Get to know Roma’s second summer signing, Evan Ndicka!

Background

Ndicka was born in Paris on 20 August 1999 to a Cameroonian father and an Ivorian mother. He has four older siblings, made up of three brothers and one sister. He shares the same birthday as former Roma midfielder Giuseppe Giannini (20 August 1964).

Career

Evan came up through the ranks at French outfit Auxerre. Having graduated from the academy, his first-team debut arrived on 27 January 2017 against Clermont in a Ligue 2 clash. Ndicka moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018, going on to score 12 goals and rack up ten assists in 183 appearances over the course of five seasons for the German side, where he donned the No. 2 jersey.

Technical qualities

Ndicka is a left-footed centre-back with an imposing physique. His 1m92 frame helped him score half of his dozen career goals to date with his head. 

The choice

Despite being born and growing up in France before representing his birth country at every level from U16 up to U21, Ndicka recently made a similar decision to Houssem Aouar in terms of pledging allegiance to the country of his origins, in this case the Cote d’Ivoire (rather than Cameroon).

His role models

During an interview a few years ago, Ndicka revealed which players he takes inspiration from. “I like the way Samuel Umtiti plays (when he was at Barcelona). He’s a really strong player, but I also like Raphael Varane and Adil Rami. Getting close to their level wouldn’t be too bad.”

Other France-born Roma players

Ndicka is the eighteenth player born in France to play for Roma. Aouar, Medhi Benatia and Houssine Kharja also feature on the list despite choosing, due to family origins, to represent Algeria and Morocco at senior international level respectively. Yanga-Mbiwa, Mapou, our derby hero in 2015, is not on the list, however, as he was born in Bangui in the Central African Republic in 1989.

Here’s the full 18-man list: Aouar, Benatia, Candela, Dacourt, Defrel, Digne, Faty, Giuly, Gonalons, Grenier, Kharja, Menez, Mexes, Ndicka, Nzonzi, Vainqueur, Veretout, Zebina.

Honours

The standout honour is the Europa League success with Eintracht one year ago after beating Rangers in the final. At the end of an extraordinary season, Ndicka was included in the Bundesliga team of the season for 2021-22 alongside the likes of Joshua Kimmich, Marco Reus, Serge Gnabry, Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski.

Social media

You can follow Evan on  Instagram!