As Daniele De Rossi prepares to head to Argentina on his 36th birthday to sign for Boca Juniors, the reality that he is no longer a Roma player is really beginning to hit home – if it hadn’t already.
De Rossi’s exit from his hometown club meant that, despite being second on the list of all-time appearances, he would never get the chance to win a Serie A title with Roma – a cruel fate that has also met several of the club’s biggest legends.
Here are just 10 of the players whose great service to Roma sadly never culminated in a league title.
Giacomo Losi
De Rossi shares a feat with Francesco Totti, who of course did win Serie A with Roma, that no-one else can match – that of making more appearances for the club than Giacomo Losi. Representing no other team in Serie A, defender Losi featured for Roma on an impressive 455 occasions. He remains the only captain to have lifted a European trophy with Roma – the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1961 – but was never able to add the Italian title to his medal collection.
Fulvio Bernardini
Long before even Losi, Bernardini was a player whose contribution to Roma was so great that their training ground is named after him to this day. Joining the club in 1928, a year after their foundation, the midfielder was undoubtedly one of the best of his generation, playing his part in laying the groundworks for Roma to become serious challengers, but he dropped down to Serie C to close out his career three years before Roma won their first ever Scudetto.
Pedro Manfredini
One of the key players in the Fairs Cup triumph, having been the tournament’s top scorer that year, Manfredini was one of the most clinical strikers in Roma’s history. No foreign player scored more goals for the club than the Argentine, who had a phenomenal goals-to-games ratio – but like his teammate Losi, he couldn’t clinch Scudetto honours during his time in Rome.
Rodolfo Volk
Another great striker from an earlier era, Volk holds several impressive records for Roma. As the first ever goalscorer in the Derby Della Capitale and the first player to reach 100 goals for the club, his place in history is assured. However, his five-year stint in Rome ended without a trophy.
Francesco Rocca
One of the first players to be inducted into the Roma Hall of Fame, Rocca was a one-club man who, despite only scoring two goals in his career, will always be remembered by the Giallorossi faithful for his loyalty. Roma’s left-back of the 1970s brushed shoulders with many members of the squad that would conquer Italy in 1983, but he had retired before he could have been a part of that glorious triumph.
Sergio Santarini
Santarini left Roma in the same year as Rocca (1981), and was a player who had similar longevity with the club. The defender played for the Lupi across three decades, having joined in the late 1960s, and won three Coppe Italia with the club; however, just like his teammate, the league title eluded him.
Alcides Ghiggia
The legendary winger, who scored the winning goal for Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final, was one of Roma’s most gifted players in the 1950s and 60s. He made more than 200 appeareances, with the crowning glory of his time in Italy being the Fairs Cup triumph he was a part of alongside Losi and Manfredini. The year after he left Roma, he finally won Serie A with AC Milan – although he only played a bit part role.
Toninho Cerezo
One of the players added to the squad after the Scudetto was won in 1983, it was hoped that Cerezo could help inspire an age of dominance for Roma. He played a big part in the Giallorossi’s quest to the final of the European Cup in his first year, only for his new side to be beaten by Liverpool. Like Ghiggia, he managed to win a league title elsewhere after leaving Roma, with Sampdoria in 1991 – although he was once again a beaten finalist in the European Cup the following season.
Pierino Prati
One of the legendary Nils Liedholm’s first signings at Roma in 1973, Prati was hoping to replicate the success he had had at Milan, where he had won the Scudetto in 1968. Despite his optimal goalscoring record in the 1974-75 season, Roma only came third that year – and it turned out to be his highest league finish with the club. He had retired by the time his former coach Liedholm guided Roma to the title in the 1980s.
Rudi Voller
A striker of international quality, Germany legend Voller was Roma’s top scorer in three of his five years in Italy. Unfortunately, that stint came in something of a bridging period between Roma’s two most recent league titles. Joining in 1987 for Liedholm’s last full season in charge, it was the end of an era as Voller lent his talents to the Lupi. After scoring 68 goals for the club, Voller left Roma in 1992, the year before a certain Francesco Totti made his debut – signalling the start of a new journey that would reach its pinnacle almost a decade on, with the club’s third league title coming in the 2000-01 campaign.
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