Matias Soule’s Rejuvenation at AS Roma
After a big money move in the summer of 2024 from the north of Italy to the South, it took its time. But Roma at the start of the 2025/26 season under Gian Piero Gasperini are reaping the rewards and the benefits. Signed in the summer of 2024 for initial €25.6m rising up to €29m in bonuses from Juventus, at the time it was to play under Daniele De Rossi. Soule would link up with Paulo Dybala in a 4-3-2-1 set up to play behind another arrival in Artem Dovbyk; however, Daniele De Rossi would be fired after four games after a dramatic injury time equaliser from now-AC Milan defender Koni De Winter, leaving Roma winless after four games.
Ivan Juric would come into be AS Roma coach and try to stop the bleeding and do a fire-fighting stopgap role. Ivan Juric would come in and would be sacked after a 3-2 home defeat to Bologna. Juric lasted just twelve games in all competitions, Claudio Ranieri would come in and finally steady the ship at AS Roma.
For Soule it would been chaotic, after a wonderful loan spell at Frosinone where the club got relegated dramatically on the final day of the season at home to Udinese. Soule stood out with eleven goals and three assists in thirty-six Serie A appearances for Eusebio Di Francesco’s side, but now at AS Roma, he would struggle as did a lot of the players did in the opening months of the season.
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The pressure of a new environment, the chopping and changing of coaches on the touchline. The weight of a big money transfer fee started to weigh heavily on the player. The perfect tonic for both Matias Soule and AS Roma was the introduction of Claudio Ranieri to the club as manager/head coach for the rest of the 2024/25 season. Just one goal in the opening nine games of the season told a story of struggle for both player and club as Roma were going through a traumatic time — the goal game away in Verona in a 3-2 defeat to Hellas Verona.
It took Claudio Ranieri to take him out of the firing line and ease Soule back into the starting lineup. It worked, Ranieri adopted a 3-4-2-1 set up and had Matias Soule to play in the right-hand side attacking role behind the striker and use his direct running and left foot to cause opposition defenders problems.
In the final fourteen games of the Serie A season under Claudio Ranieri, Matias Soule added four goals and five assists to help AS Roma finish in the top five and were just fourteen minutes away from Champions League football. Three of the four goals were winning goals in games Roma won at the latter half of the season. A deadly free kick away at Parma gave Roma a vital 1-0 win as Claudio Ranieri was rotating from Serie A to Europa League.
Three weeks later Matias Soule was the match winner again with the decisive goal in a 1-0 win in Tuscany away at Empoli. In April, Matias Soule left foot would be enthralling Roma fans. A wonderful long-range effort in the Derby Della Capitale gave Roma the spoils 1-1. The goal was a first-time strike from distance which aesthetically went in off the crossbar. Two matchdays later, Roma travelled to the San Siro to take on Inter and was the party poopers with Soule scoring the winner in the first half. Roma rode their luck and managed to come away from the San Siro with all three points.
The five assists in the final fourteen games of the season came against Monza in a 4-0 home win. Against Hellas Verona on Easter Saturday in a game I was at in the Curva Nord for my birthday. Roma won the game 1-0. Three assists in the final three games of the season away at Atalanta in a 2-1 defeat, home to AC Milan a 3-1 home win and away to Torino in a 2-0 away win.
Under the guidance of Gian Piero Gasperini, Matias Soule has kicked off and showed the form from the latter half of the season and took it to another level. After a 1-0 home win to start the season against Bologna, AS Roma travelled to Pisa to take on the newly promoted side. After a slow first half where Roma struggled with the intensity of the game. Soule struck in the midway through the second half to give Roma the advantage. Unfortunately, he had a second goal disallowed for a harsh handball, when going up to control the ball hit his hand before the chest.
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In the cauldron of the first Derby Della Capitale played in the blazing midday sunshine on September 21st. Roma won the game 1-0 thanks to an error from Lazio left back Nuno Tavares who lost possession to Devyne Rensch who passed to Matias Soule who assisted the forgotten man of Rome Lorenzo Pellegrini. On matchday five in a difficult encounter at home to Hellas Verona, Roma struggled for rhythm and consistency after a European game away at Nice just four days previously. Soule scored the important second goal with eleven minutes remaining, it was the tonic that Roma needed after struggling for large parts of the game.
It was a dramatic few minutes for AS Roma at home to Lille in the second game of both teams UEFA Europa League stage campaign. Roma was awarded a penalty due to a handball from a corner from Lille defender Aissa Mandi. Artem Dovbyk would miss twice from twelve yards both saved by Turkish goalkeeper Berke Ozer. Both penalties were the same penalty from Artem Dovbyk, both low left footed penalties to the keeper left. Matias Soule took the other penalty and missed the third going to goalkeeper other side and it was at the comfortable height. The first two penalties had to be re-taken due to encroachment, and all three penalties were saved in a matter of minutes.
As Roma along with Artem Dovbyk and Matias Soule righted the many wrongs of that Thursday evening debacle in Rome with a spirited away win in Florence against Fiorentina. Matias Soule with a goal and an assist in a crucial 2-1 away win which sent AS Roma top for a few hours only to be pegged back by Napoli. Soule scored a brilliant first goal thanks to work from Tommaso Baldanzi and Artem Dovbyk. He assisted the winner with a corner kick from the right-hand side headed in from close range by Bryan Cristante.
Since then, Soule has started in back-to-back losses to Inter and Viktoria Plzen before guiding Roma to consecutive wins vs. Sassuolo and Parma. And while he was kept under wraps in a 1-0 defeat at Milan, Soule bounced back by breaking the deadlock in a 2-0 win at Rangers, before spearheading the Giallorossi to a victory against Parma. Roma sit second in the league table, level on 24 points with table-toppers Inter.
Under Gian Piero Gasperini, Matias Soule is kicking on and reaching a new level with form and consistency showed under Claudio Ranieri last season and brought into the start of this season. He has been indispensable at the start of the season, AS Roma have a maverick on there hands with Matias Soule. We are finally seeing the rewards after a slow start. He came to Rome to play with Paulo Dybala; he is Dybala heir at the moment. He will probably replace La Joya in the next few years in Rome and be the main man to build a team around.
What is Juventus loss is proving to be AS Roma gain, just over a year later Juventus are looking to have egg on there face selling off a priced asset for to fund a failed transfer in Teun Koopmeiners. AS Roma are now enjoying the benefits of Matias Soule and has now finally settled in and found a home after a tough start in the capital.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Marco Luzzani – Getty Images