Roma made nine signings in the summer 2025 transfer window as they entered a new era with Gian Piero Gasperini as head coach and Ricky Massara as sporting director.
Countless other players were linked with the club – some of whom there were genuine attempts to sign, others who were nothing more than rumoured additions.
It can be hard to cut through the constant wave of information in the transfer market, but which reporters brought a bit of clarity?
Here’s a recap of Roma’s signings and from which reporters and news outlets it first emerged that the club were interested.
Neil El Aynaoui: Matteo Moretto
Roma’s first signing of the summer was Neil El Aynaoui, not a name familiar to the majority of fans when he was first linked with the club on 7th July.
Matteo Moretto revealed that morning that Roma had already presented a first official offer for the Lens midfielder, but that there was distance between the bid and his club’s valuation.
Four days later, Santi Aouna claimed there was an agreement between Roma and El Aynaoui for a five-year contract.
A new offer to Lens was launched, with Gianluca Di Marzio updating late on 17th July that Roma had reached a verbal agreement with the French club and were set to exchange documents the following day.
El Aynaoui arrived in Rome late on 19th July, before completing his medical the following morning and being announced as a new Roma player later that day.
Evan Ferguson: Relevo
When Roma were first mentioned as a possible destination for Evan Ferguson on 4th July, the source being commonly cited was Relevo – for whom Moretto is a contributor.
At the time, the news was that Roma and Atalanta had been offered the striker after his loan spell at West Ham from Brighton, which will have given them something to think about.
Roma ultimately decided to press ahead with the move, with Di Marzio reporting three days later that the club were weighing up the idea of taking Ferguson on loan from the Premier League club. Moretto added more contact was due with Brighton.
Ferguson subsequently gave his own approval to the move and Roma reached an agreement with Brighton on 19th July.
Ferguson landed in Rome on the evening of 20th July. After his medical on the 21st, Roma announced his arrival on the 23rd.
Daniele Ghilardi: Gianluca Di Marzio
Roma had to play catch up with Real Betis in the race for Daniele Ghilardi after his progression in Serie A with Hellas Verona.
The Spanish side had already been in contact with Verona days before Di Marzio revealed Roma had made him their own top target for the defence on 17th July.
In fact, at the time of the revelation, Di Marzio added that Roma had just made an offer that was better than Betis’.
Ghilardi missed Verona’s next friendly as the negotiations continued. Ultimately, Roma reached a full agreement on 31st July.
After he arrived by train to Termini station on 1st August, Roma announced the signing of Ghilardi on the 2nd.
Wesley: Di Marzio
After claiming Gasperini’s Atalanta had a deal done for Wesley last summer, Di Marzio revealed a relaunch of the coach’s interest in the wing-back on 17th June.
Wesley was on duty at the Club World Cup with Flamengo at the time as Di Marzio claimed Roma could make a serious attempt to sign him.
The pursuit was one of Roma’s longest of the summer. Contact was made at the start of July, there were rumours of a synergetic deal utilising the shared ownership with fellow interested party Everton, and competition was put up by Zenit.
But Wesley preferred Roma, who made a first official offer by 14th July and then waited for Flamengo’s response.
The Brazilian club wanted to wrap up the signing of Emerson Royal as his replacement first, but Wesley eventually got the green light to travel to Roma after the agreement of a €25-30m fee.
After landing at Fiumicino early on 27th July, Wesley’s signing was officially confirmed on the 28th.
Devis Vásquez: Di Marzio
The fastest moving transfer pursuit from revelation of interest to signing this summer for Roma was for one of their lowest-profile recruits, new reserve keeper Devis Vásquez.
After a loan spell with Empoli, the Colombian’s contract with AC Milan was rescinded on 25th July.
Two days later, Di Marzio revealed Roma had asked for information about his availability.
The following morning, Il Romanista revealed he had already taken his medical ahead of his signing, which was announced on 29th July.
The Vásquez signing was announced on 29th July.
Radosław Żelezny: Di Marzio
Di Marzio posted on 8th June that Roma had taken Żelezny on a free transfer after his release from Juventus at Primavera level.
The goalkeeper’s arrival was made official by Roma on 23rd July, but by that point he had already been summoned for pre-season training.
Leon Bailey: David Ornstein
A surprise addition for Roma on the wing, considering him being another left-footed player, Bailey was brought in on a loan deal from Aston Villa shortly after the friendly between the two clubs in the summer.
David Ornstein, collaborating with Villa specialist Jacob Tanswell for The Athletic, first revealed Roma were in talks with the Premier League side about Bailey on 13th August, before any formal offer had been lodged.
An agreement was attained five days later for Roma to pay a loan fee for Bailey and to fix an option to buy him.
A fired-up Bailey landed in Rome on 19th August to complete his move and the transfer was announced the following day, on which he also suffered an injury in his first training session.
Jan Ziółkowski: Fabrizio Romano
Few would have known who Fabrizio Romano was talking about when he revealed on 4th August that Roma and Udinese had sent proposals for Jan Ziółkowski, a 20-year-old playing for Legia Warsaw.
He will now hope to make a name for himself at Roma after they won the race for his signature.
The Polish player preferred Roma as his next destination and got his wish when they agreed a deal on 25th August to sign him, three weeks after the first discovery of interest.
Roma had to wait another four days to welcome Ziółkowski to Italy after he played one final match for Legia Warsaw.
Kostas Tsimikas: Di Marzio
For their final signing of the summer, Roma dipped into the Premier League loan market again to bolster their options at left-back with a deal for Tsimikas from Liverpool.
Di Marzio revealed Roma were in contact with Liverpool for his loan on 23rd August, but it wasn’t clear at that stage how feasible the deal was.
Eventually, the clubs settled on a dry loan formula for the Greek international, who arrived in Rome exactly a week later before being confirmed as a new signing on 31st August.
Leave a Reply