Primavera Profile: Eight things you need to know about Lorenzo Crisanto

Crisanto was one of the stars of the Giallorossi's Scudetto triumph last season, saving two penalties as Roma beat Juventus in the final.

This season he went on the club's pre-season tour of North America alongside the senior goalkeepers, while since the start of the campaign he has travelled with Luciano Spalletti's squad for European matches.

Here are eight things you should know about our young goalie...

1. “My earliest football memory is playing on the pitch by the church near my home in Prato. My granddad Elio used to take me there every day – even in July when it was 40°C! Sometimes I'd go in goal but not always.”

2. “My childhood idol was Paolo Maldini. I was an AC Milan supporter as a boy: I came from a family of Rossoneri fans and they passed it on to me. Maldini was the captain of that team and I saw him as a phenomenal player.”

3. “Before playing football I did swimming for six years. For I while I did both sports, going swimming twice a week and playing football twice a week too. I was always a goalkeeper once I took it up seriously.”

4. “The person who has been the biggest influence on my career is definitely my granddad. If I've been able to make it this far, it's no doubt thanks to him. He's the one who introduced me to the game. I'm sure I would have gone down another route if it hadn't been for him. It's partly thanks to my dad too.”

5. “I think my biggest strength is my reactivity between the sticks. One area where I need to improve is coming off my line, both for high balls and low balls.”

6. “The goalkeeper I admire most is Angelo Peruzzi. I think I'm quite similar to him physically: he wasn't very tall but he had amazing reflexes in goal. I don't have any clear memories of him when he was still playing; I've got to know him recently by watching videos of his saves.”

7. “In my opinion the best player of all time is Diego Armando Maradona. He is football personified and stands heads and shoulders above everyone else. I think you can divide football into levels: first there's Maradona then all the others who come close to him – people like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Totti and other world-class players who have made football history. But no one beats Maradona.”

8. “My target for this season is to have another good year with the Primavera. In the future I'd like to make my debut in Serie A – that would be amazing in itself. As for other things, we'll just have to see.”