Sixty-three thousand screaming, singing AS Roma fans filled the old, grey Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night, fuelled by hope of ending long championship and Champions League droughts thanks to a dynamic new manager and the best goalkeeper in Italy.
And also, a new 20-year-old striker from Bettystown.
Evan Ferguson made his Roma debut and while he didn’t continue his preseason scoring pace that amplified fans’ dreams, he showed flashes that may make him the missing piece in Roma’s confounding puzzle.
He had three shots in the first 16 minutes, showed remarkable footwork and had a perfect cross that Manu Koné botched by missing a near empty net.
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Brazilian Wesley Franca, another young acquisition, stole the glory. His goal in the 53rd minute gave Roma a 1-0 win over Bologna, a Champions League side last season.
But in the big picture, Ferguson looked as if he’s the perfect fit.
“Ferguson played a great match,” new manager Gian Piero Gasperini said. “He is a good player. From an athletic point of view he still needs to grow. He played little last year and needs to get used to it. But tonight he showed some important qualities for us and this year will surely give us great satisfaction.”
Ferguson has entered a soccer cauldron as hot as Rome’s August weather. Saturday was Roma’s 18th straight sell-out of more than 60,000. The club boasts 44,000 season ticket holders and one station, Roma Radio, broadcasts only AS Roma 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And they’re frustrated.
This club has only three Serie A titles in its 99 years, the last coming 25 seasons ago. They finished fifth last season and haven’t made the Champions League since 2018-19.
Yet they have a strong foundation with last season’s Serie A best goalkeeper in Mile Svilar and a solid midfield. What they need is a striker. Artem Dovbyk, last season’s leading scorer with 17, was inconsistent and had a weak preseason.
Paulo Dybala, Roma’s marquee player, is nursing a leg injury and can’t go 90 minutes. Forward Leon Bailey, on loan from Aston Villa, tore a leg muscle in his first training session on Wednesday and is out at least a month. This is a team that finished only ninth in scoring last season with 56 goals.
So here comes Ferguson, three seasons removed from scoring 10 goals in 25 games as an 18-year-old for Brighton. The cheers and chants from 70 Roma fans greeting him at the airport upon his arrival on July 20th were still ringing in his ears four days later when he debuted with four goals in his first friendly.
Granted, it was against fourth division UniPomezia, but he landed six goals in his first three friendlies and a game-winning assist.
Will he be the Evan Ferguson who was one of the Premier League’s best young players three years ago or the injury-plagued player who scored only once in 23 games last season for Brighton, and West Ham on loan?
“Ferguson is the classic guy who did very well then stalled a bit, perhaps due to injury or other circumstances,” Gasperini said. “He didn’t live up to expectations. But it’s a classic situation where you can help this guy get back to the level he was [at] a few years ago.”
If anyone can, it’s Gasperini. Before arriving at Roma this season, Gasperini spent nine years guiding Atalanta into the Serie A elite. They reached the Champions League five times in the last seven seasons and won the Europa League in 2024 in Dublin. He helped striker Mateo Retegui lead Serie A in scoring with 25 goals last season and Gianluca Scamacca score 19 the season before.
Journalists covering Roma say Ferguson fits Gasperini’s high-pressing system. He’s faster and more fluid than Dovbyk, who plays more stationary. He replaced Ferguson in the 74th minute on Saturday and by this time next week will likely be elsewhere. Napoli and Milan have reportedly shown interest.
Roma don’t allow players to talk to the press in the mixed zone after Serie A games but in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this month, Ferguson said Gasperini may be the key to jump-starting his career.
“I know that many strikers have become famous under the coach,” he said. “He scores a lot. It’s definitely a positive thing for me, too.”
How positive? He already has a goal for goals.
“I don’t usually think about an exact number of goals,” he said. “I definitely want to score in every game, even though I know it’s not easy. Twenty goals? Let’s hope so.”
He could only have had a better debut if he scored the game winner. In only the fifth minute, he evaded his marker and went one-on-one with goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, who blocked his left-footed shot. Six minutes later, Skorupski stopped his powerful shot from the edge of the box and in the 16th minute Ferguson’s charging header just missed.
He nearly sealed the win in the 63rd minute with a beautiful cross across the box to Koné who somehow fired wide with Skorupski completely out of position.
Corriere dello Sport, the Rome-based national newspaper, gave Ferguson an excellent rating of 7, writing, “Dynamic, reactive, purposeful, generous” and also “The Irishman, at a certain point, looked like one of those pinball machine springs from the 80s: cushions, touches, supports, he put his bulldog body everywhere.”
“This is a great club with ambition,” Ferguson told La Gazzetta. “We can do it. As players and as a team, we must all push in that direction. The fans deserve a team higher than fifth place. When I played in Rome with Brighton, there was a special atmosphere.
“The players seem possessed.”
His future is back on track – for now. A successful debut in his pocket, he walked into the warm Rome night with the sound of 63,000 of his new fans singing “Grazie Roma” ringing in his ears.
