While most of Rome has drifted away from the punishing August heat for the traditional Ferragosto exodus to the sea or mountains, Luciano Spalletti's Roma are hard at work preparing for their Champions League playoff against Porto on Wednesday, a clash that will define the Giallorossi's season just as most of Italy begins its summer holidays.
Qualification to the group stage wouldn't just give Roma a crack at Europe's best and give Italian football three clubs in the continent's top competition for just the second time since losing its fourth spot in 2011, it would also be crucial for the club's accounts, which have fallen afoul of UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) regulations once before. This summer has left sporting director Walter Sabatini ducking and diving in the transfer market with a series of loan deals after the €32 million sale of star midfielder Miralem Pjanic to Juventus in June.
Rome-based sports daily Corriere Dello Sport predicted on Monday that Roma could expect to earn around €40m if they qualify for the group stage this year, which would give the club financial breathing space and could enable Spalletti to add a big name to his midfield, which has looked rusty in preseason despite encouraging wins over Liverpool (2-1) and Montreal Impact (2-0) during their tour of the United States.
Dropping down to the Europa League would leave Roma with relative crumbs and be a dreadful way to start a season in which they will once again be expected to challenge Juventus' domestic dominance. The subsequent fixture pileup would also require the team to add even more reinforcements in order to last the campaign.
Napoli have found out firsthand the impact that Europa League football can have on a domestic league season over the last couple of years, something that Roma desperately need to avoid. With Juve so far off in the distance, Serie A clubs could potentially have just one automatic Champions League qualification spot to fight for.
Wednesday's first leg against Porto away at the Estadio do Dragao is further complicated by ridiculous scheduling for Roma's opening league match with Udinese, which takes place in Rome at 6 p.m. CET on Saturday, when the cloying evening humidity will be enough to make even the thought of moving enough to bring on the sweats.
The early kick off might well give Roma a bit more time to recover for the return leg with Porto on Tuesday, but given they're at home for that match it would have surely made more sense to allow them to take on Udinese at a later hour when the heat usually begins to dissipate. Regardless, Spalletti will have to rotate his squad for the coming three games.
Good news for the manager comes in the shape of swashbuckling Torino right-back Bruno Peres, who is set to complete a loan move to the club by Tuesday, meaning that the coach has an almost brand new defence at his disposal.
Peres will be the fifth defender signed by Roma this transfer window, alongside auxiliary left-back Juan Jesus and central defender Thomas Vermaelen -- who will start with Kostas Manolas thanks to knee injuries to Antonio Rudiger and Mario Rui -- as well Federico Fazio and Rui, the latter of whom suffered his injury just weeks after joining from Empoli in June.
Peres most likely won't be ready for Wednesday's match (although he will be registered with UEFA in time to play the return leg next Tuesday), meaning that Alessandro Florenzi will start the campaign in the makeshift full-back position he occupied for most of last season.
Midfield and attack will be much more familiar to anyone who watched Roma collect more Serie A points than any other team else bar champions Juventus in the second half of last season, with Daniele De Rossi and Radja Nainggolan playing alongside Kevin Strootman. Strootman is starting what he hopes will be his first injury free campaign since joining Roma in 2013, and fans are pinning their own hopes on him filling the gap left by Pjanic.
Meanwhile, Edin Dzeko has shot his way back into favour with nine goals during the close season and should start alongside Mohamed Salah, who will drift around the striker and link up with false No. 9 Diego Perotti in a fluid front three. A continuation of that form from Dzeko is just what Roma need, as they find themselves starting a season that's already hanging in the balance.