Florent Ghisolfi’s time as technical director at Roma lasted only a year, but a high amount of transition was crammed into that period.
When Ghisolfi got to work as the successor to Tiago Pinto, he was tasked with helping Roma build up their new project under Daniele De Rossi. As it happened, that project only lasted four more games.
The summer transfer window that preceded the 2024-25 season saw Roma welcome enough new players to make an entire lineup, not that it ever happened. Some of those players didn’t last the full season, prompting another five additions in the winter window.
While De Rossi was a factor in some of the summer signings and former CEO Lina Souloukou was attributed with some involvement in those months as well, Ghisolfi – among other responsibilities – would mainly be judged by Roma’s transfers.
As he departs the club, here’s a ranking of all the players he brought to Roma, from best to worst.
Only those to have made a senior appearance for the club prior to his exit are included, which means no Buba Sangaré or Pierluigi Gollini in the listing.
Manu Koné
Embed from Getty ImagesA signing that kept Roma fans up on the August deadline day, the addition of Koné was designed to bring some much-needed freshness to the midfield. Unlike many of the club’s signings in his position over the years, he lived up to expectations.
Koné slotted in as the missing piece in Roma’s midfield, showing strength on the ball and good movement with it at his feet.
The original deal with Borussia Mönchengladbach was a loan with an obligation to buy. Looking back, the €18m fee that Roma committed to is a relative bargain for what Koné has given them so far and should continue to.
Matías Soulé
The dawning of a new era, as it seemed, was an opportune time to invest in the future and change Roma’s approach to be more forward-thinking.
As part of the vision, Roma successfully captured one of the previous season’s most promising young players in Serie A. Soulé had impressed on loan at Frosinone from Juventus, who Roma paid €25.6m to make him theirs.
While Soulé took some time to settle, he hit his stride in the second half of the season and started to recapture the magic that made Roma invest in him, ending his debut campaign with five – usually anything but mundane – league goals.
Alexis Saelemaekers
The signing of Saelemaekers ticked a lot of boxes – apart from, crucially, being a permanent deal.
Saelemaekers had returned to form at Bologna the season before, but AC Milan were happy to look for other solutions for him again in the summer. Roma looked at a permanent move, but only had time to arrange a swap of loans with Tammy Abraham, whose wages they could relieve themselves of for a year.
With good crossing and finishing ability, Saelemaekers made an impression in different positions for Roma – and enough for Milan to reconsider his place in their future plans.
The Roma and Milan reviews of the Saelemaekers and Abraham loans
Artem Dovbyk
Roma turned heads by signing the top scorer from the 2023-24 La Liga season, hijacking Atletico Madrid’s attempts to buy Dovbyk from Girona.
The striker gave up Champions League football to join Roma and went on to experience some highs and lows in his first season.
Critics could point to his lack of mobility and involvement, but supporters could note the fact he finished as Roma’s top scorer with 17 goals. While the €30.5m outlay was significant and suggested a desire for instant returns, Dovbyk remained a player of intrigue by the end of his debut season.
Mats Hummels
Looking to replace the experience of Chris Smalling after his August move to Saudi Arabia, Roma won the battle to bring Hummels out of free agency after his departure from 2023-24 Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund.
In terms of pedigree, he was instantly one of the highest-profile players to represent Roma in recent memory. However, at the age of 35 when he arrived – and despite his good form for Dortmund before he left them – Roma knew they weren’t getting prime Hummels.
Ivan Jurić, the controversial replacement for De Rossi between September and November, wanted little to do with him. Afterwards, Hummels found some stability – if not continuity – under Claudio Ranieri, putting in some reliable performances and others less so. His mixed campaign led him to retirement.
Devyne Rensch
Roma’s first addition of the January 2025 transfer window, expectations were mixed for Rensch due to a lack of knowledge about him, contrasted with the club’s obvious need for a recognisable right-back.
Ultimately, the former Ajax defender’s opportunities for consistent gametime were limited. At €5m, he doesn’t seem too costly, but it’s worth remembering he was approaching the end of his contract at the end of the season and Roma paid to bring him in early.
Did they get €5m’s worth of performance out of Rensch in his first six months? It’s debatable, but the 22-year-old has a future to prove himself in.
Lucas Gourna-Douath
While it was Koné to generate excitement at the end of the summer window, it was fellow midfielder Gourna-Douath’s turn at the end of the winter window.
The Red Bull Salzburg loanee found it harder to impose himself, though, picking up yellow cards in both of his first Serie A appearances and then having to be very patient for his next chance.
There were some brighter spots towards the end of the season – not enough to make his €18m option to buy look like a fair reflection, but enough for Roma to potentially consider other ways of keeping him.
Enzo Le Fée
Embed from Getty ImagesThe first bit of business conducted in Ghisolfi’s first transfer window saw him tap into his native French market, raiding Rennes to sign Le Fée for the third biggest price Roma had ever spent on a midfielder.
Weeks before Koné was even a known target, Le Fée was the first player Roma fans could pinpoint their hopes of having a more energetic midfield on, but he struggled to stay up to the pace.
Injuries didn’t help him, but Le Fée never really found his niche in Roma’s midfield and was sent on loan to Sunderland in January. As part of the deal, they became obliged to sign him for a similar fee to what Roma had spent after their promotion to the Premier League, which spared Ghisolfi’s blushes.
Samuel Dahl
Another player who made minimal impact for Roma but doesn’t fall too far down the ranking because of the mitigating factor of the conditions secured for his departure, Dahl was picked up from Djurgardens for around €4m.
Intended to be nothing more than a backup to Angeliño after the Spaniard’s switch from RB Leipzig was sensibly made permanent, Dahl might not have expected just how starved of gametime he would be.
His three appearances for Roma lasted 29, 12 and 19 minutes respectively, before he was loaned out to Benfica in January. That spell was so much more productive that Roma managed to negotiate a substantial profit, receiving an initial €9m.
Victor Nelsson
Roma needed an extra defensive depth option in the winter window, which led to a loan deal for Denmark international Nelsson from Galatasaray.
With more than 100 Turkish Süper Lig appearances behind him and at the age of 26, Nelsson seemed like someone who could take the next step with Roma, but he struggled to.
Opportunities were scarce for the centre-back, who wasn’t as strong as some of those he was competing with.
Anass Salah-Eddine
Having to hurry to find a replacement for Dahl, Roma bought Salah-Eddine from FC Twente in the Eredivisie on deadline day in February.
The price for Salah-Eddine (in the region of €8m) looks steep in comparison to the player he replaced, given that neither was anything more than a backup.
Salah-Eddine has struggled to impose himself so far but did get an assist against Empoli, though it was more down to the credit of goalscorer Soulé and he actually never saw the Serie A pitch again under Ranieri.
Saud Abdulhamid
Embed from Getty ImagesWith Roma in dire need of a new right-back, it seemed a strange choice to pick out Abdulhamid from the Saudi Pro League.
Given that many players past their prime have moved to Saudi Arabia over the past couple of years and movement into Europe from there has been limited, expectations were low.
Ultimately, Abdulhamid only played eight times for his new club, with half of those appearances being as a starter. He did score once in the Europa League and wasn’t too costly a purchase, but never seemed an appropriate solution for what Roma needed.
Mathew Ryan
After Mile Svilar locked down the starting goalkeeper role in 2024, the replacement for Rui Patrício would have to be a backup. However, Ryan didn’t seem to realise that and became frustrated at his lack of playing time.
While the Australian can count a number of decent-pedigree clubs on his CV, he only played once for Roma, in the Coppa Italia win over Sampdoria in December – without registering a save.
It was a welcome boost for Roma to make a profit on Ryan, who was replaced by Gollini.
Mario Hermoso
Hermoso falls into the category of signings that seemed appealing on the surface, but fell below expectations – arguably more significantly than anyone else.
The first memory of Hermoso at Roma that springs to mind is his red card for two bookable offences in the 5-1 loss against Fiorentina. It summed up his struggles to settle in Serie A and wasn’t what Roma thought they were getting when they took the former Atlético Madrid defender as the first of two replacements for Smalling.
While he was only a free transfer arrival, the salary he was given wasn’t insignificant and Roma didn’t get value from him before sending him away to Bayer Leverkusen on loan in January.
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