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Forza Roma Sempre!

A fun mocking post popped up on Reddit, and I remembered my draft written in May 2025 about why our talented young players are fleeing the club.

Last month, Mizitano moved to Atalanta, and not long before that, Renato Marin was lured away by PSG's money. The problem is, Roma is doing an abysmal job of developing its own players. This is despite having arguably the best scouting system in Italy. In the 2023/24 season, Roma's Primavera (youth team, “spring” in Italian) was absolutely brimming with talent. Let's take a look at how we've managed these "diamonds" over the past year:

Niccolo Pisilli. 12 goal contributions in 25 matches. He even played for Roma under Mourinho, scoring a goal in the Europa League. He stayed in the Primavera until he was 20. De Rossi took a liking to him, called him up to the first team, where he started playing regularly and earned a senior contract. This is our only successful case. But I don’t think he’s on the level to be a part of the first team, at least not yet.

Luigi Cherubini. Our Primavera captain, youth National squad captain, and the league's best player by a margin so wide it's scary. He notched 17 goal contributions in 27 matches. He stayed in the Primavera until he was 20, almost left for Juventus, but miraculously stayed. He never got a chance with Roma's senior team and was sent on loan to Carrarese (who got promoted to Serie B) to gain experience. He's still adapting to adult football there. One of Italy's top talents of his generation might be nothing more than a rotation player for a mid-table Serie B team by age 22.

Riccardo Pagano. The second-best player in the league according to Sofascore, with 15 goal contributions in 22 matches. At least he got called up to Roma's senior squad, making 6 substitute appearances (all under Mourinho). He stuck around in the youth team until he was almost 20, didn't prove useful to De Rossi, and was loaned out to Catanzaro. He's getting his first taste of senior football there and is performing mediocrely so far. Don't expect any bidding wars for him this summer.

Renato Marin. A young goalkeeper, only 18 years old. He was tempted by a lucrative offer from PSG and decided to leave Roma as a free agent. No questions for the management from me; the player was developed well. But no one is immune to clubs backed by oil money willing to dramatically increase salaries.

A right-back, Mattia Mannini, unlike his peers, is just a kid (only 18 years old) and isn't demanding. He made one symbolic appearance for Roma and was a star at the Youth Euros. He stayed with the Primavera for another year, significantly improved his rating, and is now among the top 5 players in the youth league. He turns 19 this summer, and we absolutely need to loan him out to gain experience with adult players. Otherwise, in a year, he'll leave as a free agent to get that experience on his own.

A center-back, Jan Oliveras, stayed with Primavera until he was 20 and then left for Dinamo Zagreb on loan with an option to buy for €1.5 million. He hasn't even debuted for Dinamo yet. By age 21, he'll still lack senior-level experience.

In summary, the path through Roma's Primavera has only led to success for Pisilli. It's too early to draw conclusions about Mannini and Marin. But our biggest stars, who lingered in the youth system until the very end, simply weren't ready for the jump to the next level. Now, these players, once touted as heirs to national team leaders, are struggling in Serie B. If they don't sharply turn things around within a year or two, they could permanently miss their chance at top-tier football.

The reason for this is simple: Atalanta, Juventus, and Milan's youngsters are learning adult football in Serie C. Napoli even has an entire feeder club, Bari, in Serie B, owned by the same De Laurentiis. Their talents are battling with adult men from a young age. Roma and Inter are incredibly strong in the Primavera league; we're almost always the top two teams. But then, our youngsters struggle to break through where talented players from other teams gained crucial experience a couple of years earlier. Inter finally got the hint this summer and decided to create a Next Gen team. So, from next season, Roma's dominance in the Primavera league will only solidify. The catch is that Juventus's system will produce players like Soule, Yildiz, and Cambiasso, Atalanta's system will produce Scalvini and Bastoni, and we'll continue to lose talent because we're raising them in a greenhouse and not preparing them for the tough reality of senior Calcio.

I will try to do these transfer roundups every two or three days during the summer. This time, there's been a week-long break, simply because there's not much new going on at all.

Roma isn't currently holding active negotiations with anyone else. Today marks the expiration of Lukumi's release clause, so it seems we shouldn't expect him in Rome. Bologna doesn't want to lose both Lukumi and Beukema in the same transfer window. Rumors about O'Riley surface once a week, but there's no real activity there. As for other players, there aren't even whispers.

In four days, it will be exactly one month since Massara's appointment. I could criticize him, but I won't. He is working under difficult conditions, with limited funds and a great deal to accomplish. He's not jumping into things headfirst or overpaying for players (who Roma would 100% struggle to afford anyway), even despite pressure from Gasperini. However, it's also true that he failed to meet the goal of signing three players before preseason begins.

I have two other questions for Massara, though:

For now, no answers, and that's concerning. But I won't jump to conclusions just yet. Massara still has a chance to fix things, so I wish him only luck!