Gian Piero Gasperini / Claudio Ranieri falling out sparks internal fractures in Roma
AS Roma off the field tensions have caused an internal fracture which led to a man who is respected by the Romanista worldwide leaving his role as senior advisor. Claudio Ranieri came and saved AS Roma from obscurity last season after Ivan Juric was sacked after a short spell at the club. Ranieri took AS Roma to fifth in the Scudetto standings and twenty minutes from Champions League Football. He would then step aside and move upstairs to the senior advisor role and would be apart of the process to pick the next person who would be in charge of AS Roma.
That would be Gian Piero Gasperini, who left Bergamo after nine wonderful seasons at Atalanta. Before the announcement there was tension before in May 2025 before Roma played AC Milan at the Stadio Olimpico in their final home match of the season. Outside the Stadio Olimpico there was a banner by Roma fans that caught traction and was aimed at Roma management. “Respect our history, don’t bring that piece of S**t Gasperini to trigoria!.”
Over his tenure at Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini was known for being a spikey and getting under the skin over opposition fans and managers. It was announced on June 6th, 2025, that Gian Piero Gasperini would take charge at AS Roma until summer of 2028. Claudio Raneri joked that “I didn’t like Gasperini either, “I’ve told him the fans didn’t like him either “. That comment roughly eight months later cost Claudio Ranieri job in Rome.
Frederic Massara was appointed the club director of Sport. His relationship with Gian Piero Gasperini throughout this season has been very hot and cold. Gasperini on more than one occasion this season has complained about the lack of progress on transfer targets during the summer window. As Roma for weeks were trying to sign Colombian midfielder Richard Rios from Palmeiras only to be pipped by Benfica.
Massara spent most of August in the UK trying to buy an attacker from the Premier League but failed in attempts for Jaiden Sancho who left Manchester United to go to Aston Villa on loan. Tyrique George was another attacker that Federic Massara tried to get before the end of deadline day. That fell through. The same happened in the January transfer window where AS Roma were in desperate need of attackers as both Evan Ferguson and Artem Dovbyk were sidelined with injuries. Roma needed to reinforce the attack and two names were mentioned.
Joshua Zirkzee and Giacomo Raspadori, sadly none came to Rome. When Roma defeated Lecce in the second round of action in Serie A in 2026, Gian Piero Gasperini was unhappy with the lack of signings in the January transfer window and imposed a media blackout.
Gasperini did get his wish with two new forwards being signed in January. Donyell Malen signed on loan till the end of the season from Aston Villa with an obligation which Unai Emery confirmed will be triggered at the end of the season. Robinho Vaz joined from Marseille in a big money deal worth €25m. Malen has proved to be a hit and is one of Frederic Massara big moves that have worked this season.
The Claudio Ranieri joked from June about him not liking Gasperini and the fans not liking Gasperini. An interview on DAZN on 10th April before AS Roma defeated Pisa 3-0 thanks to Malen’s hat-trick. This interview cost him his job at Roma.
“We interviewed five coaches, three didn’t come and the club chose Gasperini, we chose him, I say “we” because I don’t want to step back, for what he did at Atalanta. I stopped coaching for that reason. Because I said if we have to lose a year of building, I’ll do it gladly, we expected what is happened we took young players, he took the players, there wasn’t a single player who came, and he didn’t know about or approve. “
Before Roma played Atalanta on April 18th, Gian Piero Gasperini broke down in his pre-match press conference. Gasperini in his introduction to the press conference started “So there was this interview last Friday which the situation we have seen this week. It came as a huge surprise to because there has never and let me stress, never been a different tone between me and Claudio Ranieri, it was totally unexpected. In all of these months I never got that feeling, that sort of tone from him.”
At the end of the press conference Gian Piero Gasperini got emotional talking about Atalanta, the situation that had happened the week before and left the press conference in an emotional state. Roma then drew the game with Atalanta 1-1; I was at the game and there was the deathly silence after the final whistle after Roma dropped points at home.
Claudio Ranieri parted ways with AS Roma on the 24th of April, Roma backed Gian Piero Gasperini with there full trust moving forward. It also looks like that sporting director Frederic Massara will be leaving, there was rumours when Ranieri left that Massara had departed also. Roma under Gasperini eye will want a sporting director who he can have a good relationship and not the fractured relationship that he had with Massara.
Gian Piero Gasperini had this to say on his relationship with Federic Massara. “I couldn’t find the feeling with Massara on technical issues. Its not personal. From day one I’ve been talking about attackers, a reasonable request and I’ve never vetoed anything else. I don’t think it’s too difficult to understand.”
The departure of Claudio Ranieri didn’t derail Roma on the pitch as they won there last two games away at Bologna and at home to Fiorentina and have still got an outside chance of top four in Serie A and at a place at the top table in European continental football in the Champions League.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Getty Images