Zaniolo 100 appearances for Roma. The renewal remains on standby

Ninety-nine is a number that is dear to him, if only because it is his year of birth. And because they are the appearances put together with Roma up to this moment. On Thursday against Vitesse in the Conference, or at the latest on Sunday against Udinese, Nicolò Zaniolo will make a round figure and will enter the list of centenarians in the Giallorossi jersey. A satisfaction for the striker, not to be taken for granted after in 2020 and 2021, these days, he was recovering from two knee injuries. Today, however, he can enjoy his physical rebirth and think with a hint of satisfaction about his debut three and a half years ago.

From the Bernabeu to today

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It was September 19, 2018, the stadium, which he then tattooed on his skin, was the Santiago Bernabeu, the opponent Real Madrid. On the bench was Di Francesco, the man who launched him together with coach Mancini, in the De Rossi field, in the stands Francesco Totti. Two who have written pages and pages of history with Rome. Zaniolo is only at the beginning, the road is long, there is a little continuity to be found under the goal (just 4 goals this season) and a contract renewal is to be finalized until 2026/2027 which Nicolò hopes to sign as soon as possible.

Goal and contract

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Roma, for now, has put everything on standby, the Italian and foreign sirens make themselves heard, but the desire is to continue together. Mourinho has guaranteed that Zaniolo will stay at least as long as he is there – 2024 – and is trying to make him grow a lot as a team man, given that the two years of injury have limited his tactical maturation a bit. In 99 games with Roma he scored 18 goals, including the league, Champions, Europe and Conference League, provided 13 assists and was on the pitch with an average of more than one hour of play. When he was well he always played and DiFra, Ranieri, Fonseca and now Mou have focused on him. He played mezzala, attack winger, playmaker and even false nine, often varying on the offensive front. Now he is learning to sacrifice himself a lot, to press, even at the cost of losing some clarity, but he can’t wait to go back to scoring. Doing it on the day of 100 appearances would be a nice gift.