Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen spent a season at Italian capital club AS Roma during his Barcelona days. He had joined Barcelona from Premier League team Arsenal in August 2014 before leaving the Catalan giants after two years to sign for AS Roma on loan.
In his first year at Barcelona, Thomas Vermaelen suffered various injury problems and he had to wait for months before playing his first game for the Catalans. His debut was on the final league day of his first season at the Nou Camp in a 2-2 draw with Deportivo La Coruna.Vermaelen started the game and was substituted for Brazilian player Douglas after 63 minutes.
Thomas Vermaelen scored the winning goal to lead Barcelona to a 1-0 victory over Malaga in the second game of his second season at Barcelona. In the same season, he also won the 2015 FIFA World Cup Club tournament after his Barcelona side saw off River Plate of Argentina in the final. The Belgian defender came on as a substitute for Javier Mascherano in the final clash with River Plate.
Thomas Vermaelen left Barcelona to join AS Roma at the start of his third season at the Nou Camp. Officially, he signed for Roma on August 8, 2016 on a season-long loan deal. Vermaelen made his Roma debut ten days later during the Champions League qualifying clash with FC Porto of Portugal. His Roma debut lasted for just 41 minutes after he was given two yellow cards.
Vermaelen suffered with injury issues at Roma just like what he had experienced with Barcelona in the previous two seasons. In total, the utility defender played for 607 minutes in the colours of Italian Serie A side AS Roma before returning to his parent club at the end of his loan spell at the StadioOlimpico.