Why new Roma signings Malen and Vaz will not play against Stuttgart in Europa League | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini has strengthened his attacking ranks with the signings of Donyell Malen and Robinio Vaz during the January transfer window, but neither will be able to play against VfB Stuttgart in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Why Malen and Vaz will not play in Roma vs. Stuttgart

Roma re-start their European campaign with a visit from the Bundesliga outfit at 20.00 on Thursday evening. This is Roma’s penultimate game before the end of the eight-match league phase.

Despite the recent signings of Malen and Vaz, neither will be eligible to feature for the final two matches of the Europa League league phase.

TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 18: Donyell Malen celebrates a goal during the Serie A match against Torino FC at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on January 18, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

That is because competing clubs are only allowed to make changes to their squads after the completion of the league phase. Teams are permitted to register a maximum of three new players and will have until the deadline of Thursday, February 5 to make those changes to their squads.

This means that Malen and Vaz are ineligible for Roma’s upcoming matches against Stuttgart and Panathinaikos over the next seven days.

Pre-match reports indicate that Ferguson is in line to start at centre-forward for Roma following Malen’s goalscoring debut against Torino in Serie A over the weekend.