Ranking Roma Women’s Youth, #8: Serena Landa

We’re only two-strong on the CdT writing team when it comes to Femminile football, but we both noticed—particularly in our match recap of Roma’s game against San Marino last season—just how dangerous Italian forward Serena Landa looks at senior level in such little game time.

On that day, Landa was actually appearing against her parent club Roma as she was on a loan spell at relegation-battlers San Marino. Then a major knee injury cut short Landa’s stay in the principality, and relegation to Serie B followed for San Marino on the last matchday of the season.

Yeah, not good.

But Landa is recovering on the coast this summer and we figure she’s worth a comeback shout this season in the Roma #92 jersey at some point. After all, Roma are still looking for that mythical goalscorer to rack up league-leading double figures at the club. We’ve seen enough to believe that might just be Landa in years to come.

Number Eight: Serena Landa

Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

Age: 20
Position: Wide Forward/Striker
Previous Club: Roma C.F.
Future Comparison: Stefania Tarenzi

Who Is She?

Serena Landa first grew up in her native Monza (the best town I’ve been to in all of Italy) and spent the first nine years of her youth career earning her stripes with local team Real Meda, before Landa caught the attention of Roma C.F. in the late 2010s.

Embracing the move to the capital as an “opportunity” to take the next step in her career, it wasn’t long before neighboring Serie A club A.S. Roma were looking to give Landa a trial, thanks to their youth agreement with Serie B’s Roma C.F. that works as A.S. Roma’s feeder club for talent. A.S. Roma trialed Landa in the Primavera team during the Viareggio Cup of 2020, where both club and player never looked back.

Landa took up a permanent position in Roma Primavera colors two seasons ago, where she struck up a lethal goalscoring partnership with Alice Corelli for the Roma U-19s that led the side to the club’s first-ever Primavera title in the spring of 2020. The next season, Landa was promoted to the senior team by coach Betty Bavagnoli and made a few appearances off the bench for Roma before being sent out on loan in February 2021 to San Marino.

Photo by Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

During her brief spell with San Marino, Landa scored her first Serie A goal against none other than reigning Serie A champions Juventus. It would prove to be the latest (of many) goalscoring feats to keep Landa on the Serie A map, despite her injury trouble that followed.

Who Can She Do?

We saw the whole repertoire in a short spell for Roma during the Coppa Italia last season, as Landa proved she can come off the bench to play on either wing or run straight through the middle to goal. Ever since her days at Roma C.F., Landa has constantly been singled out by scouts for her strength and power.

If you tie those attributes to the speed and finishing she showed at senior level last season (hopefully undiminished by the recovery from a torn ACL) then you’ve got the total package from Landa in the final third of the pitch. She also set up Corelli for a goal in last season’s Coppa, but we’re not about to say Landa can serve up assists on the regular for teammates just yet.

There are still a lot of unknowns surrounding a player who’s seen so little senior football to date.

What Can She Become?

Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

We could have gone the Lindsey Thomas route, as Landa is very much in that mold of a forward who’s powerful enough that she can break through (and hold off) defenders through any lane of the pitch onto goal. But we already used our Thomas card earlier in the countdown, so we’re framing Landa as a potential Stefania Tarenzi in the making.

Looking at her goal scored for San Marino last season, as well as her strike for Roma in the Coppa Italia, Landa has got the finishes from short and mid-distance in her locker to rival Tarenzi’s own versatile repertoire of finishes inside the box. Just as long as Landa can make a full return from injury, and Roma keeps showing belief in her this season, then there’s that vice-Glionna spot on the wing for Landa to make an appearance off the bench at some point.

But you get the feeling the wing will be used as a way for Landa to slowly launch her bid to land that center-forward position down the middle for Roma, in years to come.