Desailly hails Koné as a fantastic player

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.

Donyell Malen has begun to make an impact at Roma with goals, performances and consistency that have placed him at the centre of the club's thinking. The Dutch forward has acknowledged he feels he still has significant room for improvement, and his ambitions are growing accordingly. Before considering comparisons to Gonzalo Higuain and Ciro Immobile, Malen's immediate target is to become Roma's top scorer in a single Serie A season. That record belongs to Edin Dzeko, who scored 29 goals in 2016–17. Behind him are Volk with 28, Guaita with 27, and Francesco Totti with 26 in the season he won the Golden Boot. Balbo, Da Costa, Montella and Gabriel Batistuta follow on a list of heavyweight names that Malen wants to enter from the front door. The bigger dream lies further ahead: the Serie A record of 36 goals, set by Higuain in 2015–16 and matched by Immobile in 2019–20. Malen's current numbers suggest he can afford to look in that direction. The road is still very long and circumstances can change quickly, but if the Dutch forward maintains his current pace, he could genuinely begin thinking in those terms. Roma's single-season record comes first; then the championship's all-time mark.

Gianluca Mancini has been recalled to the Italy squad for Friday 2 October's match against France, kickoff 20:45, after missing the recent trip to Turkey. Coach Roberto Mancini has named him in his selections while dropping Roma defender Daniele Ghilardi, who will miss one of Italy's final three matches in this international window. The Italy manager continues to rotate his squad on a match-by-match basis, with nine players omitted for the France fixture. He applied the same approach in recent games against Belgium and Turkey. Following victory over Turkey, Italy will look to secure another win against France in what the article describes as a delicate fixture. Mancini's return to the squad gives Roma another player available for selection after his Turkey absence.