Gian Piero Gasperini said Paulo Dybala and Evan Ndicka could be ready for Roma’s match against Atalanta on Saturday, giving the club a lift after a week of minor fitness worries. He also said Lorenzo Pellegrini was not yet ready to return.
The timing matters because Roma are trying to get through three games this week without losing more ground to fatigue. They face Atalanta at the Olimpico on Saturday and then have a Champions League return on Thursday in Turkey, so every training decision carries more weight than usual.
Dybala was the more immediate concern after Gianluca DiMarzio reported early on Friday that he was dealing with muscular fatigue. Gasperini tried to calm that down by saying there was nothing out of the ordinary, the tests showed nothing, and Dybala would train on the eve of the match. That check appears to have gone well, because he took part fully in training before Saturday.
Ndicka was in a similar but slightly different position. Gasperini said he was a lot better and believed he could play, but added that he would try him in training on the day before the match. Ndicka had already been listed to start last Monday before pulling out before kick-off because of discomfort, so the question was not whether Roma valued him, but whether his body would let him go through another match at full speed.
Pellegrini, meanwhile, remains on a slower path. Gasperini said he had started to work with the group a bit, but that a match was more likely against Inter or after the break. That keeps the midfield picture unsettled for now, even as Gasperini made clear he does not want to build rigid hierarchies around availability.
He pointed to Rodrigo Mora and Niccolo Pisilli as examples of how selection is already being shaped by condition as much as reputation. Mora has played two games in two and has already shown talent against Fiorentina and Lecce, while Pisilli was described as well ahead after maturing and growing. Gasperini also said De Roon, Leonardo Balerdi and the new signings still need to reach peak condition, with a fuller role likely only after the international break. For Saturday, the closest thing to a final answer is that Dybala looks set to be in the frame, Ndicka will be tested again, and Roma may have to make one more late call before facing Atalanta.
