Roma’s next step is being drawn beyond the first team. With the senior side currently leading Serie A and the stadium project having received approval, the Friedkin ownership is preparing to add an Under-23 team to the club’s structure, creating a competitive bridge between Primavera football and the demands of the top flight.
Chief executive John Galantic used the Festival dello Sport in Trento to set out the direction. Roma, he said, need to produce more players in the mould of Lulli and Pisilli, while recognising that academy graduates require a proper intermediate stage before they can be expected to establish themselves in Serie A. Juventus, Milan, Inter and Atalanta have already developed similar second-team projects, and Roma now intend to follow that path.
Closing the gap after Primavera
The proposed team would address a familiar problem at Trigoria: players leaving the Primavera age group before they are ready for regular first-team football, yet with no suitable domestic level inside the club to continue their development. Rather than sending them away on loans or accepting permanent departures, Roma would be able to supervise their progress in a Serie C environment.
That could be particularly relevant for players currently spread across other clubs, including Mannini, Reale, Cherubini, Seck, Nardin, Zelezny and Litti. It would also offer a route for the older members of the present Primavera group: Morucci, Bah, Arduini, Di Nunzio, Ferrara, Marchetti, Terlizzi, Panico and Cama. Bah is currently recovering from a ligament injury. Several of those players have already trained or appeared around the first-team set-up, while others are involved with Italy’s youth national sides.
Roma see the project as a means of avoiding more departures such as Alessandro Romano’s move to Cagliari. Romano is now a regular with the national team, and his case has become an example of a player whose development might have remained closer to Trigoria with another competitive level available. In earlier years, Davide Frattesi, Riccardo Calafiori and Matteo Politano also left the Roma pathway. More recently, Coletta joined Benfica B, Levak moved to Atalanta Under 23 and Marin went to Paris Saint-Germain.
The academy itself has already undergone significant change. Massimo Margiotta has arrived as the new youth-sector head, while long-standing figures Bruno Conti and Alberto De Rossi have departed.
Venue, investment and a wider club strategy
Two major practical issues remain before Roma can make an application. The first is the ground. Tre Fontane does not presently satisfy all the criteria required to host the side, so renovation work is being considered. Stella Polare, home of Daniele De Rossi’s Ostiamare, is the alternative under examination.
The second concern is the overall investment. Roma are considering around €20 million for the wider infrastructure needed for the project. To enter Serie C, the club would also have to pay Lega Pro a non-refundable €720,000 contribution, provided there is a vacant place in the competition, as often occurs in Italy. Annual operating costs, covering players’ wages, coaching staff, travel and logistics, are estimated at between €2.5 million and €3.5 million.
UEFA would regard such spending as constructive investment, making it helpful within the club’s financial sustainability framework. Yet the central purpose is sporting rather than accounting. Galantic argued that Roma cannot rely simply on capital gains from player trading, because mistakes in the transfer market eventually arrive. The answer, in his view, is to develop a deeper pool of talent.
That approach has also been visible in recruitment since January. Rodrigo Mora, 19, Koulierakis, 22, Vaz, 19, and Castro, 21, have all been brought in as players with both immediate potential and room to grow. Roma place Pisilli’s current value at €25-30 million, Lulli’s at €10-12 million, with the full-back close to a new deal after making his Italy Under-21 debut. Mora’s valuation reflects the €50 million invested in him, with hopes that it could reach €70-80 million within two years.
The search for younger profiles may continue into the winter window, with Van Bommel, Endrick, Kvernadze and Bakola among the names being considered. It does not mean Roma intend to dispense with experience: Gianluca Mancini, Bryan Cristante, Paulo Dybala and Mario Hermoso have all been renewed or retained, while offers for Koné, Wesley and Svilar have been resisted.
With a new stadium on the horizon and the club moving away from its UEFA Settlement Agreement restrictions, Roma believe the Under-23 side can become part of a more stable long-term model: one in which the next promising Primavera player does not have to leave Trigoria to become ready for it.
