Nothing creates a sense of anticipation quite like seeing a new signing arrive, but some fresh faces have to wait longer than others to set foot on the pitch.
Roma fans often give a rapturous reception when welcoming new signings at the airport and many have hit the ground running over the years, with plenty of players scoring on their debuts or making a good first impression.
But some signings have had to be more patient for their chance.
Here, Giallorossi Yorkshire looks back at which new player had to wait the longest to make their competitive debut for Roma after being bought in each summer over the past 10 years.
Goalkeepers aren’t counted, since some have joined expecting to be backups, and nor are players who started out in the Primavera.
2025: Daniele Ghilardi
After the retirement of Mats Hummels, Roma focused on the future when rebuilding their defence in the summer of 2025.
Ghilardi joined from Hellas Verona after his breakout season in Serie A, but despite playing a significant part in pre-season, it was a newcomer to Italian football, Jan Ziółkowski, who got to debut competitively in the Roma defence earlier.
Gian Piero Gasperini didn’t introduce Ghilardi into the competitive action until his 12th game in charge, bringing the 22-year-old on for the last five minutes of a win over Parma.
For some perspective of how long the wait was, another summer signing – winger Leon Bailey – suffered an injury that kept him out for nearly two months straight after joining, but still set foot on the pitch before Ghilardi.
2024: Samuel Dahl
After being encouraged by the displays of Angeliño during the second half of the 2023-24 season, Roma opted to promote him to the starting position for 2024-25, releasing Leonardo Spinazzola and investing in a young Swedish talent, Samuel Dahl, as their new left-back for rotation.
However, Dahl was barely given a chance in his new surroundings, having to wait until November for his debut (the first of only three appearances).
The occasion was a home match against Bologna, which turned out to be the last with Ivan Jurić in charge. The coach had been criticised for many things, such as his hesitancy to use September signing Hummels, but even he got a debut before Dahl.
Out of Roma’s plethora of signings from their only summer with Florent Ghisolfi as technical director, Buba Sangaré failed to make his first-team debut in the 2024-25 season, despite several call-ups, although the right-back did represent the Primavera, thus taking him out of the equation for this particular niche.
2023: Sardar Azmoun
There wasn’t a massive deal of enthusiasm for the arrival of Sardar Azmoun in August 2023, mostly because fans were still hoping for Romelu Lukaku to join (which he did a few days later to a much more positive reception).
Lukaku ended up making his Roma bow a couple of weeks before Azmoun, whose debut was delayed until the first game back from the September international break: a 7-0 win by José Mourinho’s side over Empoli.
Fellow summer signing Evan Ndicka made his Roma debut in the same game, but as a starter, rather than a substitute.
2022: Mady Camara
Mady Camara’s move to Roma in August 2022 was an emergency measure in response to Georginio Wijnaldum suffering a leg break in training after just one appearance.
While he would only really be used as a last resort, Camara didn’t actually have to wait too long for his debut, coming on against Udinese in September less than a week after his arrival on loan from Olympiacos.
But by that point, all of the other outfield signings from that summer (Wijnaldum, Nemanja Matić, Paulo Dybala, Zeki Çelik and Andrea Belotti) has featured at some point in one of the first four games of the season.
2021: Tammy Abraham
Mourinho was presented with four new signings ahead of his first season in charge of Roma and three of them played in his first game against Trabzonspor in the Conference League play-offs.
The odd one out was the most expensive of the lot, Tammy Abraham. Having only just arrived from Chelsea, the striker hadn’t been involved in group training yet by that point.
He was ready to go for the opening game in Serie A against Fiorentina three days later, starting and providing two assists.
2020: Borja Mayoral
As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic pushing back the end of the 2019-20 season, not only did the 2020-21 campaign start later, but the transfer deadline was extended all the way to 5th October that year.
Roma signed Mayoral from Real Madrid on 2nd October, at which point they were a day away from their third game of the new season.
That came too soon for Mayoral to be involved in, but he made his debut after the international break, coming on against Benevento on the 18th.
It had been a relatively routine transfer window for Roma, without a nominated sporting director at the time and mostly focusing on converting previous loans into permanent moves. But of the brand-new faces, given the delayed timeframe of his arrival on loan, Mayoral was the one who wasn’t seen in action until the latest date.
2019: Mert Çetin
Roma welcomed nine new outfield players in the summer 2019 transfer window, two of whom (Nikola Kalinić and Henrikh Mkhitaryan) arrived as late as September.
But they both still made their debuts earlier than August addition Mert Çetin, a then-22-year-old defender who had last played in the Turkish second tier.
Çetin’s first showing as a Roma player was on 27th October against AC Milan and he picked up a yellow card six minutes after coming on. Paulo Fonseca would only give him five more appearances before he was sacrificed to Hellas Verona.
2018: Ante Ćorić
Monchi went on a wild spending spree in the summer of 2018, one aspect of which was attempting to reconstruct Roma’s midfield.
One of the signings was Ćorić, heralded as a top talent from Croatia who had attracted interest from elite clubs and was ready for the next step at 21 years old.
But he barely got a look in from Eusebio Di Francesco, who launched the relatively unknown Nicolò Zaniolo before him.
The first of Ćorić’s three substitute appearances for Roma came on 20th October against SPAL. He would later retreat into obscurity.
“If I’d played 10 games and someone had told me, ‘Ante, you’re terrible,’ then I would have accepted it, but no. I never had a chance,” Ćorić complained to Gazzetta Dello Sport this month, by this point playing for Ħamrun Spartans in the Maltese Premier League…
2017: Rick Karsdorp
Not even a week after joining Roma from Feyenoord for €14m, Rick Karsdorp had to undergo knee surgery, ruling him out for a number of weeks.
The right-back finally debuted on 25th October against Crotone, but suffered another knee injury and didn’t play again in his debut season.
2016: Mário Rui
A year before Karsdorp, another new Roma full-back had also suffered a knee injury before even playing for the club.
Mário Rui’s was more serious as well: an ACL injury, picked up in training about three weeks after his arrival from Empoli.
The Portuguese left-back eventually recovered in time to make his Roma debut on 19th January against Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia, but he left the club at the end of the season having reached a final rally of just nine appearances.
2015: Norbert Gyömbér
While the hit rate wasn’t 100%, Roma’s 2015 summer transfer window under Walter Sabatini’s stewardship will go down as one of their best thanks to the additions of players like Edin Džeko, Mohamed Salah and Antonio Rüdiger.
Among the lesser-known arrivals was Gyömbér, who joined on loan from Catania after their demotion from Serie B to Lega Pro.
Never more than a backup, Gyömbér had to wait until 4th October to make his debut, replacing Kostas Manolas in the 83rd minute of a win over Palermo.
In the same game, another summer signing in the shape of Emerson Palmieri made his debut, but by coming on about 15 minutes earlier than Gyömbér, who only ever played five times for the club again.
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