Roma and drama are never far apart from one another – and that has been extremely evident in recent years.
Roma fans knew that life after Francesco Totti would be tough, but few could have predicted just how turbulent their timeline since 2017 has been.
Here is a summary of at least one chaotic event in each year of Roma’s modern era.
2018 – Monchi’s ruinous transfer window, including Malcom debacle
The appointment of Monchi as sporting director in 2017 was seen as a coup at the time, but just a year later he would oversee the most disastrous, controversial transfer window in the club’s history. Roma have never qualified for the Champions League since.
Looking back, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry. More money was spent on new signings than ever before or since. But Alisson was replaced by Robin Olsen, starting midfielders Radja Nainggolan and Kevin Strootman were both sold, and Steven Nzonzi joined just days after Monchi promised Daniele De Rossi he wouldn’t sign a competitor for his role. Nzonzi ended up as one of Roma’s costliest flops, along with Javier Pastore, who was signed to fulfil a role he wasn’t even suited for and handed a ludicrously long contract for his age.
There were even some cheaper flops too. William Bianda arrived for €6m, but never played for the first team. Ante Coric cost the same fee and played just three times. It was a horror show from which Roma have never really recovered.
Ranking every signing Monchi made at Roma
And to top it all off, there was even a calamitous collapsed transfer, when Bordeaux announced they had agreed to sell Malcom to Roma, pressuring the Giallorossi into releasing a statement of their own and allowing the winger to prepare for a flight that never arrived after a marginally superior last-minute bid by Barcelona was controversially accepted by the French club instead, thus diverting his course and leaving Roma with a bit of egg on their face.
Honourable mentions: Moreno exit and Liverpool clash
Monchi’s reputation for inspired work in the transfer market not quite being all it seemed was already clear from that January, when one of his first signings, Hector Moreno, exited after half a season.
Moreno had effectively been bought to replace future Champions League winner Antonio Rudiger, and yet later confessed that he – and this is his own genuine quote – “didn’t know how to defend”.
On a brighter note, Roma reached the Champions League semi-finals that season, but once they got there, chaos ensued. A naive tactical display by Eusebio Di Francesco saw them go five goals down to Liverpool in the first leg, before a bit of a comeback. And in the second leg, they ended up being one goal short of an aggregate equaliser – but the referees memorably failed to award two crucial penalties in Roma’s favour that could have turned the tables.
2019 – Monchi exit and threats
Predictably, the 2018-19 season saw a massive nosedive in Roma’s results, leading to pressure on practically every decision maker. Di Francesco was sacked as head coach, which opened up a bigger rift between owner James Pallotta and Monchi.
Monchi himself left by mutual consent a day after Di Francesco, meaning Roma had ripped apart their two main figureheads of technical decisions. While Di Francesco could argue he had been set up for failure, neither could have too many complaints.
But Monchi went down swinging, reportedly threatening to fight Roma fans in the airport after their Champions League elimination to Porto and being quoted as saying: “In six months, I’ll take on each of you one on one”.
Honourable mentions: Coppa Italia calamity, De Rossi and Totti exits
By the end of the season – which had also included an unbelievable 7-1 defeat to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia while Di Francesco was still at the helm – the Roma world came crashing down when club captain De Rossi was effectively forced out, disgracefully informed just days before his final match for the club that it was going to be his final match and he wouldn’t be getting a new contract.
At a fiery press conference, De Rossi criticised the club’s decision makers, and with a view to his own future off the pitch, insisted that if he were a director, he would have given a player like him an extra year.
Shortly after, fellow former captain Totti resigned from his role on the club’s board, dropping even more bombshells about the way he had been forbidden from having any input in technical decisions despite the job he had been given post-retirement.
2020 – Pallotta and Petrachi clash
2020 was the year the ownership of Roma changed hands, from Pallotta to the Friedkin Group. But before Pallotta’s sale of the club, there were a couple of last bits of drama.
Most notable was his fallout with new sporting director Gianluca Petrachi, who lasted a week less than a year in the role. Things reached boiling point in a telephone row between the pair – who only met in person twice and struggled with the language barrier – which culminated in Petrachi’s sacking.
Petrachi then took Roma to court for €5m in compensation, which he later had to repay them in 2023 after an appeal.
Honourable mention: Florenzi’s exit, Diawara error
One of the big decisions made in one of the two transfer windows Petrachi did oversee was the removal of a third successive Roman captain from the squad, when Alessandro Florenzi was loaned out to Valencia in January 2020.
Although out of favour under Paulo Fonseca, it was an almost unprecedented decision to loan out a captain. Since that point, the relationship with the former fans’ favourite deteriorated immensely and he never made another appearance for his hometown club.
At the start of the following season, Roma made an embarrassing administrative error that saw them include Amadou Diawara, 23, on the under-22 section of their squad list. His appearance on the opening day, which was a drab draw with Verona, led to the club being punished with a 3-0 walkover defeat.
A history of all the walkover results Roma have ever been involved in
2021 – Bodo/Glimt thrashing
Roma’s shockwaves in 2021 were primarily of a positive reaction, when they announced Jose Mourinho as their new manager. He would lead them to the Europa Conference League trophy by the end of his debut season, but not without an infamous defeat along the way in the group stage.
A journey to northern Norway to face Bodo/Glimt was expected to be challenging for the conditions, but not the actual game. Yet Roma succumbed to a harrowing 6-1 defeat, leading to the banishment of several players.
It had followed a summer in which Roma had instantly cast aside various players still under contract from the group Mourinho would be working with, including Pedro – who completed a rare move from Roma to Lazio – and Davide Santon, who sat out the entire season and then retired. Further players would be put to one side, even if temporarily, after their roles in the Bodo/Glimt disaster.
And to add insult to injury, when Roma signed Bodo/Glimt’s best player from the tie, Ola Solbakken, he went on to become a flop for them, serving mainly as a regular reminder of that disastrous meeting.
Honourable mention: Six subs, Fonseca and Dzeko clash, Tor Di Valle project scrapped
There was enough drama in the first month of 2021 alone for a whole chapter. Infamously, Roma suffered the ignominy of being dumped out of the Coppa Italia after Fonseca made one more substitute than allowed – iconically to the bewilderment of Lorenzo Pellegrini – in what was a 4-2 loss to Spezia anyway, which was later overruled into a 3-0 walkover defeat. This could quite easily have been chosen above as the most chaotic event of its year and is probably the best of all these honourable mentions. Being taken to extra time by Spezia and losing to them was embarrassing enough, but to appear oblivious to the rules and regulations made it even more so.
The same month was also overshadowed by a fall-out between Fonseca and Edin Dzeko that led to the striker being stripped of the captaincy.
And off the pitch, Roma announced the scrapping of their Tor Di Valle new stadium project after years of setbacks, although plans would later surface for a venue in a new location.
2022 – The Karsdorp case with FIFPRO
2022 was generally a good year for Roma, including their first trophy in 14 years, followed by the spectacular welcoming of Paulo Dybala.
But the new season wasn’t without its hiccups, and a catastrophic 4-0 loss to Udinese stood out.
After a draw with Sassuolo in November, Mourinho also took issue with Rick Karsdorp, indirectly referring to him as a “traitor” for his attitude on the pitch and withdrawing him from the squad, which prompted FIFPRO to intervene by accusing Roma of inspiring “mobbing”.
Karsdorp eventually earned his place back, but was cast aside yet again in 2024 before his contract was terminated.
2023 – Europa League final fury
Roma reached a second successive European final in 2023, but heartbreak was the outcome. The Europa League final against Sevilla was a feisty, out of control affair, and Anthony Taylor’s failure to spot a handball that would have given Roma a late penalty has made him a subject of derision ever since. Indeed, some overly provoked fans took things a bit too far at the airport.
Had Roma been awarded that penalty and scored it, they would have likely won the competition and crucially entered the Champions League again, but the subsequent loss on penalties meant there was a continued delay for that long-term aim, which had ramifications on the club’s subsequent activity and led to an unstable third season.
Honourable mention: Zaniolo’s exit
One significant difference between the two back-to-back finals Roma participated in was the involvement of Nicolo Zaniolo, who scored the winner in the Conference League final but left halfway through the Europa League campaign.
Zaniolo’s refusal to accept a move to Bournemouth in January 2023 opened up a serious rift which could not be repaired, and a month later Roma had to sell him for a lower fee to Galatasaray.
2024 – De Rossi’s sacking
Jose Mourinho’s sacking by Roma in January 2024 was almost as shockwave-worthy as his appointment, although in this case more people could have seen it coming. The decision to bring back De Rossi as a caretaker coach split the fanbase, with some worried he was being thrown unfairly into a position that he might not come out as strongly from as he had in his playing career.
Despite an inspirational start, those fears eventually proved to be justified. De Rossi, perhaps prematurely, was given faith as Roma’s permanent manager, but was stunningly sacked just four games into that three-year contract in September 2024.
The handling of the saga prompted fans to turn on the Friedkins, as well as CEO Lina Souloukou, who resigned a few days after following unnecessary threats. And as the Friedkins agreed to buy Everton less than a week after the turmoil incited in Rome, the spotlight was on them more than ever.
Just like as a player, De Rossi had left Roma earlier than he envisaged, although this time even more emphatically. It could be argued that the hierarchy had decided to appoint him too early, and to sack him too early – and it wasn’t a good look by the end of it.
For the umpteenth time in modern Roma history, it was time for another new project.
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