Lorenzo Pellegrini was born in Rome on 19 June 1996. The technically-gifted box-to-box midfielder started out in Roma’s youth set-up and is now a key part of the first team at the capital city club.

His top-flight debut came with the Giallorossi on 22 March 2015 away at Cesena. In the 2016/17 season, he was one of the revelations in Serie A, finishing the season on a high with Sassuolo after registering 28 appearances and six goals. He then made his way back to current club Roma in the summer of 2017, where he became an instant hit. On 7 November 2018 – his 50th appearance for the Giallorossi – he scored his first goal in the Champions League, netting against CSKA Moscow. The arrival of Portuguese coach Fonseca saw him up the ante going forward, increasing his level of performances and his tally for goals and assists.

He made his Italy U21 debut under Di Biagio on 2 June 2016 in a 1-0 friendly defeat at home to France. He then went on to make six appearances and score three goals for the Azzurrini. He made his first-team debut in a friendly against San Marino on 31 May 2017 and made his first start in a 5-0 win over Liechtenstein in EURO 2018 qualifying. Mancini made him a permanent fixture in the side and, to date, he has played 17 times and scored twice for Italy. An injury forced him to miss EURO 2020 after having been named in Mancini’s initial 26-man squad for the tournament.