Catching Up With the Giallorosse: Martina Tomaselli Signs, Claudia Ciccotti Extends

After beginning the summer transfer market focused solely on acquiring veteran talents to plug the gap left by Andressa Alves, Carina Wenninger, and Vicky Losada, Roma has suddenly traversed the age spectrum, landing two supremely talented twenty-somethings.

Earlier this month, Head of Women's Football Betty Bavagnoli unveiled Spanish defender Oihane Valdezate, who left her hometown club Athletic Club Bilbao to sign a three-year deal with Roma. Standing 5'11", Valdezate instantly becomes the tallest player in club history, edging out striker Martina Piemonte by one inch.

And last week, Roma continued the youth trend when they signed midfielder Martina Tomaselli, who will turn 22 next month. Tomaselli, nominally listed as a central midfielder, can play virtually anywhere in attack. In 17 appearances for Sassuolo last season, Tomaselli played across the entire midfield while featuring at right-wing, left-wing, and even a few spot appearances at center-forward.

In those 17 league appearances, Tomaselli scored three goals and provided two assists in 877 minutes. While the goal tally won't bowl you over yet, Tomaselli is a ball mover and chance-creator extraordinaire, ranking in the 85th to 96th percentile among midfielders in Europe's major leagues in progressive carries, carries into the final third and carries into the penalty area, respectively. And if that weren't impressive enough, her 0.72 goal-creating actions per 90 minutes ranked in the 98th percentile.

On her newest signing, Bavagnoli didn't mince words:

"Martina is the present and future of Italian football. She's a talented youngster, a midfielder with fantastic vision and technique," commented Betty Bavagnoli, Head of Women's Football.

"By recruiting a player with her characteristics our midfield will be boosted. We're so happy to have her join Roma."

Adding a progressive and dynamic talent like Tomaselli to a midfield that already features Manuel Giugliano, Giada Greggi, and fellow new signee Saki Kumagai is almost unfair to the rest of the league.

But Roma wasn't done shoring up the midfield as they penned Claudia Ciccotti to a new one-year deal. A Roman through and through, Ciccotti has been with the club since day one, making 79 appearances for her hometown team since 2018.

"I'm happy and proud to continue wearing this shirt, which is very special for me," Claudia commented.

"I've had the privilege of being here from the first day so I've been able to see the team's growth year on year, culminating in our historic first Scudetto. Now the challenge is to keep aiming higher without setting any limits.

Ciccotti even had the honor of showcasing the club's vaunted Historical Archives, which contains a shirt from the club's very first season in 1927, among other treasures.

As usual, Bavagnoli has worked in silence, outfitting her squad with capable veterans like Kumagai, Barbara Latorre, and Laura Fieresinger while keeping her keen eye on the future by landing U-23 standouts like Valdezate and Tomaselli.