The number 7 of the yellow-red team, much like the rest of the squad, has endured a bleak year, marked by many shadows and very few lights: Roma now seems to be recovering, but he isn’t.

The 2024 of Lorenzo Pellegrini, as well as the entire Roma, has been a year marked by many shadows and very few lights. A complicated season, marked by the succession of four coaches changed within 10 months. The performance of the team seems to be entering a revival phase, primarily down to the unforeseen return of Claudio Ranieri to the bench. Though many players seem to have found their way back up, there are still some who are unable to escape the quicksand. One player who stands out in particular is none other than the captain of Roma. Pellegrini, in 2024, experienced a phase of slight rebirth only with the arrival of Daniele De Rossi at the helm of the squad. However, the challenging periods have certainly outweighed the good, enduring still, and it’s likely that he will seek a resurrection far from the Capital. In the league, however, Roma struggled to replicate their European exploits. The coach from Setubal, in his 96 matches in Roma’s dugout in Serie A, recorded an average of 1.61 points per game (the lowest among coaches who have managed at least 50 games for the club in the three points per win era). The 2023-24 season was not spectacular, and it has negatively impacted the performance of number 7 player: His attendance in the 19 fixtures under the Portuguese coach’s guidance was just 16 appearances, with a disappointing 3 goal tally and 2 assists recorded in what could have been his breakout season. The dismissal of Mourinho was a severe blow, made even worse by feelings of betrayal from his own captain. The walls of Trigoria have relayed a tale of a relationship dramatically changed from the beginning. The Portuguese coach’s farewell day was marked by an incident that arose in the subsequent weeks, featuring no one other than Lorenzo Pellegrini himself. The two reportedly managed a strained farewell, with Mourinho said to have left in the captain’s locker a ring gifted to him by the team to celebrate their Conference victory. All of this was allegedly accompanied by a biting note. Number 7, only some time later, tried to clarify: “There are no issues between Mourinho and me, we have settled things. What we had to tell each other, we’ve said.” The captain, alongside De Rossi, has played 25 games (missing one match due to a suspension), scoring 7 goals and making 3 assists. This has been one of his best seasons in the yellow-red since 2022. Thus, the season has come to an end. The presence of the former number 16 on the bench seemed to have been the right medicine for the Roma players to regain their enthusiasm to take the field. For this reason, the company has decided to move forward with the De Rossi project, but by September, something already seemed to have changed. Truth be told, the players were thrilled with Daniele’s continued presence, but the management was somewhat less enthusiastic. The fact is that the results did not arrive as some expected, and after the draw in Marassi against Genoa, De Rossi was dismissed (not solely for sporting reasons). As the Roma team’s captain himself recounted a few days later, the team neither wanted nor expected such an outcome. However, he was accused by the fans of having been one of the architects of this sudden separation. A Roma team to rediscover for the Croatian coach, who has always spoken as if it were a kind of shock from which everyone seemed unable to recover, due to the departure of De Rossi. And apparently, one of the players who was most affected was indeed Pellegrini, who started to struggle to find his footing on the field. “When Juric arrived it was a day of sadness, but he was exceptional in turning it into a desire to change things,” the captain stated in a press conference on the eve of the European defeat against Elfsborg. “We were fortunate to find a man, before a professional, who was able to understand the sadness of the moment and turn it into a desire to revolutionize things.” With the former Torino in control, there have been 10 appearances by the number 7 in yellow and red, with two matches missed due to muscle issues and just 2 assists noted. However, there have been moments of crisis, such as being excluded from the start due to a technical decision in the victory against Torino on October 31st (a match in which he still came on for the last 25 minutes of the game) and the decision to propose Pisilli in place of the captain. “I was expecting, conceptually, to have more. If Pisilli gives me more assurance, he will play even though he’s just a kid, and Pellegrini is our captain,” Juric stated on November 9th, on the eve of the fatal defeat against Bologna. “Pellegrini is introverted, but now he must respond to adversity,” admitted Sir Claudio on November 22nd, just days after his latest installment in Trigoria. But also, “he must plug back in, in my career I have had two phenomenal midfielders scoring goals, they are Lampard and Pellegrini,” to give him a feel of his own confidence. Yesterday, in the 89th minute, a glaring error occurred face-to-face with Maignan on Dybala’s brilliant pass, which could have been worth three crucial points for Roma. Despite declaring that he had never discussed the future with his number 7, Ranieri has always preached a serenity that seems slow to arrive (assuming there is still time available). “Undoubtedly, he’s not pleased about warming the bench, it’s normal and it would be troublesome if he was. He’s upset, but he’s committed to Roma and always strives to give his best,” Sir Claudio continued in the pre-game interview held by DAZN. Despite entering the field in the second half of Milan-Roma, an action deemed positive by the yellow-red coach, Pellegrini’s adventure at Roma seems destined to reach an end quite soon. In recent weeks, there was talk of a possible swap with Napoli and Raspadori, but the yellow-red captain earns 6 million a season (too much for the Neapolitan club, who do not want to breach their payroll ceiling). In addition, the Azzurri striker seems to have regained favor with the local fans after his winning goal against Venezia. On the trail of the number 7, we also find Fiorentina, who is on the lookout for a new addition to their midfield, and Inter Milan, always keen on players nearing the end of their contracts or at odds with their own clubs, but with a view towards June. Indeed, the issue of contract: the bond between Roma and their captain will end in 2026 and, at the moment, there seems to be no will to propose a renewal: everything leans towards a farewell, in January or, more likely, in the summer. Marcello Spaziani