Shirt Number Stories: No. 22

In our latest series, we take a look back at some of the notable players to have worn a specific shirt number in the club's history...

You probably know the current owner of Roma's No. 22 shirt pretty well - but what about some of the other players to have worn the number down the years?

It's now 25 years since the introduction of assigned squad numbers in Serie A, although arguably the trend for players to request shirt numbers beyond the traditional 1-11 only really began to spring into life following the turn of the millennium.

For that reason the No. 22 has only a limited history in Giallorossi colours - nevertheless, it has still seen a handful of Italy internationals wear the number with pride for a period.

From the current owner onwards, here are some of the players to have donned the 22...

22

NICOLO ZANIOLO

2017 - Present
Other numbers worn: n/a
Total apps: 67
Total goals: 12

The current holder of the No. 22 shirt - Zaniolo has worn it ever since arriving from Inter Milan in a swap deal during the summer of 2017.

The attacking midfielder recently revealed that his choice of the number was inspired by two things - his mother's birthday falls on the 22nd of the month, while one of his favourite players growning up, Kaka, also famously wore No. 22 while playing for AC Milan.

It's certainly proved a lucky number for Nico too - since wearing it he has made his professional debut, scored his first senior goals, made a first appearance for Italy and been named the Best Young Player in Serie A.

MATTIA DESTRO

2012 - 2015
Other numbers worn: n/a
Total apps: 68
Total goals: 29

A former member of Inter Milan's Primavera just like Zaniolo, Destro instead made his name in senior football at Genoa and Siena - with his exploits at both clubs eventually earning him a big money move to Rome in the summer of 2013.

There he opted for the same number he wore at those two stops - No. 22 - as he went on to score 11 goals in all competitions in his first full season with the club.

Two further seasons in Giallorossi followed but Destro struggled to convince as an out-and-out striker, and was eventually allowed to leave permanently for Bologna, following a lukewarm loan spell at AC Milan.

MARCO BORRIELLO

2010 - 2015
Other numbers worn: 88, 9, 12
Total apps: 65
Total goals: 18

Another striker, another former Italy international. An experienced traveller even before he arrived in Rome, Borriello's spell with the Giallorossi also included a number of loan spells away - comprising temporary stays at Juventus, Genoa and Premier League side West Ham United - which ensured a healthy number of number changes whenever he returned to the Italian capital.

No. 22 was clearly his preferred number, however, wearing it as he did at both the start (Genoa, AC Milan) and end (SPAL, Cagliari, Atalanta) of his career.

With the Giallorossi he wore the number for his first 18 months at the club - including his first full campaign, where he scored 11 times in 34 league appearances.

Upon his subsequent returns, with Destro having taken the number, Borriello instead took various alternatives - although his only subsequent goals came while wearing No. 88 (he took No. 9 for the 2014-15 season but, ironically, never made an appearance in it).

In No. 88 Borriello did at least grab his only goal of the 2013-14 season - when he netted against Chievo to secure Roma's record 10th-straight win to start the campaign.

MAX TONETTO

2006 - 2010
Other numbers worn: n/a
Total apps: 123
Total goals: 1

After wearing No. 22 for the first time in his career during his previous stop at Sampdoria, the indefatigable full-back kept it following his move to Roma - where he would eventually also finish his career in 2010.

A one-cap wonder for Italy (also earned while a Giallorossi player), Tonetto was nevertheless a dependable presence in Luciano Spalletti's side of the time, and won the Coppa Italia twice and the Supercoppa once from his left-back spot.

From the 2008-09 season onwards he fell into more of a back-up role, however, before retiring from the game in the summer of 2010.

IVAN PELIZZOLI

2001 - 2005
Other numbers worn: 80
Total apps: 92
Total goals: 0

Joining in the wake of Roma's 2001 Scudetto win, ex-Atalanta prodigy Pelizzoli was meant to shore up the one area the Giallorossi were arguably weak at the time - between the sticks. As it was he never really established himself at the Olimpico, the big money signing eventually going on to something of a nomadic career in the Italian game.

Pelizzoli generally shied away from the No. 1 shirt throughout his career - only wearing it during his subsequent spell at Reggina. At Roma he wore the No. 80 shirt (for his birth year) upon his arrival - Scudetto-winner Francesco Antonioli had the No. 1 shirt, while veteran back-up Sebastian Cejas had taken the No. 22, which at the time was generally taken by one of the squad's other goalkeepers.

And that is the number Pelizzoli progressed to the following campaign, keeping it even as he slowly supplanted Antonioli as the club's No. 1. His first full season (2003-04) as the start he was a star - conceding just 14 goals in the league - but a combination of injuries and poor form saw the following campaign became his last, as he was eventually replaced and sent to Reggina.

OTHER NOTABLE WEARERS

Since the introduction of assigned shirt numbers ahead of the 1995-96 season, for a while at least the No. 22 shirt was generally the preserve of the squad's back-up goalkeepers - although that wasn't the case initially, and it has not been recently either.

Marco Branca was actually the first Roma player to wear the number, for that 1995-96 season - scoring two goals in seven games before being sold to Inter Milan in the deal that brought Marco Delvecchio to the club.

Cesar Gomez was then the next outfield player to take on the number; the Spanish centre-back managing just three appearances before a devastating injury and other issues saw him slide into eventual retirement.

Tonetto then proved the number contained no bad luck, although subsequent wearers of it have not held on to it for long for other reasons: Stephan El Shaarawy, for example wore No. 22 following his loan move to the capital in January 2016, but switched when the deal became permanent later in the year as his preferred No. 92 became eligible for his use again.

Portuguese full-back Mario Rui, meanwhile, was unveiled with a No. 22 shirt that same summer but swapped to No. 21 just days later - as William Vainqueur's departure that summer freed it up for him.

Finally, before Zaniolo took on the number it had been in the possession of right-back Nura Abdullahi - who, through a combination of injuries and bad luck, made a number of matchday squads for the club but never made his full debut.

Of course, it would be remiss of us to go without mentioning Roma Women - since its inception two seasons ago, winger Agnese Bonfantini has proudly worn the No. 22 shirt.

A former Inter player like number compatriot Zaniolo, Bonfantini currently sits second on the club's list of all-time leading appearance makers and all-time scorers - and has recently signed a new contract which runs until, you guessed it, 2022.