Parma coach Alberto Gilardino has confirmed that forward José Romero will start against Torino in the seventh matchday of the 2026-27 Serie A season, a public declaration of faith in a 23-year-old who has carried much of the club's attacking burden through a difficult opening to the campaign.
The confirmation matters because Parma's situation is pressing. Gilardino's side sit 16th with four points from six matches — one win, one draw, four defeats — having scored four goals and conceded ten. In that context, naming Romero from the off is not merely a selection decision; it is a statement about where Gilardino believes the team's best chance of generating something lies.
Romero has appeared in five Serie A matches this season, contributing two goals and no assists for an average rating of 6.75. Those numbers make him Parma's most productive attacker in a squad that has found the net only four times across six rounds, and they explain why Gilardino is unwilling to rotate him out of the starting eleven despite the team's broader struggles. The Argentine carries an AI overall of 66 out of 100, with a potential of 75, figures that suggest a player still developing toward his ceiling — which is precisely the profile a relegation-threatened side needs to be nurturing rather than benching.
Gilardino has spoken of wanting to give the squad certainty, and selecting Romero consistently is one concrete expression of that intent. Stability in the forward line does not guarantee goals, but it does allow a young attacker to build rhythm and confidence rather than chasing form from the substitutes' bench.
Torino arrive as opponents who will test whether that certainty translates into points. For Romero, the match is an opportunity to add to his tally and, more importantly, to help Parma find the kind of result that could shift the mood around a club that has so far given away more than twice as many goals as it has scored.
Three points at home would not rescue a season, but they would change the conversation entirely.