Official: Roma renews contract with 30-year-old midfielder Paredes until 2026

Roma issued a statement on Tuesday, announcing that it has renewed its contract with Leandro Paredes for one year. Paredes' contract with Roma was originally scheduled to last until 2025, and has now been extended to June 30, 2026.

Paredes, 30 years old, mainly plays as a defensive midfielder and made his professional debut for his parent club Boca Juniors in November 2010. He then played for Chievo, Roma, Empoli, Zenit St. Petersburg, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and other teams, winning 1 Argentine Primera Division title, 1 Argentina Cup title, 1 Russian Premier League title, 3 Ligue 1 titles, 2 French Cup titles, 3 French Super Cup titles and 1 French League Cup title.

As for the national team, Paredes has played 70 games for Argentina since June 2017, scoring 5 goals and providing 7 assists, and won the 2022 World Cup and the 2021 and 2024 America's Cup with the team.

As Paredes' second stop in Europe, Roma bought him out from Boca Juniors for 6 million euros in 2014. From then until 2017, Paredes made 54 appearances in Roma, contributing 4 goals and 2 assists.

In August 2023, Paredes returned to Roma from Paris Saint-Germain for 4 million euros. So far, he has played 75 times for Roma, scoring 6 goals and 9 assists.

Various signs indicate that Paredes was close to returning to Boca Juniors this winter. He decided to postpone his return home after Claudio Ranieri took office and was reused, but the idea of returning to Boca has never been dispelled. According to Gaston Eidur, a reporter from Argentina's Tyc Sports, when Paredes renewed his contract with Roma, he set up a termination clause for Boca Juniors in the contract: starting from 2025, Boca Juniors can pay 3.5 million euros to bring him back at any time.

Meanwhile, Roma is working on contract negotiations for other players. According to Italian media, 32-year-old Stephan El Shaarawy is expected to automatically renew his contract until 2026 soon, despite his poor performance in appearances and goals this season. Paulo Dybala's contract has been automatically extended to 2026, but his annual after-tax income of 8 million euros has forced the club to consider further renewal.

The contract renewal negotiations for Belgian goalkeeper Miller Svilar have slowed down significantly recently, but Roma still hopes to finalize the agreement as soon as possible. In contrast, Mats Hummels' future is the most uncertain. Given Ranieri's recent doubts about his status, Hummels may decide whether to return to Germany at the end of the season.