When a new coach takes over a club, they have to quickly find out which players they can trust to start building their team around.
Clues can emerge over who has made an early impression on their new coach judging from the lineups being sent out towards the start of their reigns.
So, looking back over the past 10 Roma coaches, which player has enjoyed the longest uninterrupted spell of gametime from game one (considering all competitions)?
Gian Piero Gasperini – Mile Svilar
After being ever-present in the 2024-25 Serie A season, in which he was named the best goalkeeper in the league, Svilar set out on the 2025-26 campaign looking to maintain his form.
An obvious choice for new coach Gasperini to stick with in goal – not least because of his previous fall-out with backup option Pierluigi Gollini at Atalanta – Svilar has played every minute under the new boss so far (at the time of writing).
In front of him, one by one, the other members of Gasperini’s first Roma XI have seen their chances of remaining ever-present end. When Gianluca Mancini was left out of the starting lineup against Lille in the Europa League on 2nd October, it left Svilar as the last player standing to have taken part in every minute of the Gasperini era up to that point.
Claudio Ranieri (third spell) – Evan Ndicka
Along with Svilar, Ndicka was also ever-present in the 2024-25 Serie A season. In fact, he only missed one game in any competition, against Union SG in the Europa League.
That was a few weeks prior to Ranieri returning to Roma for his third spell in charge, and thus Ndicka completed every single minute of the iconic coach’s tenure.
That wasn’t the case for Svilar in all competitions, as he was rested against Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia that December.
Ivan Jurić – Mile Svilar
Jurić’s spell in charge of Roma was short, only lasting 12 games after taking charge in September 2024. He obviously oversaw portions of the ever-present seasons by Svilar and Ndicka in Serie A, but as stated, had to do without Ndicka against Union SG, meaning only the goalkeeper completed the course of his ill-fated reign.
Daniele De Rossi – Romelu Lukaku
Three players completed all 90 minutes of each of De Rossi’s first four Serie A matches at the Roma helm in early 2024: Rui Patrício, Rick Karsdorp and Romelu Lukaku.
The next fixture was against Feyenoord in the Europa League, for which De Rossi brought Svilar in for Patrício and took Karsdorp off after 81 minutes, leaving Lukaku – who scored on that day in a 1-1 draw – as the last continuous thread from his first lineup.
Lukaku was then taken off by De Rossi at half time of the next Serie A game against Frosinone before being back for the full action – including extra time and penalties – of the second leg with Feyenoord.
José Mourinho – Rui Patrício
Finding a new goalkeeper was essential for Roma in 2021 and new boss Mourinho went for a compatriot he could trust (perhaps too much in the long run) in the shape of Patrício.
The former Wolves keeper didn’t miss a minute in Serie A in his debut season and only missed one game in the Conference League as well. His appearance in the group stage against Zorya Luhansk, for which Mancini was rested, left him as the most enduring presence from Mourinho’s original lineup in the play-off first leg against Trabzonspor.
Patrício’s only absence was for the final group game against CSKA Sofia after 23 consecutive appearances.
Paulo Fonseca – Aleksandar Kolarov
Fonseca was at the helm during a time of mass change to the Roma squad in the post-Monchi era, but it was an existing player rather than one of the many new signings by Gianluca Petrachi in the summer of 2019 who lasted the longest stretch of the start of the season.
With two new goalkeepers to pick from, Fonseca rotated out Pau López for Antonio Mirante on matchday two of the Europa League group stage against Wolfsberger, which meant left-back Kolarov remained his only constant up to that point.
Kolarov would also outlast López in just Serie A, when Mirante came in for a clash with Inter in December due to the Spaniard’s injury. It was a week after Kolarov missed his first portion of gametime of the season after being taken off in the Europa League against İstanbul Başakşehir in the 18th match of Fonseca’s reign.
Claudio Ranieri (second spell) – Bryan Cristante
Ranieri took the reins on a caretaker basis towards the end of the 2018-19 season for 12 games, which Cristante played the first seven of before missing the eighth due to suspension.
His closest rival for a persistent stretch of gametime from the point of Ranieri’s return was fellow midfielder Steven Nzonzi, who was dropped after four games.
Ranieri later reunited with Cristante during his third spell with Roma and chose him as a starter at the first time of asking, although left him on the bench in his second game.
Eusebio Di Francesco – Alisson Becker
Prior to the 2017-18 season starting and Di Francesco commencing his Roma reign, a few pundits wondered who the first-choice goalkeeper would be: Alisson, after spending the previous season as a backup, or Łukasz Skorupski, after spending the previous season as a starter with Empoli.
Di Francesco went with Alisson, who never gave him a reason to look back. The Brazilian turned out to be a sublime goalkeeper, inspiring a run to the Champions League semi-finals.
By completing Roma’s sixth game of the season, a win over Udinese, Alisson outlasted recent signing Kolarov, who was taken off in the second half. The future Liverpool keeper didn’t miss a game until being rested for a Coppa Italia loss to Torino in December after a 22-match streak in which he kept 12 clean sheets.
Luciano Spalletti (second spell) – Wojciech Szczęsny
Much of the analysis of Spalletti’s second spell at Roma was on who he wasn’t picking (Francesco Totti) rather than who he was.
After his return halfway through the 2015-16 season, Spalletti inspired an upsurge in form. The outfield player who preserved the longest spell of consecutive minutes from his first lineup was Radja Nainggolan – who would reach even greater heights under his guidance the following season – but overall, goalkeeper Szczęsny lasted longer than the Belgian, who was sent off after a second yellow card against Sassuolo in the fourth game since Spalletti’s return.
Szczęsny was ever-present for the rest of the season and for the entirety of the next Serie A season as well (at Alisson’s expense) before his loan from Arsenal lapsed.
Rudi Garcia – Morgan De Sanctis
If there was one coach whose first few months at Roma you’d want to be a part of, it would have to be Garcia, who famously won his first 10 games in charge of the club in 2013.
He did so with a settled system, particularly from a defensive viewpoint, with De Santcis, Medhi Benatia, Leandro Castán and De Rossi all playing every single minute of those first 10 games.
Castán then picked up a suspension for accumulated yellow cards and Benatia was taken off in the second half of Garcia’s 11th game in charge.
The battle between De Sanctis and De Rossi to stay ever-present the longest was won by the former when the latter went off against Atalanta in December, during Garcia’s 14th game in charge.
De Sanctis finally got his first breather as a Roma player when Skorupski stepped in for him in the Coppa Italia against Sampdoria in January 2014, five games later.
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