Marten de Roon’s arrival at Roma is the latest example of the club signing a player their current coach had worked with before elsewhere.
Like any club, there have been plenty of reunions between players and coaches at Roma over the years. Sometimes, it happens when a coach is appointed and inherits a squad containing a player already familiar to them; other times, it’s via a player making a transfer to reunite with their old boss.
Focusing on the latter method, here’s every example of a player joining Roma to reunite with a former coach of theirs in the 21st Century, in reverse chronological order.
De Roon and Gasperini
In joining Roma, Gian Piero Gasperini reunited with a few of his former Atalanta players who were already at the club, like Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini. But he had to wait a year to see another of his former players signed.
Back in the summer of 2016, Marten de Roon left Atalanta just as Gasperini was arriving there, but they would link up a year later when the Dutch midfielder returned from Middlesbrough.
From that point on, De Roon became one of Gasperini’s most trusted players, playing more than 350 times under him.
And so, once again, a year after Gasperini’s appointment by a club, he was adding De Roon to his squad. Seeking some affordable midfield cover, Gasperini welcomed De Roon to Roma in August 2026.
Lukaku and Mourinho
It was a big deal for Roma to land Romelu Lukaku in 2023, even if it was only on loan.
The kind of move Roma might not have been able to make if José Mourinho wasn’t at the helm, Lukaku joined for the season from Chelsea – one of two clubs he had worked with Mourinho at before.
Their connection had been strongest at Manchester United, just before Lukaku first set foot in Serie A with Inter.
Their Roman reunion only lasted half a season, though, with Mourinho sacked midway through. Lukaku had scored 14 of his Roma goals up to that point; half as many followed under Daniele De Rossi.
Matić and Mourinho
Roma became the third different club Mourinho had signed Nemanja Matić for in 2022, after their collaborations at Chelsea and Manchester United.
Mourinho had wanted to strengthen his Roma midfield ever since he arrived at the club a year earlier, so it made sense to turn to one of his most trusted former players in that role.
Matić grew into an important player for Roma on their run to the Europa League final, before leaving ahead of the 2023-24 season.
It was a bit messy, with Mourinho reportedly feeling betrayed by Matić, and the player holding similar feelings towards the club for not discussing a contract renewal when he expected.
Defrel and Di Francesco
There was plenty of movement between Roma and Sassuolo in 2017 after the appointment of Eusebio Di Francesco in the capital.
Academy graduates Federico Ricci, Davide Frattesi and Riccardo Marchizza all headed the other way, while one player Roma managed to get to follow Di Francesco was Grégoire Defrel.
It was a strange move, though, with the Frenchman effectively signed as a third-choice striker and ultimately becoming a second-choice makeshift winger.
He only ever scored once for Roma, from a penalty in a game that was already wrapped up. Although obliged to make his move permanent that summer, Roma never used Defrel again, immediately loaning him out to Sampdoria and eventually selling him back to Sassuolo.
Pellegrini and Di Francesco
The other player to move from Sassuolo to Roma that summer was Lorenzo Pellegrini, although it would have probably happened regardless of whether Di Francesco was appointed or not.
Roma used a buyback clause to re-sign their academy graduate. The fact he was able to reintegrate under the guidance of the same coach he’d worked with in his two years away was only beneficial in theory.
Pellegrini wasn’t an instant hit back at Roma, but eventually grew into an important player and became the club captain. To date, he has played under five different coaches after Di Francesco.
Digne and Garcia
The summer of 2013 saw Rudi Garcia and Lucas Digne both leave Lille. For the coach, it was to take over at Roma. For the player, though, it was to join PSG.
Two years down the line, with Garcia having led Roma to consecutive second-place finishes in Serie A but Digne yet to establish himself as a PSG regular, they reunited via a loan deal.
Digne made a decent impression in Rome, but Garcia was sacked midway through the season. His replacement, Luciano Spalletti, began to favour Emerson Palmieri at left-back, and so Digne was never retained.
Gervinho and Garcia
One player Garcia was able to reunite with in his first summer as Roma boss was Gervinho, although it also wasn’t directly from Lille.
Gervinho joined Roma from Arsenal after two years in the Premier League, prior to which he had spent a pair of seasons playing for Garcia in Ligue 1.
Garcia knew how to get the best out of Gervinho like few others. The Ivorian had hit double figures of goals in both of his seasons with Lille, but didn’t for Arsenal. Back under Garcia’s guidance, though, he did so again at the first time of asking for Roma, scoring 12 goals in all competitions in 2013-14.
Gervinho left Roma a couple of weeks after Garcia in January 2016, earning a fortune in China with Hebei China Fortune.
Pizarro and Spalletti
After Udinese’s success in reaching the Champions League by the end of the 2004-05 season, Roma snapped up their coach, Spalletti, while Inter bought one of their key players, David Pizarro.
A year later, Roma signed the Chilean midfielder for themselves, thus reuniting him with a coach he had previously played 96 times for.
Pizarro was a hit at Roma, lasting five-and-a-half years (two-and-a-half more than Spalletti).
Tonetto and Spalletti
An earlier summer 2006 deal for Roma reunited Spalletti with Max Tonetto, a player he had worked with further back with Empoli.
Funnily enough, the first time Tonetto played under Spalletti for Empoli in 1997, it was against Roma.
Their paths separated at the end of the 1997-98 season, with Spalletti moving on for Sampdoria. But he linked back up with the versatile Tonetto when Roma signed him – coincidentally, from Sampdoria, although their timelines never aligned there – in 2006.
Tonetto finished his career with Roma, retiring after a four-year spell, having only played six times under Spalletti’s successor, Claudio Ranieri.
Ferrari and Prandelli
Matteo Ferrari is something of an odd one out here, given that he never actually got to play for the coach he reunited with at Roma.
Cesare Prandelli was chosen as the successor to Fabio Capello for Roma in 2004 after doing a decent job with Parma. Ferrari was the one player he brought with him.
However, Prandelli stepped down without ever managing Roma in a competitive game, focusing on his wife’s health instead. There was no such U-turn for Ferrari, who was on Roma’s books for four years, one of which the defender spent on loan at Everton.
Fuser and Capello
Fuser was a former Lazio player when he joined Roma in 2001, with a three-year spell with Parma separating his spells in the capital.
Not only did he know his ‘new’ stadium, but he also knew his new coach, having previously played for Capello at AC Milan a decade earlier.
Fuser featured for Capello’s Milan in the 1991-92 season. He only made 26 appearances across two seasons back with the same coach at Roma, though.
Panucci and Capello
Another of Capello’s post-Scudetto gifts in 2001 was the signing of Christian Panucci, a player he had coached at not just Milan, but Real Madrid as well.
Capello signed Panucci just six months into his Real Madrid reign in the 1996-97 season. During Capello’s first two years with Roma, the full-back played for three different clubs: Inter, Chelsea and Monaco.
Roma gladly picked Panucci up in 2001, which gave him three more seasons playing for Capello. But that wasn’t even half of his Roma career; indeed, the defender stayed with Roma until 2009 before bowing out at Parma.
The other player to reunite with Capello by joining Roma was Francesco Antonioli, formerly of AC Milan, but that was in 1999 and therefore not in the timeframe for this article.
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