The 20-year-old midfielder has been one of the success stories of the early Serie A season, netting on his league debut for Cagliari before earning his first call-up to the Italy national team. Romano has earned comparisons to Barcelona’s Rodri by La Gazzetta dello Sport and has represented Switzerland at youth international level, but formally switched his allegiance to Italy earlier this month.
Romano is set to start at the base of Mancini’s midfield for his first game back in charge of the Nazionale against Belgium on Friday, likely alongside Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Barella. This rapid rise to the top of the Italian game has led to speculation that Roma might already be regretting the terms they negotiated when selling the midfielder to Cagliari earlier this summer.