Champions League involvement can be a make-or-break factor in convincing a player to join a club. Roma have learnt that lesson all too well as their absence from the competition extends into a sixth season.
While Roma have still appealed to some big players in those years, sometimes credited to the lure of former head coach Jose Mourinho, there have been others that overlooked them for their lack of participation at Europe’s top level.
For some, though, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all. Here – not counting players who left their previous club on a free transfer, like Paulo Dybala – Giallorossi Yorkshire looks back at some players who left a club where Champions League football was on offer to join Roma at a time when it wasn’t.
2024 – Artem Dovbyk
What makes the signing of Artem Dovbyk such a statement for Roma is not only the fact that he left a club with Champions League football on offer, but he rejected another in favour of Roma in the process.
After guiding Girona to a first-ever top-four finish in La Liga, Dovbyk was on the verge of a cross-Spain switch to Atletico Madrid, who would also have been able to provide him with Champions League involvement.
Somewhat spectacularly, Roma managed to hijack Atletico’s deal for the striker at the last minute, committing to what would be one of their biggest ever transactions and getting Dovbyk’s heart set on the move to Italy.
After playing in the Europa League and Conference League with Dnipro-1 in the season before he joined Girona, it would be back to Europe’s secondary competition for Dovbyk – but he was all in for the move to Roma, where he was intended to become the new leading striker.
2023 – Leandro Paredes
During his first spell at Roma, the only Champions League football Leandro Paredes got was in the play-off rounds. He actually had to sacrifice Champions League involvement in the group stage with Roma when leaving the club for Europa League outfit Zenit in 2017.
After two seasons in Russia, Paredes went to PSG, where he would make 21 Champions League appearances over four seasons. He even started the 2020 final against Bayern Munich, which they lost.
Paredes was back in Italy for the 2022-23 season, starting out in the Champions League with Juventus. Had he returned to PSG at the end of that spell, he would have had the opportunity of a sixth consecutive season in UEFA’s highest-pedigree competition.
Instead he returned to Roma for a second spell, including Europa League football. The holding midfielder became a regular starter, even more so than he had been in his final season at the club before.
2022 – Georginio Wijnaldum
While Georginio Wijnaldum would ultimately prove to be a Roma flop, there was plenty of fervour for his arrival in 2022. After all, this was a player who had gone the distance and won the Champions League with Liverpool just three years earlier.
The midfielder joined Roma on loan from perennial French champions PSG, who were still dreaming of a first UCL crown to top off their domestic dominance.
With Wijnaldum in the side – though not regularly – they only reached the round of 16 in 2021-22. They lasted until the same stage in 2022-23, while the Dutchman was mainly on the treatment table in Rome.
He did come into the side towards the deeper stretches of their run to the Europa League final, but not memorably, and he would leave Europe behind altogether to join Saudi side Al-Ettifaq that summer.
2021 – Tammy Abraham
When Edin Dzeko left Roma in 2021, the club had to scramble for a new striker capable of living up to his lofty standards. The target new coach Jose Mourinho was fixated on was Tammy Abraham.
By the end of his second season back in the Chelsea first team, Abraham had become a Champions League winner. However, his involvement in the decisive stages of that success was severely limited, since Thomas Tuchel didn’t rate him as highly as Frank Lampard had.
Aware he had to change scenery, Abraham took his time to wait for the right offer. While initially reluctant to join Roma, he ultimately accepted the move, even though it would mean dropping down to Europa Conference League level.
12 months later, Abraham had another European trophy to his name, and this time he had played an even bigger role. In fact, the English striker enjoyed the most prolific debut season ever by a Roma player.
2019 – Gianluca Mancini
Alongside featuring in the 2018-19 Europa League for Atalanta, Gianluca Mancini helped La Dea secure their first ever qualification for the following Champions League. However, as has been the case with Bologna in 2024, for example, a lesser heralded club achieving something like that can lead to an exodus of their top talent.
Roma were one of the clubs to raid Atalanta for a desirable player, winning the race for Mancini on loan with an obligation to buy. Quite quickly, alongside fellow new defender Chris Smalling, the Italy international would become a cornerstone of his new club’s backline.
Atalanta will be involved in their fourth Champions League campaign in 2024-25, whereas Mancini is still yet to appear in the competition, but he was a key member of Roma’s Europa Conference League winning squad and has risen to the rank of vice-captain.
2019 – Leonardo Spinazzola
Another player who progressed at Atalanta, Leonardo Spinazzola was ultimately reintegrated by parent club Juventus in 2018, but an ACL injury prevented him from immediately challenging Alex Sandro for a place.
Towards the end of the 2018-19 season, Spinazzola was starting to work his way into the side, helping them win the eighth of nine consecutive Scudetti and also making his first – and still to this day only – Champions League appearance. However, Juventus would cash in on him that summer.
With Luca Pellegrini heading in the opposite direction, Roma welcomed Spinazzola for a net spend of €7.5m. He struggled to settle initially, but found better form once Paulo Fonseca changed to a three-at-the-back system.
Another serious injury in the middle of his Roma career changed Spinazzola’s course, meaning he only made one appearance en route to the Europa Conference League win before building his gametime up again over his last couple of years in the capital.
2013 – Kevin Strootman
In both of his two seasons with PSV, Kevin Strootman played in the Europa League. As Eredivisie runners-up in his second, they earned the right to compete for Champions League qualification in what would have been his third.
But instead of staying in his native Netherlands, Strootman completed a big move to Roma, who only had domestic competitions to focus on as Rudi Garcia’s rebuild began.
It turned out to be a smart career decision by Strootman. PSV would lose in the play-off rounds of the Champions League anyway, whereas Roma raced towards a title challenge only to finish second behind Juventus.
A serious injury meant Strootman only made one appearance in the Champions League the following season, but in his last full season at Roma he would be a fundamental part of the squad that Eusebio Di Francesco took all the way to the semi-finals of UEFA’s top tournament.
2013 – Gervinho
Although up to that point he had only played in the Europa League at continental level, Gervinho left Lille after Garcia had led them to the Ligue 1 title and Champions League football ahead of the 2011-12 season.
The winger joined an Arsenal side who simply didn’t know how not to finish in the top four in those days under Arsene Wenger, earning his Champions League debut in their colours rather than Lille’s.
Gervinho made 13 Champions League appearances across two seasons with Arsenal and would have had more on offer were it not for his decision to reunite with Garcia at Roma in the summer of 2013.
As stated, no European football was on offer at all in the 2013-14 season, but over the next two seasons, Gervinho would feature in nine Champions League matches for Roma, scoring four goals.
2011 – Miralem Pjanic
Following his emergence with Metz, Miralem Pjanic was quickly elevated to Champions League status with a move to Lyon as an 18-year-old.
The midfield maestro appeared in the Champions League in four separate seasons with Lyon, including in the qualifying rounds of the 2011-12 competition just before he moved to Roma.
Pjanic had to wait until his fourth season in the Italian capital to play in a UEFA competition again, making 13 Champions League appearances and four in the Europa League over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 terms before controversially joining Juventus, where he would become a UCL runner-up at the end of his debut season.
2011 – Maarten Stekelenburg
Maarten Stekelenburg stayed with Ajax for the first nine seasons of his career, playing in the Champions League in all but two of them.
Chosen as the goalkeeper for Roma’s new dawn under Luis Enrique in 2011, he only had Europa League football on offer in his new surroundings, and the Giallorossi couldn’t even get to the group stage.
Their ultimate seventh-placed finish meant no European involvement would be due in Stekelenburg’s second season, which turned out to be the Dutchman’s last before he left for Fulham.
2011 – Bojan Krkic
Once heralded as a player who could follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Bojan Krkic didn’t just put that dream on hold, but dropped out of Champions League action altogether when joining Roma in 2011.
Bojan’s debut for Roma was in the Europa League play-off round against Slovan Bratislava, from which Luis Enrique’s side were knocked out over two legs.
Bojan concluded his sole season at Roma with seven goals before moving back up to Champions League level with AC Milan, but by this point he had already scored his last ever goal in any UEFA competition.
2009 – Nicolas Burdisso
Across five seasons with Inter, Nicolas Burdisso played 18 times in the Champions League. However, he missed out on being a part of their famous treble-winning squad led by Jose Mourinho in 2009-10 because of his move to Roma.
While he could have become a Champions League winner had he stayed with Inter, Burdisso opted for more regular gametime with Roma, who were in the Europa League that season after only finishing sixth the season before.
Although signed while Luciano Spalletti was still in charge, Burdisso became part of a revived Roma inspired by Claudio Ranieri, who pushed Inter close for the Scudetto – enough to earn Champions League qualification for 2010-11, the last season in which Burdisso would ever feature in the competition – but not enough to beat them to it.
2003 – Cristian Chivu
During Cristian Chivu’s final season at Ajax, the Dutch side had gone all the way to the quarter-finals in the Champions League, which was major progress considering they only reached the qualifying rounds the season before.
As runners-up in the 2002-03 Eredivisie, they earned the right to compete in the Champions League again, but Roma managed to lure the defender to Italy instead.
Fabio Capello had suffered his lowest finish of his Roma reign in 2002-03, coming eighth in the table. As Coppa Italia runners-up, though, the Lupi earned a place in the UEFA Cup.
Chivu scored on his first two appearances for Roma, who stabilised their fortunes to finish second by the end of his debut season and get back at Europe’s top table. He would later win the Champions League under Mourinho at Inter in 2010.
2000 – Emerson
Roma made some blockbuster signings in the summer that would directly precede their third Scudetto. Gabriel Batistuta was the headline attraction in a club-record deal to spearhead the attack, while Walter Samuel was a smart signing for the defence.
Another player who arrived – in his case at the expense of playing in the Champions League – was Emerson from Bayer Leverkusen, who had just come second in the Bundesliga.
Emerson had previously won South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores, with Gremio.
The midfielder only really came into the Roma side in the second half of the 2000-01 season due to some administrative issues, but played enough to get a league winner’s medal and then would be a regular presence in defensive midfield for another three years before a controversial move to Juventus.
1997 – Paulo Sergio
Three years earlier, there was another Brazilian who joined Roma from Bayer Leverkusen. In this instance, it was striker Paulo Sergio.
Leverkusen had finished second in his last season there, largely thanks to his 17 Bundesliga goals. He was joining a Roma side that had come as low as 12th in the season just gone, but a new project was beginning under Zdenek Zeman.
Sergio scored 12 goals in back-to-back Serie A seasons, also appearing in the UEFA Cup in his second, before going back to Germany with Bayern Munich.
He would go on to win the Champions League with them in the 2000-01 season, while some of his former teammates were celebrating a Scudetto in Rome.
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