would be needed before the Serie A window shuts.
So far, that clear-out has not materialised. Manu Kone, Wesley and Matias Soule all remain at the club as the final week of the Italian market begins.
Letting Vaz go on a loan with a sizeable option to buy offers Roma a different kind of flexibility: immediate income from the fee, plus the prospect of a bigger payday next summer if Hull decide he’s worth the full €30m.
Hull’s gamble, Vaz’s stage
For Hull, the equation is simpler. They need goals, pace and unpredictability to survive in the Premier League. Vaz brings all three, even if he is still raw.
If the deal is completed, a 19-year-old who has already sampled the pressure of Marseille and Roma will walk into one of the most unforgiving leagues in the world.
Roma see a chance to balance the books. Hull see a chance to build around a potential star. Which of them will look smarter a year from now?
