Roma got back to where they wanted to be by the end of the 2025-26 season, claiming a third-place finish in Serie A to confirm Champions League qualification.
It was a collective effort on the whole, with only a few players standing out for consistent individual brilliance.
Most had more fleeting moments of standing out, but it was through their effort and commitment that Roma were able to get over the line.
Here are the Giallorossi Yorkshire player ratings for the 2025-26 season, with each player given a score out of 10.
Mile Svilar – 8.5
Named the best goalkeeper in Serie A for the second season in a row, gone are the days of Svilar being an unknown quantity. Roma remain strongly dependent on their number 99, who was ever-present in the league.
Svilar tends to perform at overwhelming levels of reliability that it becomes more noticeable when he makes the odd mistake – he was partially to blame for Roma’s Coppa Italia exit, for example – but that’s only because the exceptions stand out.
For Svilar, the norm is brilliance. Roma have got used to that, but it doesn’t mean they should appreciate it any less.
Svilar signing a new contract to commit to the club was one of the most important bits of business the club did last summer. He has maintained his levels ever since.
Gianluca Mancini – 7.5
Embed from Getty ImagesNo outfield player started more games for Roma than Mancini, who began the season in a slightly awkward role in the middle of the back three but settled back into his regular position on its right.
There were only three teammates that outscored him as well, despite his role in the team remaining primarily a defensive one.
Gasperini’s tactics played into Mancini’s favour, offering him freedom to roam forward. This is a defender who isn’t used to sitting back, so he was ideal for the new instructions.
Of course, Mancini had played under Gasperini before at Atalanta. Now 30 (where has that time gone?), he is a more senior player these days.
Evan Ndicka – 7.5
After a dominant 2024-25 season, Ndicka didn’t quite match those standards this time around, but just about remained the pick of Roma’s centre-backs.
Generally reading the game well, the Ivorian was prone to an occasional lapse in concentration, but boasted the best pass completion rate in the whole squad from Serie A games.
He even recorded an unusual feat across February and March, when he scored in three consecutive league games – something only ever achieved by two Roma defenders before him.
Mario Hermoso – 7
One of the more pleasant surprises of the season was Hermoso’s return to form after he ended last season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen.
Thrust into the starting lineup upon his return, despite struggling in his first few months at Roma before, Hermoso showed some intelligence and was another defender to enjoy some significant goalscoring highlights.
While he could benefit from toning down his temperament from time to time, Hermoso was an added benefit for Roma over the season, feeling like a new signing.
Daniele Ghilardi – 6
Of the actual new signings Roma made for their defence, Ghilardi grew into his surroundings as the season progressed.
Gasperini was initially hesitant to use him after a summer move from Hellas Verona, but Ghilardi improved significantly in the second half of the season.
He lacked something in terms of aggression, but was able to read the game in a mature manner. Once his loan became permanent, few in Rome were complaining.
Jan Ziółkowski – 5
Things were tougher, in contrast, for Ziółkowski after his arrival from Legia Warsaw.
Not only once, Gasperini took him off ahead of schedule in a sign of decreasing trust. Ziółkowski still seems lightweight for a centre-back, but there are elements of promise and he wasn’t a completely misguided purchase.
Some have drawn parallels to Dean Huijsen, who wasn’t quite ready for Roma’s level a couple of years ago but progressed quickly enough to become a Real Madrid player just 18 months after.
Roma cannot afford to be patient forever with Ziółkowski in hope that he might encounter a similar upturn, but he has at least exposed his potential enough to become someone the club could make a profit on.
Zeki Çelik – 6.5
After his fortunes improved over the second half of the 2024-25 season, Çelik entered 2025-26 with a point to prove – especially since his contract was running down.
The Turkish defender once again proved his utility, featuring either as a wing-back or on the right of a back three. There were signs of progress going forward, as evidenced by his one goal and four assists.
Ultimately, though, his limitations remained inescapable and there was no agreement for a new contract by the time the season ended.
Devyne Rensch – 6
Rensch seemed to struggle to retain Gasperini’s faith, despite coming up with some useful contributions towards the end of the season.
Having to feature on the left as well as the right, he made assists in three consecutive games in April.
Ultimately, in his first full season at Roma, Rensch was unable to nail down a starting berth, but turned out to be a useful enough rotation player.
Wesley – 8
Embed from Getty ImagesIf Wesley’s debut season with Roma could be summarised in one word, ‘revelation’ might do the trick.
Given the club’s patchy track record of signings at full-back, expectations of the Brazilian were mixed after his move from Flamengo, especially after a pre-season in which he looked raw.
But he quickly got up and running by scoring Roma’s first goal of the new season, the first time that had been done by a new signing since Aleksandar Kolarov in 2017.
Wesley’s true rise to importance for Roma, though, came when he was reinvented as a left wing-back, covering for the unavailable Angeliño. Despite always playing on the right before, the 22-year-old took to the task superbly, showing bundles of energy and endeavour and finishing the season with five goals to his name.
Kostas Tsimikas – 5
A promising start at left-back could not be preserved, in contrast, by Liverpool loanee Tsimikas.
The Greek defender produced a good assist with a cross on his first start in the Europa League against Nice, but it was his only goal contribution all season.
Sometimes seeming lethargic, Tsimikas struggled to produce any more moments of quality and wasn’t particularly sturdy defensively either.
Bryan Cristante – 7
After becoming a maligned figure at Roma, even the prospect of reuniting with Gasperini – a coach who inspired a 12-goal season from him in his final season with Atalanta, a goal tally it would take into his sixth season to reach at Roma – barely inspired confidence from Cristante’s critics.
However, Cristante – who inherited the captain’s armband early on in the season – started the campaign comfortably enough, perhaps benefitting from his prior understanding of the movements required in Gasperini’s system.
Some familiar flaws crept back in towards the end of the season, justifiably prompting Roma to slow down contract talks, but on the whole, Cristante had a steady season, winning more tackles and completing more passes than any of his teammates.
Manu Koné – 6.5
Big things were expected for Koné under Gasperini after a dynamic debut season with Roma. In all honesty, his role in the new system was slightly underwhelming.
Whereas his first season in Roma was characterised by his forward-thinking ball-carrying and strength, Koné was often tasked with dropping into the defensive line while the team built up their play.
It limited his effectiveness, but you would have to assume it was caused by instructions rather than anything intrinsic about his game.
Still, the importance of Koné shouldn’t be overlooked.
Niccolò Pisilli – 7.5
How much Pisilli developed was one of the more satisfying subplots of the season for Roma in his second full year with the first team.
Particularly over the second half of the season, his improvements in midfield were noticeable. While Cristante was often the one topping the distance covered metrics, Pisilli was regularly a close second.
The area in which he developed the most was in the final third. Last season, he had sometimes made rash decisions at the end of attacks; this time around, he showed much more composure, so much so that only four teammates ended the season with more goal contributions than him.
Neil El Aynaoui – 6
Given that he wasn’t Gasperini’s primary midfield target, and there were echoes of Roma’s unsuccessful gamble on Enzo Le Fée, El Aynaoui was a player being pre-judged from the start.
In some ways, those who thought he would turn out to be just another Le Fée were as blinkered from the start as those insisting the opposite. Objective judgement of the Moroccan midfielder was not the easiest to detect.
In reality, he was somewhere between a flop and a useful player. His over-eagerness that led to the free kick Juventus equalised against Roma from in March was almost costly in the Champions League race, but fortunately not.
When given more of a chance from the start – which only happened eight times in Serie A – El Aynaoui seemed slightly more settled, but never replicated his importance to his country, as seen at the Africa Cup of Nations midway through the season.
Lorenzo Pellegrini – 7
Embed from Getty ImagesWith his captaincy removed at the start of the season and Roma’s intentions to sell him not hidden by the club, Pellegrini could have been clouded by uncertainty going into his ninth campaign with the first team.
Against the odds, he came up with some useful moments that protected his future at the club and could well have earned him a new deal.
Only Matías Soulé and Donyell Malen – the players who were widely viewed to be carrying Roma in the first and second halves of the season respectively – ended the season with more goal contributions than Pellegrini.
It still wasn’t a vintage season for the Roman, but it was a form of redemption.
Stephan El Shaarawy – 5
El Shaarawy went out on a high note, scoring Roma’s last goal of his last season with the club to make absolutely sure of their Champions League qualification.
Sadly, there was little to note of his contributions over the year before then. That was his first and only goal of the season in the league.
Considering Roma’s heavy reliance on Wesley at left wing-back, there’s an argument to say Gasperini could have rotated El Shaarawy there more often, but he seemed to view him strictly as a forward – and his output from that territory wasn’t frequent enough to earn him a new deal.
Still, El Shaarawy represented Roma with pride and was worthy of the captain’s armband he briefly wore at the start of the season.
Matías Soulé – 7.5
Soulé was Roma’s main source of inspiration over the first half of the season, when they were otherwise struggling in attack.
Three goals and two assists from his first six games in the league showcased his influence from the right wing, with his ability to catch opponents off guard proving to be useful.
Injury overshadowed his second half of the season, highlighting in extreme how he can slow attacks down. But no player should be judged too harshly for their limitations when their body isn’t at 100%.
Paulo Dybala – 7
It’s easy with Dybala to focus on the injury issues that kept him out for three separate stretches of the season, but simply put, Roma would not have qualified for the Champions League without him.
Four assists over the last three games of the season proved Dybala’s fundamental importance to Roma, with his link-up play with Malen being particularly moreish.
Only scoring twice in the league will be seen as underwhelming by Dybala and rightly so, but he more than doubled his return of assists in the league compared to the previous season.
Lorenzo Venturino – 5.5
An unexpected addition to the squad for the second half of the season after moving in the opposite direction to Tommaso Baldanzi, Venturino only got to start once among his 10 appearances for Roma.
It makes him a hard player to judge, which is also why there has been talk of Roma trying to take him on loan again to get a better idea of if he’d be worth buying.
Venturino seems to have the basics down, but showed little sign of impacting games beyond that in his limited time on the pitch.
Bryan Zaragoza – 5
Roma were relieved to finally get a right-footed left winger on board when Zaragoza joined on loan from Bayern Munich midway through the season, but those sighs of relief soon turned into sighs of frustration.
Despite a decent enough start, Zaragoza never really settled into his stride. He darted about too frantically and lacked composure.
His reluctance to use his weaker foot was particularly jarring. Who knows how he ended up at a club like Bayern in the first place, but it made sense for Roma to pay a penalty fee to send him back.
Donyell Malen – 9.5
Embed from Getty ImagesWow. There wasn’t much more that Malen could have done after joining Roma from Aston Villa in January. It felt like he was on a one-man mission.
Eager to prove he could play as a centre-forward, Malen didn’t leave it up for debate by scoring 15 goals in 20 games. Never before had a winter signing been so prolific in Serie A history.
He helped Roma break deadlocks and scored crucial goals at the business end of matches. He even missed the most big chances of any Roma player this season, more an indication of his shot volume than his usually accurate finishing ability (but enough to deny him a 10/10 rating here!).
Roma were crying out for someone like Malen over a sluggish first half of the season and he turned out to be everything they needed and more.
Robinio Vaz – 5.5
Like Venturino, Vaz is hard to judge at the moment. In his case, he hasn’t started a single game for Roma yet.
The decision to invest so heavily in him in January was a bold one and only time will tell if it pays off. For now, from his brief cameos, the French forward looks a little lightweight.
He did, promisingly, get off the mark with his first goal for the club against Lecce in March.
Artem Dovbyk – 5
Dovbyk felt like an awkward fit for a Gasperini system as soon as the coach was appointed, but it took until late August for the club to realise he wasn’t in their plans.
The bulky Ukrainian never really caught up, with injuries denying him the chance to build on what was actually a decent, if unspectacular, first season last time out in terms of goalscoring.
He was only able to start three league games all season and scored just three goals from 18 appearances in all competitions.
Evan Ferguson – 5.5
Ferguson was a gamble of a signing when brought in on loan from Brighton and it can now be said that the gamble didn’t pay off.
The Irishman managed 10 starts in Serie A, but his last game was way back in January before injury clouded the rest of his campaign.
Ferguson finished his loan spell with five goals to his name, but was never really able to find a rhythm at Roma.
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