Claudio Ranieri gave his first press conference at his old and new workplace in Rome on Friday. The coach revealed that there were only two teams he would return to the bench for – dashing Mats Hummels’ hopes.
“I haven’t coached in a while, but I’ve had a few offers in the past few months. I turned them all down,” said Ranieri, who had been without an employer since May 2024, on Friday, highlighting the peculiarity of his new old employer: “There were only two options for which I would have returned to the coaching bench: for Roma or Cagliari.”
The 73-year-old coaching veteran has already coached both teams; he is now in his third spell in charge at Roma (2009–2011 and 2019–). “I started here as a player and I will end here as a coach,” said Ranieri, who took his first steps in professional football in the eternal city during the 1973/74 season.
The coach’s task now is to get Roma back on track. After twelve games, they have only 13 points and are twelfth in the table. How does he intend to approach this tactically? “I can’t say, because there are always changes. We can play with three, four or five players in defense, I’ll decide the game game by game,” said Ranieri.
Ranieri convinced by Hummels
And what role does the German world champion Mats Hummels play in the new coach’s plans? “I saw Hummels in the Champions League semi-final against PSG. Why shouldn’t he play?” said the third Roma coach of the current season (after Daniele de Rossi and Ivan Juric), adding: “We’ll see. I choose the players who will lead me to victory.”
Hummels moved abroad for the first time in his career over the summer, but has not yet found his feet in Rome. The 35-year-old defender has only made one appearance this season, in which he scored an own goal in the 5-1 defeat in Florence.