A Closer Look at How Lorenzo Pellegrini Became Roma's Captain

One of the reasons for this is Roma's top-notch youth academy that has produced several world-class talents over the years such as Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi.

OFFICIAL 📋 Lorenzo Pellegrini is home... 💛❤️

➡️

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN)

There's another player who's also an AS Roma academy graduate and who's now entering his prime - Lorenzo Pellegrini. The hard-working midfielder is considered as the next big player at Roma, after the departure of club legends like De Rossi and Totti.

Lorenzo has always expressed his desire

one day. And during the second half of the 2020/2021 season, Pellegrini finally became Roma's captain. He received the captain's armband from former Roma manager Paulo Fonseca after a conflict between Edin Dzeko and Fonseca.

Regardless, Pellegrini fully deserves to be the captain of AS Roma, especially as he was born in Rome and came from the team's youth academy. Ever since Lorenzo made his professional debut in 2015, he slowly established himself as one of the most intelligent and tactically sound midfielders in Europe. In fact, his incredible vision and ball control can draw a comparison to the legendary Francesco Totti.

The rise of Pellegrini started when he joined Sassuolo in 2015 in a transfer that included a buy-back clause so that Roma could potentially re-purchase the product of their own academy in the future. Apparently, the club's board of directors opted for this move as a result of Pellegrini's outstanding performance throughout the 2016/2017 season with Sassuolo.

The Italian international was involved with at least ten goals during that season, which made him the youngest player in Italy's top flight to achieve this. His overall record for the 2016/2017 campaign was eight goals and seven assists in 34 games, which made Roma trigger the buy-back clause to bring their talent back.

And he didn't need much time to prove himself in the Italian capital as Lorenzo registered a total of 37 appearances in the 2017/2018 season. He continued his solid form in the following two seasons as the assists kept on piling, despite not scoring as much as he did while playing for Sassuolo.

However, in the 2020/2021 season, Pellegrini showed that he can score goals for Roma too. He finished the campaign with a total of 11 goals in 47 appearances. The great form of Lorenzo made Italy head coach Roberto Mancini include him in Italy's squad for the Euro 2020 tournament, only for Pellegrini to

by receiving a tight injury 24 hours before Squadra Azzura's opening game against Turkey.

🔟 | A perfect display!

Lorenzo Pellegrini vs Crotone:

👌 88 touches

⚽️ 2 goals

🥅 6 shots/4 on target

🎯 1 big ch. created

🔑 7 key passes

🔭 4/4 acc. long balls

👟 47/55 acc. passes

💨 3/5 succ. dribbles

❌ 3 tackles

📈 10 SofaScore rating

Brilliant stuff! 👏👏

— SofaScore (@SofaScoreINT)

His flair, agility, ball control and movement cemented his place in the Squadra Azzurra, which has plenty of talent in midfield.

Lorenzo has been an Italian international since 2017 and before the Euros, he was an integral part of Italy's starting eleven. But despite losing Pellegrini, Italy spectacularly began their Euro 2020 campaign, winning all of their group matches without conceding a single goal. One of their more memorable games at the Euros was the 3:0 victory over Turkey played at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Unsurprisingly, Euro 2020 is becoming one of the biggest sporting events of 2021.

It's fair to say that football is a cultural staple of the modern age, with the Euros and other competitions appearing in many forms across our media. Major football events such as the Euro 2020 have become a huge item and have opened the door to various merchandising opportunities. Football and major tournaments like the Euros have even made their way into themed games such as Golden Goal and Football: Champions Cup found on various platforms including 

. Now, fans don't need to wait for these sporting events to revisit former glories or create exciting new match-ups.

Whether it's the Euros or World Cup, Italy always have a presence that cannot be underestimated. Thousands of Italian supporters cheered for their team as this was a brilliant example of how football has become much more than a sport. It's probably safe best to assume will have become vital to the Italian squad as he matures.

Despite pulling out from the Euros, Lorenzo Pellegrini is still regarded as one of the top midfielders in Europe at the moment and a player who definitely deserves to captain Roma