Official: Erik Lamela completes 12 million euro move to Roma

Posted Sunday, August 07, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

Roma has announced the signing of attacking midfielder Erik Lamela from relegated Argentine Primera Division side River Plate, for a fee of 12 million euros.

The 19-year-old's move to the Olimpico has been in the pipeline throughout the summer, but now the transfer has been rubber-stamped, and the attacker has penned a potentially lucrative five-year deal with Luis Enrique's men.

A statement on the club's official website reads: "For the acquisition of Erik Lamela, an agreement has been reached for a fee equal to 12 million euros, payable in three instalments; firstly, three million at the time of issuing the certificate of the international transfer [immediately], then another three million, payable on October 15, 2011 and six million, payable on July 15, 2012."

"The footballer has signed a five-year contract, with effect from the date of issue and expiry on June 30, 2016, where he will earn 1.8 million euros for the season 2011-2012, raising to 2.15 million, for the seasons 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, 2.5 million for the 2014-2015 season, and 2.86 million euros for the season 2015/2016, in addition to additional achievement bonuses."

The young Argentine will now proceed to join his new team in preseason preparations, and follows Gabriel Heinze, Bojan Krkic, Jose Angel and Maarten Stekelenburg amongst the new faces in Rome this season.