Baldini names 24-player Italy squad for June friendlies; Donnarumma and Esposito included, 19 players earning first call-ups

Donyell Malen has been named Serie A Player of the Month by the league, recognition of his immediate impact on Roma's opening fixtures of the 2026–27 season. The forward has scored six goals in the early Serie A campaign, continuing the form he showed after arriving in the capital in January. His tally has established him as one of the key attacking reference points for head coach Gian Piero Gasperini's side. The award validates Malen's strong start to the season, built on his consistent finishing and direct effect on Roma's attacking output. Six goals earned him the individual prize from the league. This form extends the trajectory he established in the latter part of the previous season, when Gasperini continued to rely on him as the focal point of the team's attacking play. Malen has repaid that confidence with goals throughout. Malen did not join the Dutch national team this week, held back by a knee complaint that prevented him from answering his call-up. The issue has allowed him to remain at Trigoria to recover during the international break. The injury does not appear to cause significant concern, and the objective is to have him ready when Roma resume fixtures against Como.

Bryan Cristante is doubtful for Roma's away fixture against Como on Sunday 11 October after sustaining a knee injury that will require close monitoring from the club's medical staff over the coming days. The midfielder had already withdrawn from his national team's call-up due to a lower back problem, but the knee issue has now become the primary concern as head coach Gian Piero Gasperini assesses whether Cristante can return to full availability or must be managed with extra caution. In the event of Cristante's absence, Roma will face a selection decision in midfield alongside Manu Koné. The main alternatives are Niccolò Pisilli and Marten de Roon. De Roon has not yet started a league match for Roma but has had the international break to train at Trigoria and build his match fitness since his arrival. Gasperini will await developments in Cristante's condition before deciding whether the midfielder can feature against Como. His presence for the match remains uncertain as the coaching staff continues to evaluate the knee problem.

Bryan Cristante is in doubt for Roma's fixture against Como on Sunday 11 October after sustaining a knee problem. The midfielder declined a call-up to the Italian national team earlier this week due to lower back pain, but it is the condition of his knee that is now the primary concern. Roma's medical staff will assess him in the coming hours to determine his availability. If Cristante is unable to play, Manu Koné is expected to partner him in midfield, with either Niccolò Pisilli or Marten de Roon providing cover. De Roon, who has not yet started a match from the opening whistle, has been working at Trigoria throughout the international break.

Bryan Cristante is doubtful for Roma's away fixture against Como on Sunday 11 October after sustaining a knee injury that will require close monitoring from the club's medical staff over the coming days. The midfielder had already withdrawn from his national team's call-up due to a lower back problem, but the knee issue has now become the primary concern as head coach Gian Piero Gasperini assesses whether Cristante can return to full availability or must be managed with extra caution. In the event of Cristante's absence, Roma will face a selection decision in midfield alongside Manu Koné. The main alternatives are Niccolò Pisilli and Marten de Roon. De Roon has not yet started a league match for Roma but has had the international break to train at Trigoria and build his match fitness since his arrival. Gasperini will await developments in Cristante's condition before deciding whether the midfielder can feature against Como. His presence for the match remains uncertain as the coaching staff continues to evaluate the knee problem.

Bryan Cristante is in doubt for Roma's fixture against Como on Sunday 11 October after sustaining a knee problem. The midfielder declined a call-up to the Italian national team earlier this week due to lower back pain, but it is the condition of his knee that is now the primary concern. Roma's medical staff will assess him in the coming hours to determine his availability. If Cristante is unable to play, Manu Koné is expected to partner him in midfield, with either Niccolò Pisilli or Marten de Roon providing cover. De Roon, who has not yet started a match from the opening whistle, has been working at Trigoria throughout the international break.

Roma enter a critical period from 11 October that will reveal whether their depth can match their starting XI. Between the away trip to Como and the home fixture against Sassuolo on 7 November, the Giallorossi will play nine matches in 28 days—six in Serie A and three in the UEFA Champions League—at an average of one game every three days. Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini has built his team around a recognisable core of first-choice players, but that group will no longer be enough. The test will determine whether those who have played less can step up without a noticeable drop in performance. Through the first five matchdays, the numbers reveal Gasperini's structural priorities. Goalkeeper Mile Svilar has not missed a minute in the league; Bryan Cristante has played 424 minutes, Mario Hermoso 419, Paulo Dybala 407 and Gianluca Mancini 392. Eight players have exceeded 300 minutes, forming the nucleus around which the team has built its current lead. Donyell Malen has scored six goals in five league matches and become the technical reference point of the attack, while Dybala has contributed four assists. Cristante, Hermoso and Mancini have provided near-absolute continuity and reliability. The midfield partnership of Cristante and Manu Koné has been the reference pairing, with different but complementary characteristics, while Marten de Roon and Niccolò Pisilli have seen far less action. De Roon knows Gasperini's football intimately and can guarantee balance and reading of play, but has been used mainly in brief spells; Pisilli brings dynamism and runs forward but must prove he can perform when the opponent's quality rises. Matches against Real Madrid, Napoli and Manchester United will inevitably create minutes for both. The defence faces similar pressures. Mancini and Hermoso have been almost untouchable, but the competition behind them is abundant: Leonardo Balerdi, Daniele Ghilardi and Konstantinos Koulierakis must transform from alternatives into genuinely interchangeable options. Ghilardi has already accumulated 142 league minutes, while Koulierakis has been used far less despite the summer investment. In Gasperini's system, where defenders are asked to accept constant individual duels and play far from their goal, changing a centre-back is never a neutral substitution—the player entering must have fully absorbed the line's timing, aggression and mechanics. On the flanks, rotations will be equally unavoidable. Wesley has been heavily used, young Emanuele Lulli has been a major surprise, and Nahuel Molina has collected 216 Serie A minutes with two starts. Devyne Rensch has found the least space but has always proved reliable. In attack, Matías Soulé has already broken down the distinction between starter and reserve with 279 minutes, three starts, two goals and an assist. Rodrigo Mora has 171 league minutes and a goal across two starts but has seen his space diminish. Santiago Castro has played little and never started in the league, while Lorenzo Pellegrini arrives after a long absence from official matches and must regain rhythm and standing. The fixture list permits no simple calculations. Como, Real Madrid, Genoa, Slovan Bratislava, Napoli, Cagliari, Udinese, Manchester United and Sassuolo in less than a month means there are no real matches in which to field eleven reserves and rest everyone else. Gasperini must continually shuffle the cards, retaining six or seven men from the core structure each time and progressively introducing others. Roma has shown a competitive first eleven so far; in the next four weeks it must prove it has something more—sixteen or eighteen players capable of sustaining the same level. If the goal is to stay in the highest reaches of Serie A while being competitive in the Champions League, the quality of alternatives becomes almost as important as that of the starters.

Gasperini's tactical gamble paid off as Roma came from behind to beat Atalanta, with five substitutions made by the 21st minute of the second half transforming a match the club was losing 1–0 after Ederson's goal. With Ndicka and Mancini struggling against Atalanta's counter-attacks, Gasperini brought on Molina, Soulé, Castro, Ghilardi and Balerdi in rapid succession. The changes proved decisive: Ghilardi and Balerdi immediately steadied the defence and neutralised Atalanta's transitions, while Castro came close with efforts that hit the post and crossbar. Soulé delivered the most telling contribution, providing an assist and scoring a goal in the 93rd minute—an impact matching what he produced in Roma's match at Lecce. Gasperini had stated before the match: "Titolari and riserve ormai non contano più, si gioca in sedici"—effectively that first-team status and substitutes no longer matter, the game is played by sixteen—and the field immediately vindicated him. The depth demonstrated reflects substantial improvement from the previous season. In a match such as Parma last May, the bench contained only Venturino and Vaz; Gasperini now has access to a squad rich with genuine alternatives capable of reshaping a match. The quality of those replacements gives him the tactical weapons to win even when games turn against Roma mid-contest.

Neil El Aynaoui is poised to leave Roma after just one season, with Crystal Palace having tabled an opening offer structured as a loan with a right of purchase that would convert to an obligation under certain conditions. Roma value the midfielder at €30–35 million and are seeking either a permanent sale or a guaranteed obligation to buy, neither of which Crystal Palace's initial proposal meets. Bayer Leverkusen has also shown interest, while Saudi Arabian clubs registered prior enquiries. El Aynaoui's potential departure would mark the near-complete dismantling of the squad built last summer by director of football Frédéric Massara under the supervision of head coach Gian Piero Gasperini. Bought from Lens a year ago for €23 million plus €2 million in bonuses, El Aynaoui was among Massara's primary investments in summer 2025 and arrived following protracted negotiations for Richard Rios, whom Gasperini had identified as a target midfielder. Yet twelve months on, he has failed to establish himself as a central figure in Roma's project. Of the eight main signings Massara made that summer—El Aynaoui, Wesley, Ghilardi, Evan Ferguson, Bailey, Jan Ziółkowski, Vasquez and Zelezny, plus further arrivals during the season including Robinio Vaz and Donyell Malen in January—almost none remain integrated into the first-team plan. Bailey departed in January; Ferguson and Kostas Tsimikas have returned to their parent clubs; Zaragoza, Venturino and Zelezny have left; Ziółkowski is bound for Monza; and Robinio Vaz is joining Hull City on a paid loan with a purchase option. Only Wesley and Malen have endured as meaningful squad members—notably, both were explicitly endorsed by Gasperini himself. The wholesale reversal reflects a fundamental disconnect between Massara's construction and Gasperini's tactical requirements. The head coach arrived with precise ideas about player profiles: intensity, one-on-one strength, athletic capability, aggression, willingness to defend in open play, and specific positional characteristics. Much of Massara's market activity, the article suggests, proceeded on different criteria. El Aynaoui, aged 25 with international appeal and genuine quality—hardly a failed signing on financial grounds—has attracted bids from Champions League and Bundesliga clubs yet appears expendable to Roma's current thinking. A sale at €30–35 million would recoup the initial investment while generating profit useful for UEFA financial compliance, and would free capital to invest in a midfielder Roma believes better suited to Gasperini's system alongside an attacking winger the head coach has requested for weeks. Roma has already absorbed a year of transfer misalignment and is now attempting correction. Should El Aynaoui depart, Wesley and Malen will stand as the last substantial survivors of Massara's legacy—both players explicitly favoured by Gasperini. The club cannot afford further directional error; Tony D'Amico must construct a roster that is recognisable, coherent and durable, avoiding a return to similar discussions in August 2027 regarding the summer 2026 window.

Roma's final weeks of the summer transfer window will see not only the completion of Gian Piero Gasperini's squad but also a profound transformation of the group built in previous sessions—a wholesale dismantling of the roster assembled under former sporting director Florent Ghisolfi and Ricky Massara. Defender Jan Ziółkowski is poised to leave. The Polish centre-back has opened talks over a move to Monza, who are ready to pay approximately €1.2 million for a paid loan. Details of the buyout clause remain to be finalised, though one proposal links the cost of the loan to Ziółkowski's appearances—the more he plays, the lower the fee for Monza. Roma will not greenlight his departure until a replacement arrives. The primary target is Morato, a Brazilian centre-back at Nottingham Forest, with negotiations centred on a loan formula, though no agreement has yet been reached between the clubs. Thilo Kehrer of Monaco has also been evaluated as an alternative, as has Nayef Aguerd, the 1996-born Moroccan defender at Marseille, in a potential loan deal. More delicate is the situation of Neil El Aynaoui. The Moroccan midfielder has failed to build the tactical understanding with Gasperini required to become a cornerstone of the project, and Roma are ready to let him go after just one season if the right offer arrives. However, proposals from Germany so far have been structured only as loans with buyout clauses, while Trigoria prefers an outright sale. El Aynaoui's departure would force Roma to return to the market. Gasperini had identified Franck Kessié as his target, but the Ivorian is now close to joining Juventus, leaving Roma to find an alternative quickly. Ziółkowski and El Aynaoui could join a lengthy list of players who arrived under Ghisolfi and Massara but have since exited the project: Bailey, Ferguson, Tsimikas, Venturino and Zaragoza are cited, while Robinio Vaz is close to Hull City, with an agreement between the clubs pending the player's approval. The transformation reflects Gasperini's tactical preferences and the new sporting direction's priorities.