More than 150 different players have ever scored double figures of goals for Roma, but some have got to 10 quicker than others.
Here, Giallorossi Yorkshire looks at the top 10 players to get to 10 goals in the fewest amount of appearances (there is one list only focusing on players in the 21st Century, and one for all time).
21st Century
Gabriel Batistuta – 9 games
If a club is going to break their transfer record to sign you, it helps to make a strong first impression to justify their faith.
That’s exactly what Gabriel Batistuta was able to do after Roma brought him in from Fiorentina in 2000 for a fee bigger than any other club had ever paid for a player over the age of 30.
Batistuta’s record with Fiorentina (and Argentina) spoke for itself, but a Scudetto had evaded him. Roma, too, had not finished top of the Serie A table since 1983, so it was a union designed to have mutual benefits.
And indeed, by the end of the season, Batistuta was part of a title-winning Roma squad, having scored 20 league goals from 28 games. In all competitions, his tally was 21 from 32.
Batistuta had opened his account on his debut in the UEFA Cup against ND Gorica, before drawing a blank on his league debut for Roma. However, his next couple of Serie A appearances saw him score twice against Lecce and once against Vicenza, before he failed to find the net against Inter but then bagged a hat-trick against Brescia.
His next UEFA Cup appearance didn’t include any goals, but he then scored a brace in the league against Hellas Verona and the following week scored against his former club Fiorentina to reach 10 goals for Roma before his 10th appearance.
Paulo Dybala – 16 games
Even though he was a free transfer, Paulo Dybala was deemed by many to be Roma’s biggest signing in terms of pedigree since his compatriot Batistuta when he arrived from Juventus in 2022.
Dybala got off the mark for Roma in his fourth appearance, with not one, but two goals against Monza.
Between September and October, he then managed to score in five consecutive appearances (but not consecutive games, since he missed one in between) across all competitions.
An injury delayed his progress towards the three more goals he needed to reach 10, but he got there in February 2023 in a league draw with Lecce, equalising from the penalty spot.
Romelu Lukaku – 16 games
Roma signed Romelu Lukaku late in the summer 2023 transfer window after virtually no pre-season preparation with Chelsea, but any fears that he might have been off the pace to start with were quickly dispelled.
One of Roma’s biggest signings in recent memory in terms of profile, even if he only came in on loan, Lukaku quickly set about justifying the warm reception he witnessed first hand from the fanbase.
Lukaku became the first player ever to score on their first three starts for Roma, showing reliability in Serie A and the Europa League (often within the same week).
In fact, the Europa League was a platform on which Lukaku extended an extraordinary scoring run. After goals on the first three matchdays of the group stage, he scored on the fifth, in a 1-1 draw at Servette, to reach 10 goals for the club.
That was on his 16th appearance, 11 of which were in Serie A (producing six goals) and five in the Europa League (accounting for the other four goals).
Fabio Borini – 19 games
Fabio Borini only spent one season at Roma and that was on loan from Parma. He finished the 2011-12 campaign with 10 goals from 26 games for the Giallorossi.
However, he failed to score in his last seven outings, having hit the double-figures mark within 19 appearances.
Borini did so at the end of a four-game scoring streak in Serie A (a spell in which he was playing as a right-winger and also included a goal in the derby), getting the only goal of the game in a win over Palermo.
In fact, despite having a goals-to-games ratio better than one in two by the time he got to his tally of 10, all but one of Borini’s strikes for Roma came after Christmas.
His upturn in form earned him a place in Italy’s squad for Euro 2012, although he never got onto the pitch, and a transfer to Liverpool (which Roma gained the money from after buying him out from Parma a couple of weeks prior).
Marco Borriello – 20 games
Marco Borriello only made more appearances for AC Milan and Genoa than Roma from his lengthy list of former clubs. The bulk of his work in the capital came in his debut season after signing from Milan in August 2010.
Borriello scored 17 goals in his first season with Roma from 46 appearances. His 10th goal was in the group stage of the Champions League, in a draw away at CFR Cluj.
It was his fourth goal of the group stage, but actually turned out to be the last time he would ever score in a European fixture, despite his career continuing until 2019.
By the end of the campaign, Borriello was tied with Francesco Totti as Roma’s top scorer.
Dani Osvaldo – 21 games
The year after Borriello’s arrival, Roma added to their attack further with the acquisition of Dani Osvaldo (then known as Pablo).
Before coming to Roma, the only of his former clubs that Osvaldo had scored 10 goals for were Huracan and Espanyol – and none of the four Italian sides he had spent time with.
He managed to get to 10 for Roma within one season, though, eventually ending the campaign with 12 goals to his name from 26 appearances, all in Serie A.
His campaign included four consecutive games with a goal between September and October 2011 and later a three-game scoring streak that culminated with his 10th goal for the club in a big win over Novara, in which he also provided two assists.
Tammy Abraham – 22 games
After arriving from Chelsea in 2021, Tammy Abraham went on to score more goals in his debut season for Roma than anyone else ever had (27).
Abraham recorded two assists on his debut before scoring his first Roma goal in his second appearance, against Salernitana.
Roma’s involvement in the Europa Conference League group staged helped Abraham add to his tally and it was in that competition that he scored a brace against CSKA Sofia in December 2021 to reach 10 goals for his new club.
That was actually already his second brace for the club after he had also struck twice in another group game against Zorya Luhansk a couple of weeks before.
In fact, more than half of Abraham’s first 10 goals for Roma came in the Conference League (six compared to four in Serie A).
Mattia Destro – 22 games
It had taken Mattia Destro only one season to reach 10 goals for Siena before Roma bought him in 2012. Subsequently, he also hit double figures in his debut season in the capital.
Destro didn’t actually open his Roma account until November 2012 in his seventh appearance, but he scored three goals across his ninth and 10th outings as his form and fitness picked up.
His next four goals all came in the Coppa Italia, from the round of 16 to both legs of the semi-finals, but his 10th goal was back in the league against Pescara in April 2013 after another injury.
Borja Mayoral – 22 games
Brought in on loan from Real Madrid as the man who would effectively become the last ever backup to Edin Dzeko for Roma, Borja Mayoral was patient for his opportunities, but hit some sort of stride around midway through his only full season in Serie A.
He averaged better than a goal every other game in the 2020-21 Europa League and it was in that competition that he scored his 10th Roma goal, against Braga in the first leg of the first knockout round.
By the end of the season, Mayoral had 17 goals to his name, but he only stayed for half of the second season of his loan after it became clear he was far less a Jose Mourinho player than one for Paulo Fonseca.
Stephan El Shaarawy – 27 games
After sacking Rudi Garcia and replacing him with Rudi Garcia in January 2016, Roma then looked at the transfer market for ways to further help them get back on track.
Along with Diego Perotti, Stephan El Shaarawy was an effective signing who made an instant impact by scoring a spectacular flick on his debut against Frosinone.
In total, El Shaarawy scored eight goals from 16 appearances during his loan spell, which conveniently became permanent that summer.
During his follow-up season, El Shaarawy scored his 10th (and 11th) Roma goal in a Europa League group-stage draw with Austria Vienna.
He has since become, thanks to two spells with the club, one of less than 25 players to score 50 goals or more for Roma.
All time
Gabriel Batistuta – 9 games
Danilo Michelini – 15 games
Paulo Dybala – 16 games
Romelu Lukaku – 16 games
Rodolfo Volk – 16 games
Francisco Lojacono – 17 games
Aleksandar Arangelovic – 18 games
Fabio Borini – 19 games
Mario Bussich – 19 games
Dante Di Benedetti – 19 games
Pedro Manfredini – 19 games
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