Football Season Guide

In the last couple of seasons, Roma management proved to be in deep confusion, hiring and sacking coaches at light speed. The last campaign in particular was pretty troubled with Daniele De Rossi gone after 4 weeks and Ivan Juric, his replacement, shown the door 2 months later. Then, they surprisingly made an intelligent move calling Claudio Ranieri back from retirement. The first 3 games in charge were not successful but then he got the grip on the squad and they started an impressive cavalcade that brought them from the 15th place all the way up to the top 5 and a qualification to the next Europa League. Missing out on the Champions League by 1 point only. Ranieri eventually retired for good as a coach but remained as an advisor and suggested the management to hand the reins of the team to Gian Piero Gasperini, whose triumphal experience at Atalanta was definitely over. While they were pretty solid defensively, Roma were far from bright offensively, they scored 23 goals less than Inter, holding the 9th-best attack only. Their transfer campaign was a very active one with strengthening in all the areas. In goal, they managed to retain Svilar, the best goalie of the past season. At the back, with Hummels retiring and Nelsson returning to his parent club after leaving no mark, they signed 20-year-old Ghilardi, protagonist of a bright season at Hellas Verona. More could arrive, considering that Kumbulla and Hermoso, back from loans, should not be given chances. They lost starting right winger Saelemaekers but Wesley arrived from Flamengo and he should represent an improvement for them, but they are in need of an alternative too. In the midfield, they lost Paredes, returned to Argentina, and it is unclear what Pellegrini's future will be. El Aynaoui arrived from Lens and is immediately expected to become a protagonist but more is needed. Last but not least, up-front they let go of back-up striker Shomurodov and hired young Ferguson, coming from Brighton, who is about to become the new starter, with Dovbyk set for the bench or a departure.