After Stephan El Shaarawy celebrated 10 years since his Roma debut, here’s an overview of the players to have reached the same anniversary whilst still playing for the club.
Stephan El Shaarawy
El Shaarawy was an impactful signing when Roma brought him in from AC Milan in January 2016, interrupting his loan spell at Monaco.
A few days after arriving in the capital, El Shaarawy scored on his Roma debut on 30th January, with a skilful flick against Frosinone. It was the first of eight goals he scored before the end of the season.
While the winger recently celebrated 10 years since becoming a Roma player, he didn’t spend all of that decade wearing their colours, since he had an 18-month spell in China with Shanghai Shenhua.
Since his return in January 2021, El Shaarawy has added another 200-plus appearances to his collection. He started the 2025-26 wearing the captain’s armband by virtue of having the most appearances for the club within the squad, before being overtaken by Bryan Cristante.
Leandro Paredes
Like El Shaarawy, Paredes had two spells with Roma, but was back at the club in time for the 10th anniversary of his debut.
After joining from Boca Juniors in the summer of 2014, Paredes made his debut that September at the age of 20. He only played 12 more times over the rest of the season before being loaned out to Empoli.
Paredes forced his way into contention for Roma upon his return for the 2016-17 season, before he was sold to Zenit Saint Petersburg.
But the Argentine midfielder eventually got a second Roma career when he joined from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023, going on to spend another two years with the club – meaning he was still representing them by September 2024, a decade on from his debut.
Lorenzo Pellegrini
Pellegrini’s only appearance in the first section of his Roma career after graduating the academy was in March 2015 against Cesena, before he spent two seasons with Sassuolo.
A return to Roma beckoned for Pellegrini two years later. From that point on, he gained more prominence with his boyhood club and eventually became captain – as he had been for the Primavera before – in February 2021. Later that year, he signed a contract extension until 2026.
The following season, Pellegrini lifted the Europa Conference League trophy aloft, also being named the player of the tournament.
His form has been up and down in the years since, but with the terms of the aforementioned contract still intact, Pellegrini remained a Roma player by March 2025, having earned himself a stay of execution by scoring in the derby a couple of months before.
Daniele De Rossi
The most recent player to reach their 10th anniversary as a Roma player without leaving the club at some stage in that process was De Rossi.
A player who needs no introductions, De Rossi made his debut in October 2001 against Anderlecht and would remain with his boyhood team until the summer of 2019.
By the time he reached 10 years since his Roma debut, De Rossi had 368 appearances for the club to his name, as well as two Coppa Italia medals and one from the Supercoppa Italiana.
If his Roma career had stopped there and then, he would still be 10th in the club’s all-time appearances list as of January 2026, but he went on to finish his Roma career on 616 appearances, putting him 2nd.
Francesco Totti
Roma’s record appearance holder, of course, is Totti – their longest-serving captain, all-time top scorer and leading assist provider.
Totti didn’t just get to celebrate a decade of service to Roma, but two. In fact, by the time he made his final appearance in May 2017, it was 24 years and 2 months since his debut in March 1993.
Totti was just 16 years old when he was sent on for the first time in a Serie A game against Brescia. Fast forward 10 years, and he was the club’s captain, number 10 and a Scudetto winner.
His first decade as a Roma player included 313 appearances and 98 goals. Totti would go on to finish his one-club career with 786 appearances and 307 goals.
Aldair
Aldair gave 13 years of service to Roma after joining from Benfica in 1990, including a brief spell as captain before he vacated the armband for Totti to take.
The defender debuted in September 1990 against Foggia in a Coppa Italia game and racked up an impressive 49 appearances by the end of his first season in Italian football.
A decade later, his role was about to reduce. By the 10th anniversary of his debut, Aldair had 371 appearances behind him in a Roma shirt. He would add 65 more over the next three seasons, including 19 in the 2000-01 season in which he became a league champion with the club.
In tribute to his service, Roma retired Aldair’s number 6 shirt when he left the club in 2003, although he gave his blessing for Kevin Strootman to resurrect it a decade later.
Fabio Petruzzi
A product of the Roma academy, Petruzzi came on as a late substitute for his debut in a league game against Inter in February 1990, when he was 19 years old.
The defender spent the next couple of seasons out on loan before playing a handful of games over the second half of the 1992-93 season and being sent away again.
Petruzzi returned in the summer of 1994 and became a more regular fixture, making 30 appearances over the subsequent season.
He was still on the books by February 2000, 10 years since his original debut, but he didn’t actually play in any games that season – being an unused substitute a few times – before leaving in the summer for Brescia with a final tally of 152 appearances.
Sebastiano Nela
Nela joined Roma from Genoa in 1981 just in time to become part of one of their most iconic and successful eras.
The versatile defender made his debut in September that year in the opening game of the new Serie A season and he remained ever-present in that campaign.
The following season, Nela was part of the Roma side that won their second Scudetto.
By September 1991, 10 years on from his first appearance, Nela was setting out on his last full season with Roma before leaving for Napoli the following year with almost 400 appearances for the club behind him.
Franco Tancredi
One of Roma’s best ever goalkeepers, Tancredi was also part of the successful 1980s era.
Having signed from Rimini in 1977, Tancredi had to wait until January 1979 for his official Roma debut, keeping a clean sheet in a win over Hellas Verona.
The following season, he began to work his way towards the first-choice berth. Notably, between 1984-85 and 1986-87, he didn’t miss a minute in Serie A.
Tancredi stayed with Roma until the summer of 1990, making his last appearance for the club that April at the end of a springtime spell back among the starters.
Bruno Conti
A local hero, Conti first stepped onto the pitch as a Roma player in February 1974 and would still be playing for the club into the early 1990s.
The talented winger endured two non-consecutive loan spells at Genoa to boost his development, but never looked back after his final return to Roma in 1979.
From that point on, he became one of Roma’s most decorated players in terms of honours won, including the 1982-83 Scudetto.
The 10th anniversary of his debut came midway through the 1983-84 campaign in which Roma finished as runners up in Serie A and the European Cup, but won the Coppa Italia.
And the rest
Agostino Di Bartolomei
- Debut: February 1973
- Left: Summer 1984
Sergio Santarini
- Debut: September 1968
- Left: Summer 1981
Alberto Ginulfi
- Debut: October 1962
- Left: Summer 1975
Fosco Risorti
- Debut: March 1942
- Left: Summer 1952 (last appearance was before 10th anniversary of debut)
Amedeo Amadei
- Debut: May 1937
- Left: Summer 1948
Guido Masetti
- Debut: September 1930
- Left: Summer 1943
Fulvio Bernardini
- Debut: September 1928
- Left: Summer 1939
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