Roma sports chief Tiago Pinto says he wrapped up Romelu Lukaku's signing in five days.
The Chelsea striker signed for Roma last week on-loan after seeing a favoured move to Juventus fall through.
Pinto recalled: "I have many defects but I'm not a liar. We couldn't take Lukaku in July, in June. I have a good relationship with the people who follow him.
"So I knew more or less the situation. That's my job too, there are situations that are impossible on July 1st, you have to monitor, don't talk to anyone so as not to create expectations. If there are the right moments, take advantage of the opportunity. The coach's intervention was important, obviously there is a relationship here and it's even better.
"I would never want to forget that you saw the personal involvement of the owners, this made my job a lot easier. They entered into the negotiation and unblocked things. For other topics I don't feel like saying when was the moment I realised it was possible. But all these players like Lukaku and (Paulo) Dybala, or others that I had in mind, monitored the situation and waited for the right moment. With Lukaku it took me 5 days, with Dybala too. If you talk too much you miss the opportunity."