Marked for Devyne Rensch
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2028
4‑0, and Federico Bonazzoli took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS Roma tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 32, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match26 Aug 2028
Nobody wants to play AS Roma right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market28 Aug 2028
The name of Niccolò Pisilli has come up in conversations AS Roma were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 9.73 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market28 Aug 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AS Roma will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Roma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2028
Venezia come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Roma did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market14 Aug 2028
Add another name to the list: Monza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Devyne Rensch. The answer from AS Roma has not changed — yet.
Market14 Aug 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Carrarese will make the call about Giorgio De Marzi this week. AS Roma have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niccolò Pisilli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jul 2028
AS Roma say no — this time
The offer from Bra for Pietro Serafini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch31 Jul 2028
“I watch every AS Roma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Virtus Entella runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Antonio Arena
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market31 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Evan N'Dicka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market31 Jul 2028
AS Roma have made Devis Vásquez available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Paulo Dybala in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Jul 2028
Monza are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. AS Roma will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad17 Jul 2028
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Jul 2028
The Matías Soulé story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Soulé signs something — a contract at AS Roma or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jun 2028
Niccolò Pisilli: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Roma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jun 2028
Udinese pay $4.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market19 Jun 2028
Monza are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. AS Roma will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Roma may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jun 2028
AS Roma say no — this time
The offer from Juventus for Agustín Ruberto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market12 Jun 2028
Paulo Dybala wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Roma hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Matías Soulé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Roma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Roma have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Youte out for 21 days
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Youte, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 2027
Steven Benda: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Roma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match11 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for AS Roma
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market13 Dec 2027
Paulo Dybala wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Roma hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Matías Soulé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch13 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Foggia to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Roma and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A season average of 7.44 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match11 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom13 Dec 2027
Doors closed at AS Roma
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.