All Roads Lead to Rome
In calcio, if you’re not Roman, you mostly pass through Rome on your way to Milan or Turin. Or on your way backwards from there.
Luigi Di Biagio, Marcos Cafu, Cristiano Zanetti, Emerson Ferreira, Jonathan Zebina, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Philippe Mexès, Adem Ljajić, Miralem Pjanić, Medhi Benatia, Radja Nainggolan, and Edin Džeko are all players that, whether through their own will or due to outside factors, made it to the big Italian three after passing through Trigoria’s doors.
On the other hand, Christian Panucci, David Pizarro, Nicolás Burdisso, Marco Borriello, Maicon Douglas, Adriano Leite, and Stephan El Shaarawy are some of those who made it to Roma on their way down from the big three.
From these lists, it may seem that no one ends up at the Eternal City by choice. Not even Gabriel Batistuta, whose 20 goals fired Roma to their third and last scudetto, in 2001. Batistuta’s bond with Fiorentina was unbreakable, highlighted by his tears at scoring against them in Roma’s colors.
But Roma is not called La Magica by chance. More often than not, the magic does happen, and those at a crossroads in their careers end up finding their feet there. Batistuta wasn’t the only one.
Take, for example, Fabio Capello. The iconic Italian coach was also once a top player. His playing career took the expected trajectory, from Roma to Juventus and then Milan. He started his coaching journey in Milan, inheriting Sacchi’s Grande Milan and turning them to Gli Invincibili, winning four scudetti and the Champions League in the process. A Liga title followed with Real Madrid, then Silvio Berlusconi, Milan’s owner, came back calling. Milan had finished their season at a miserable 11th place. Capello took over the following season and finished… 10th.
It was Capello’s first failure of his managerial career. He departed Milan and his stock cooled considerably afterwards, and that’s how Don Fabio found himself back in Rome. There, he achieved one of the greatest victories of his career by winning the title with Roma. That further cemented his legacy as a coaching great, and soon enough he was on his way to Turin despite promising not to.
Another one with an unfulfilled promise was Carlo Ancelotti, a coaching great in his own right, but also a Roma scudetto winner as a player in 1983. Ancelotti always maintaned that he would make it back to Rome someday, though time may be running out on that one. Perhaps the timing was never quite right in between stints at European giants like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea. That doesn’t sound unreasonable.
Hiring a coach let go by Tottenham Hotspur, however, sounded a lot more reasonable. José Mourinho might have been idolized — almost — everywhere he went, but after Tottenham, he was seeking that same unconditional love that he was used to at the height of his career. Except that, now he wasn’t at the height of his career. In fact, if we’re honest, his career has been on a downwards slope ever since his last season at Real Madrid, no matter how much he — or his cult — try to spin the narrative.
His arrival at Roma was met with the adulation and fanfare expected, with murals of him popping up in the city before he had even led a training session. Mourinho’s profile attracted others like him, who at their pomp would have been considered unattainable for Roma. Not least Paulo Dybala.
La Joya, as he is known, was supposed to be the centerpiece of Juventus for the peak years of his career. But a mixture of injuries, lack of impact at times, and the emergence of Federico Chiesa meant his standing was no longer what it was. Suddenly, a contract extension that was all but agreed was deemed excessive by Juventus, and he was let go on a free instead.
Even then, it seemed more conceivable that Dybala would move to Inter, probably Juve’s most hated rivals, but most importantly one of the big three. But the lure of Mourinho, and of an outpour of love, led him to Rome.
Dybala looked incredibly taken aback when Roma presented him to 10,000 adoring fans at the Colosseo Quadrato. And frankly, who could blame him? He hadn’t even stepped foot on the pitch and was celebrated by the Roma tifosi in a way Juventus fans probably didn’t even celebrate their scudetti. He had never known unconditional support like this. But then again, he had never played for Roma.
A season with 18 goals followed, and a Europa League final, where his opening goal seemed to put Roma on their way to a second European trophy in two years. They didn’t make it in the end, but the fact that he stayed this summer in spite of a €12m release clause for foreign clubs (€20m for clubs in Italy) means Dybala may have found himself a permanent home in Rome.
Which takes us to a player who probably has never found himself a real home, since leaving his native Belgium at 18 years of age. Romelu Lukaku’s career took him through numerous clubs, many that he confessed to have actually supported, but none where he ended up staying for good.
He reached the best form of his career at Inter, under Antonio Conte, forming a formidable partnership with Lautaro Martínez. His 24 goals took them to a scudetto title that had been missing from Appiano Gentile for 11 years.
The Premier League riches swayed his head, but no sooner had he arrived there than he wanted to go back again. Inter took him back with open arms, the fans did too, but Lukaku was no longer the King of Milano. Unable to accept the — temporary — role of impact player off the bench, Lukaku needed to above all feel loved. And where’s the best place for that? All roads led him to Rome.
Even if none of them ended up at the Eternal City by choice, together Mourinho, Dybala, and Lukaku all have a shot at immortality. It could be their one last hurrah at the top, like Andrea Pirlo when he moved to Juventus. Or at the very least, they could settle for cult status in a dwindling career like Roberto Baggio’s last years at Brescia under the late Carlo Mazzone. Eitherway, this is a city that will show them adulation like they’ve never seen before. How they choose to repay that should be fascinating to watch.