A microphone and a short two-minute video is all the goodbye that Lazio afforded their all-time top goalscorer. Ciro Immobile left for Istanbul on Friday night and met a young Lazio fan at Fiumicino Airport who posed a simple question: “Ciro, ti posso da’ un abbraccio?”



“Ciro, can I give you a hug?” After eight years as Lazio’s goalscoring machine and spiritual leader, intimate encounters are nothing new yet this young lad’s audible sobbing as he embraced his team’s captain one last time is further proof that football is not just a game.



Football fandom is nuanced. Just as the crying fan drenched Immobile in Roman tears, one only has to think back to March when a Lazio fan spotted Immobile in traffic, got out of their car and harassed him in front of his son. Around the same time, his wife was verbally abused in public.



Turning down a life changing sum from Saudi Arabia in summer 2023 must have felt like a regrettable decision when the so-called superfans of his club thought best to project their frustrations onto Immobile in public.



206 goals. Club record. Coppa Italia winner. Champions League nights. Immobile leaves Italy as a Lazio legend but retains a complicated legacy in Italian and European football.

> **Immobile’s relationship with Lazio and its fans feels like that of a married couple.** 

His career could have been so different. Almost two decades have passed since Ciro Ferrara advised Juventus to sign him from Sorrento for €80,000, however it wasn’t until 2011 and a loan to Pescara that Immobile burst onto the scene.



Zdenek Zeman’s Pescara stormed to the Serie B title in 2011-12, with The Bohemian putting together a side that will live long in hipster memory. Immobile, Insigne and Verratti. Quite a trifecta.



A season at Genoa followed before he joined Torino, scoring 23 goals in a season that propelled him into the spotlight for real and saw him off to Germany, off to a Borussia Dortmund team reaching the end of its Klopp cycle.



The German club deemed 10 goals in 34 games a poor return on their near €20m investment and cut their losses by selling him to Sevilla in summer 2015. He would be back in Italy not long after Christmas, returning to his homeland and old Torino with his tail between his legs.



He had moved abroad, and it didn’t work. Torino was a safety blanket, a level of pressure that Immobile could manage. Half a season in Turin turned into eight years in the capital as Lazio took a chance on him in the summer of 2016.



Immobile’s relationship with Lazio and its fans feels like that of a married couple. The love is (almost) unconditional and the respect is mutual, but they bicker from time to time. ‘Bicker’ is certainly an understatement when referring to harassment and/or assault in public, but you get the idea.

> **It looked like one season too far for Immobile.**

It can be difficult to be present as a modern football fan. Stadium screens and TVs are always telling you what’s next. Results are scrutinised in the context of what it means for the season. Performances are secondary in an age where cash rules everything. 



The effect this has on fans often means we don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone. In the case of Immobile, you could say Lazio didn’t know how good they had it. 



Their preparation for a post-Immobile world began a year ago with the signing of Taty Castellanos. Signed as cover/competition for King Ciro, the Argentine was surely quietly hopeful that the rumoured Saudi interest in his teammate came to fruition.



Both strikers struggled to hit any real heights last season in a Lazio side that seemed to be at war with itself. Castellanos couldn’t make an immediate impact in the way other Argentine forwards have in Italy, while it looked like one season too far for Immobile. 



To his credit, the Lazio captain still scored 11 goals, including the winner in a memorable Champions League night against Bayern, but his story in the Eternal City was clearly coming to an end. 

> **An irresponsible remark and one that set the path for a sour ending to the story of King Ciro.**

Maurizio Sarri resigned in March, days before the incident with the fan getting out of their car to abuse Immobile. Lazio were 9th, a gruesome failure compared to their 2nd place finish the previous year.



Sarri showed a sense of humility in resigning in an age where managers often cling on for compensation, but the Lazio president Claudio Lotito saw it differently.



“His farewell was not in the air, it was surprising. He was betrayed by the behaviour of certain people. There is something creepy inside the group. A team that beats Bayern Munich and loses to Udinese. Ask yourself a question.” 



Lotito added fuel to a fire that had burned for months. An irresponsible remark and one that set the path for a sour ending to the story of King Ciro.



Thankfully, it’s the sort of incident that should be a minor footnote in the Lazio-Immobile story. This is a tale of broken records; cup wins and a return to the top table of European football.



Ciro Immobile’s 207 Lazio goals sets a record that seems unlikely to be broken anytime soon.



No wonder the young lad at the airport cried in his hero’s arms. He’s grown up watching one of Italian football’s great goalscorers and should consider himself lucky to have witnessed such feats. 



Just as football fandom is nuanced, fleeting and often bordering on weird, the business of football dictates that we must learn to move on. Cry today, worship a new hero tomorrow. 



That might be hard to hear for many Laziali but that’s life. Everything must come to an end and, in time to come, I’m sure some will agree that it probably should have come to an end sooner, an assessment that prompts another life lesson. Heroes rarely go out on a high. This is reality, not a fairytale.



King Ciro will surely be welcomed back with open arms at Lazio in years to come, remembered as a club legend. For now, the club and its fans must move on and find a new goal machine. Castellanos? Maybe, maybe not.

Ciro Immobile: Tears at Fiumicino, trouble in traffic

And then there were three. With the announcement of Ancona’s bankruptcy, Serie C has welcomed a third ‘B team’ into its ranks. Welcome, Milan Futuro, the second team of AC Milan.



Back in September, half an hour south of Bergamo, the nation’s previous newest ‘club’ kicked off their Serie C season in front of around four hundred people. It was far from a glamorous start, losing 3-2 to Virtus Verona but this is the brutal reality of Italy’s third tier.



Atalanta U23 are not your average football club, for they aren’t even a club. Their existence is inspired by Juventus and ushered by Lega Pro, the league’s governing body, and other clubs’ mismanagement. 



Were it not for Siena entering bankruptcy after several seasons of incompetent Russo-sympathetic Armenian ownership, Atalanta U23 would not exist, and its players would likely be on loan at a club like Siena.



It was the same story five years prior when three clubs failed to register for 2018-19 and Vicenza merged with Virtus Bassano, creating space for Juventus U23, as they were known before their rebrand a few years later.



“We started with a series of defeats and hostile stadiums with protests that still exist today, where instead of seeing the added value for the football system of the second teams they see it as a usurping of places,” said Juventus’ Chief of Staff Federico Cherubini in a Tuttosport interview. 

> **It's too soon to assess the Atalanta U23 project but the human interest in the team remains low.**

Six years of Juventus U23/Juve NextGen has given us four Serie C playoff appearances, at which point the Serie B governing body tend to mutter their dissatisfaction at the thought of having a B team in B.



More importantly, the project has produced 20 players that have all featured in a meaningful way across Europe’s top leagues. From Stephy Mavididi to Samuel Iling-Junior, the club have set about doing what they said they would. Sort of.



Only Fagioli, Nicolussi Caviglia, Miretti and Yildiz from that group remain in the Juventus first team picture and it’s only those four, plus Iling-Junior, who broke through at the club. Nicolussi Caviglia and Miretti seem likely to leave Juventus this summer, either on loan or permanently.



Iling-Junior, along with Enzo Barrenechea, both joined Aston Villa this summer for a fee around €22m, allowing the club to bank a healthy profit for accounting purposes.



Juventus’ detractors could also point to a player like Dany Mota, signed for €1.8m in August 2019 and sold to Monza for €4m in January 2020. Doubling your investment in less than six months is both impressive and an indictment of the bizarre nature of modern football economics.



Football purists will never accept Juve NextGen in the same way that Barcelona B or Dortmund II offend the traditionalists in Spain and Germany, certainly while the ‘project’ provides more opportunities for profit than player development.



It’s too early to assess the success of the Atalanta U23 project from a player development perspective but the human interest in the team remains similarly low. 



Atalanta U23’s total ‘home’ attendance figure across 19 games last season was 8,060. Serie D club Sambenedettese had 8,228 at their home game with Campobasso in April.

> **The concept of second teams has a lot of support in Italian football’s upper echelons.** 

Milan Futuro’s arrival in Serie C presents a logistical problem. There are now three B teams in the league, all located within a 100-mile radius, but Lega Pro (currently) do not allow B teams to play in the same division.



This unique issue means that the three teams are spread out across Serie C’s North, Central and South divisions. The league’s solution: Atalanta (North), Milan (Central) and Juventus (South). 



Quite incredibly, Juve NextGen will play in a division where their geographically closest rivals are almost 500 miles south of them. Another strike for those who think the B team movement is bad for football.



Juventus point to the dismal state of affairs at Primavera level, Italy’s U19 league which is now becoming U20.



“There’s no need to get results in Primavera. No fans, no pressure. Kids should play at that level when they’re 16 or 17. Then at 18, they should play in Serie C,” said now former coach Max Allegri of the Primavera system.



Juventus NextGen gives younger players that opportunity, even if last season’s top scorer was 34-year-old Simone Guerra. Beyond Fagioli and Yildiz, as well as Dean Huijsen (on loan at Roma since January), the current team includes Italy U20 captain Luis Hasa and the highly rated midfielder Joseph Nonge.



The concept of second teams has a lot of support in Italian football’s upper echelons. Along with then Milan executive Ricky Massara, the presidents of FIGC, Serie A and Lega Pro all attended a forum called ‘Second teams in Italy and in Europe, a model for the future?’ back in November.



Milan’s introduction is no coincidence. Evidently. Throughout the second half of last season, it was clear that the work was going on behind the scenes in the expectation that a place would make itself available.

> **Almost half of Italian clubs’ loanees play around half the games in a season.**

After all, this is Italy. Serie C clubs go bankrupt every summer. It was Ancona’s turn this year. It’s likely we’ll be talking about another club going to the wall this time next year to make way for another B team. 



Sassuolo and Roma are said to be very keen, while Inter are expected to get involved before long. Sassuolo are an interesting case, the fabrication of MAPEI, the chemicals giant that own the club. They have an Atalanta-esque approach to hogging young players, sending more players out on loan than others have in their entire squad. 



However, with relegation to Serie B, maybe they’ll have more important issues to worry about in the next year than sending their youngsters to Sardinia for a kicking.



For Milan, it’s a race against time to put a team together. Atalanta had 23 players out on loan in Serie C in 2022-23 prior to joining the league, while Milan had only 5 this season. 



Daniele Bonera has his work cut out to get them up and running but he should be helped by Francesco Camarda, the Milan Primavera striker and arguably the hottest prospect in Italian football. 



Tales of Camarda’s goalscoring record at youth level make Pele look like Andy Carroll and stepping up to Serie C at 16 is sure to be an early test of the young lad’s mettle. Should Milan Futuro remain in Serie C in 2025-26, perhaps they’ll be forced to take the leap and send him on loan to Serie B for a year, or perhaps even A.



Almost half of Italian clubs’ loanees play around half the games in a season, whereas the B club model offers these big clubs a lot more control. As they cite the almost obsolete Primavera model and the insecurity of the loan market for player development as great issues, they will urge the governing bodies to see the B team concept as a suitable alternative.



An idealist view would be to urge said clubs to stop retaining talent like grazing cattle preparing to be brought to market. However, football exists in an often optimism-sapping state of realism and Italian football is all too aware of this. 



Men in suits will continue to tell themselves that the nation’s biggest producers of young players have the nation’s best interests at heart. 



Perhaps the Primavera system is the biggest blocker to talented players progressing into first team football, but the Serie A/Serie B coaches must take some blame. Exhibit A: **[Simone Pafundi](https://tmgitalia.net/posts/2024-01-22-simone-pafundi-did-udinese-get-it-wrong)** and his wasting away prior to escaping to Switzerland.



Behind the glitzy branding of NextGen and Futuro remains a fundamental problem that FIGC president Gabriele Gravina has failed to grasp. Why do so many Serie C, and even the odd Serie B club, find themselves in financial freefall? 



Community assets going to the wall and finding themselves in the game’s hinterland. Livorno, Ancona, Siena, Reggina and several more. If the solution to this problem is to bung more B teams into the professional ranks and see the attendances dwindle further then so be it, but it’s fundamentally bad for football in Italy.



One might argue that B teams provide match experience but little pressure. Luca Toni (Modena) and Andrea Barzagli (Ascoli), both 2006 World Cup winners, played in Serie C with the hopes and dreams of their clubs’ fans behind them.



If a Juventus, Milan or Atalanta youngster fails, who are they upsetting beyond those clubs’ board who might wish to attract a big fee or, in extreme circumstances, push them into the first team?



The B team issue will continue to be a point of contention in Italian football for as long as it exists. Fans will mostly hate it; journalists will write about it and sporting directors will look at it the same way I stare at the cured meats section in a supermarket.

B teams in Serie C: Solution or problem?

It takes a lot to coax any emotion other than anger out of Gian Piero Gasperini.

“It’s too personal and delicate. Venturing into our heads is like entering a jungle,” said Gasperini in January 2022 of Josip Ilicic’s publicly documented mental health struggles. 

Late last year, the brusque Atalanta manager shed tears in an interview when asked about visiting the Slovenian during his treatment for depression at a clinic the week before their Champions League quarter-final against PSG in August 2020. 

Two years later, Ilicic was released from his Atalanta contract so he could return home to Slovenia.

However, this is a story with a much happier ending than one might have expected a year ago. This is one for the football romantics. 

> **A football cult hero and bona fide Atalanta legend had his career derailed by depression.**

36-year-old Ilicic will be at Euro 2024 with Slovenia less than two years after it seemed his career might be over.

Five months prior to Gasperini’s clinic visit, Ilicic looked like a world beater, scoring four goals in a single game as Atalanta knocked Valencia out of Europe, but his adopted home of Bergamo had become the continent’s ground zero for COVID-19 and it wasn’t long before the world shut down.

Ilicic was alone, stuck at home while his family were back in Slovenia. A football cult hero and bona fide Atalanta legend had his career derailed by depression. The Slovenian maestro’s battle is a reminder that footballers are indeed human.

His mental state and background rarely would have entered my mind when watching him play football prior to 2020. Perhaps that’s a general ignorance to the idea that footballers are more than just entertaining millionaires but you don’t find yourself thinking about such things when a player is at the top of his game.

> **Ilicic ties vintage and modern football together.** 

He was born in Bosnia & Herzegovina to an ethnic Croat family in a majority Serb town and his father was killed by a Serb neighbour when Ilicic was a baby. He grew up in Slovenia as a refugee of the wars that raged during the breakup of Yugoslavia and chose to represent the country in which he spent his formative years.

Few players have been able to pair grace and power quite as seamlessly as Ilicic. Watch a highlight reel on YouTube and you quickly understand the origin of his nickname, Il Professore.

Ilicic ties vintage and modern football together. He dribbles past players and shoots from distance in a way that is rarely seen anymore yet has the passing range and presence of mind not to expose himself to today’s obsession with percentages and stats. 

He is a trequartista with the strength of a defender and if he were more consistent at his peak, it isn’t difficult to imagine him being in the conversation when it comes to the world’s best players at that time. But that’s all in the past now.

An era ended when Atalanta terminated his contract in September 2022. That attack of Zapata, Muriel, Gomez and Ilicic was raw entertainment and felt like the breakout album that took Gasperini’s team mainstream.

> **A fitting third act in a wonderful career.**

Football moves on quickly. It doesn’t allow for sentimentality, yet most football lovers cannot live without it. Ilicic was an artist in his prime and his return to Slovenia with Maribor has started to resemble some of the masterpieces he painted on Italian soil.

While Slovenia’s Prva Liga is a far cry from Serie A, beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to football. His first season back home was plagued by injury, appearing only 14 times, but this year has been a different story.

At 36, he racked up 21 goal contributions across league, cup and Europa Conference League, hence the Slovenia call up after almost three years without a cap.

His nine goals and twelve assists are littered with brushstrokes of the vintage Ilicic. Delicate, pinpoint crosses. Perfectly weighted passes. Feints and cutbacks that leave defenders frozen. The laser accurate left foot shot. It’s all there, it’s just a little slower, which is to be expected.

His return to international football set the nostalgia receptors alight. Moments after coming off the bench, he found himself free on the right wing and received a perfect pass from Petar Stojanovic. 

The covering defender met the old Ilicic. Cutback onto his left foot, turn, shoot with precision and power. A goal that puts him on the plane to Germany. 

 Josip Ilicic is off to his first international tournament aged 36. A fitting third act in a wonderful career that could have ended with great sadness and it’s a testament to the man’s ability and fortitude that he made this comeback. 

Romance in football still exists, as proven here. Now, all we need is him to score the winner against England in a few weeks’ time, eh? Only joking. Sort of.

### E﻿njoy this article? [Sign up for our free Italian football newsletter!](https://tmgitalia.net/newsletter)

Josip Ilicic at Euro 2024: A win for football romantics

###### **I﻿mage: Lewis Urquhart ([@calciolewis](https://twitter.com/calciolewis?lang=en))**



Football hipsters rejoice. Parma are back in Serie A. Get the classic jerseys out, play the grainy footage of Crespo and Chiesa; we’re having a party.

After a near miss in last season’s playoffs, a 1-1 draw at Bari gave i Crociati a hard-fought promotion on Labour Day.

For those outside Italy, any knowledge of Parma almost certainly comes from the Football Italia days, which coincided with the club’s rapid rise and sharp fall.

Standing on the shoulders of dairy giant Parmalat, novice coach Nevio Scala built a team worthy of cult status, taking them from Serie B to winning Coppa Italia, Cup Winner’s Cup and UEFA Cup in six years between 1989-95, before another [few years of glory under Alberto Malesani](https://tmgitalia.net/posts/2023-05-30-parma-the-last-italian-uefa-cup-champions) at the turn of the millennium.

> **It has been an eventful two decades since Tanzi abandoned what had become a flaming wreckage that once promised so much.**

The subsequent instability brought about by Parmalat’s declining financial situation and subsequent bankruptcy is arguably still felt at the club today.

By April 2004, Calisto Tanzi’s Parma-Parmalat odyssey lay in tatters. An allegedly fraudulent €14bn hole in Parmalat’s accounts forced it into bankruptcy, taking the football club with it.

Reformed in summer 2004, Parma remained in Serie A thanks to the Marzano Law which allowed for a restructuring of Parmalat, therefore saving the club from relegation to Serie D. However, they re-appeared as a poor imitation of the gialloblù hoops that threatened to smash the Milan-Inter-Juventus axis in the late 90s.

![](/assets/blog/parmapic5.png)

Relegated in 2008, back to A in 2009, bankrupt and sent to Serie D in 2015, back in Serie A by 2018, back to B in 2021; it has been an eventful two decades since Tanzi abandoned what had become a flaming wreckage that once promised so much.

The current guardian/owner is a very different man. Like many clubs, Parma have benefitted from the recent stream of US investment into the Italian game.

In Kyle J. Krause, Parma have what appears to be a more sensible head than Tanzi, and more competent than his replacement, Tommaso Ghirardi.

The American businessman has overseen the creation of a team built to withstand the rigours of Serie B, escape it, and make a fist of Serie A.

Though his first season ended in relegation, his almost four-year tenure as Parma owner has to be considered a success.

The team he inherited had just lost Dejan Kulusevski (end of loan) and Matteo Darmian, but signs of that failed 2020-21 season are seen throughout this current team in players like Dennis Man, Valentin Mihaila, Yordan Osorio and more.

![](/assets/blog/parmapic4.png)

Fabio Pecchia was granted another season to take the club back to where it, and most others, feel they belong. Faith that the squad built over three years had enough to go up remained, but that faith had been tested.

The manner in which their 2022-23 season ended could have been fatal for some managers. Leading 2-0 in Cagliari at half-time, an injured Gigi Buffon left the pitch for the last time as a professional footballer. By full-time, Cagliari had won 3-2 and played out a quiet 0-0 a few days later.

Less than twelve months later, Pecchia is about to claim another promotion to Serie A, having left Cremonese for Parma after guiding them up in 2022.

> **Pecchia has rotated at times throughout this season; a mix of managing players’ fitness and indecision around the optimal formula for his best XI.**

Captained by Enrico Delprato and powered by goals from Man, Mihaila and Adrian Benedyczak, all of whom joined 2021, it seems that faith has paid off for Parma. Throw in the creative vision of Adrian Bernabé too; a player with a bright future after signing from Man City in…2021. 

Rather than tearing everything down, Parma played the long game and it should set them up nicely for next season.

It would be prudent to improve in certain areas; goalkeeper, left-back and centre-midfield would feature high in my list. Still, this is a team you can’t help but like. 

## **E﻿njoying this article? Sign up to our free newsletter on [this page](https://tmgitalia.net/about)!**

Provided they can reinforce, we should see this team mostly kept together next year, as its hard work over the past three years merits a crack at Serie A.

Pecchia has rotated his midfield, full-backs and even attackers at times throughout this season; a mix of managing players’ fitness and indecision around the optimal formula for his best XI.

While seeing inconsistency in the lineup may have frustrated at times, and it’s safe to say it didn’t always work, it has allowed them to remain fresh going into the final weeks of the season.

Last weekend’s game against Lecco was a prime example. A banana skin of the highest order. Playing the last-placed team at home, who knew that anything other than a win would see them relegated. 

> **They did what others couldn’t.** 

Rather than fall into the trap of playing conservative enough to ‘just win’, Parma blew Lecco away inside half an hour and eventually won 4-0. The gulf in class (and fitness) told.

That win, plus Venezia’s loss at Catanzaro hours before Parma faced Bari on Wednesday meant that all they needed was a point, and they duly delivered. Nervy, but job done.

Being the best team in Serie B has never been about beating teams by three or four goals every week, because it just doesn’t happen. In a league where two points per game is a promotion guarantee, 

![Parma Curva in full flow](/assets/blog/parmapic2.png "Parma Curva in full flow")

They did what others couldn’t. While promotion may have been mathematically secured at Bari, it was nights like Friday 8th March that defined their season.

Trailing at half-time against Brescia, a wet Stadio Ennio Tardini started to feel the weight of being league leaders for the first time. Their boys had struggled, with Benedyczak missing a penalty moments before the break just to add to the feeling that it wasn’t to be their night.

Minutes into the second-half, the tide turned when Dennis Man seized on a momentary lapse in Brescia concentration and finished like a footballer playing above their level. 

After surviving the Brescia reaction to Man’s equaliser, Parma set about finding a winner. A slice of luck in the form of Melvin Huard talking himself into a red card in the 87th minute gave Parma another shot in the arm, at which point captain Delprato stepped up.

> **For now, it’s a case of enjoying their success; but this is a club which is all too familiar with the concept of pride coming before the fall.** 

The right-back appeared in the middle of Brescia’s penalty area almost immediately after the red card and headed in the decisive goal, three weeks after scoring a last-gasp winner against Pisa. Two points turned into six thanks to Parma’s captain leading by example.

It says a lot about a team that news of them losing a game is met with real surprise. It makes sense, given they have only lost four times this season. Venezia, Lecco, Modena and Catanzaro the only sides to do so, with the latter being the only loss at the Tardini.

That loss to Catanzaro on Easter Monday convinced Pecchia to tinker ahead of a trip to Sudtirol, which ended 0-0 and prompted the first suggestions that the pressure might be getting to the league leaders.

Eight points in four games since suggests otherwise. They will have to negotiate a tough home game against Cremonese and [derby against Reggiana](https://tmgitalia.net/posts/2023-08-31-parma-reggiana-divided-by-football-united-by-cheese) on the final day, but four points will guarantee them the title to top off a wonderful season.

![](/assets/blog/parmapic3.png)

The city that gave the world Giuseppe Verdi and Parmigiano-Reggiano deserves Serie A football, and now it has it again.

If Parma can approach this summer sensibly, they can have a team capable of achieving comfortable safety next season, which would provide them with a platform upon which they can build towards re-establishing themselves as a Serie A club.

For now, it’s a case of enjoying their success; but this is a club which is all too familiar with the concept of pride coming before the fall. 

While chasing scudetti may be a nostalgic dream, there is no reason we shouldn’t be seeing that famous yellow and blue on our screens for years to come. 

Away with the boom and bust cycle, in with some stability.

Parma: Back in the big time

I will miss Victor Osimhen in a Napoli shirt. Since he joined the Partenopei from Lille in 2020, it’s been a wonderful journey and a story culminating in downs but with really, really big ups too. 

Having delivered a Scudetto, Osimhen will leave Naples a hero - regardless of what you read about his relationship with the fans. 

Osimhen will live on forever in Neapolitan folklore thanks to that championship-winning season. His lovely half-volley goal vs Roma. His chest, knee and volley without the ball touching the floor against them, as well. 

The goals versus Juventus. Atalanta. Fiorentina. Sassuolo. The list goes on. And then finally, his equaliser in Udine to clinch the title.

### **But what’s important is not mourning the good times with Osimhen but rather, what comes next.** 

The post-Osimhen era will be fascinating. Rearing its head during a time of instability at Napoli, where major rebuilding is needed following a season of idiotic decisions and a whole load of carelessness from the higher-ups. 

With three coaches across this season and a very slim chance of qualifying for the Champions League, Napoli’s season has been nothing short of a trainwreck. 

Cashing in on Osimhen is an uncomfortable decision, but when you look at Napoli’s squad, it might just be a necessary one. 

> **Aurelio De Laurentiis has some big decisions to make at the end of this season.**

His release clause is said to be €120m with PSG set to activate it in the summer, which allows whoever takes over the reigns as Napoli manager a half-decent kitty to improve their squad. 

The main objective when reinvesting that money is to sign Kvicha Kvaratshkelia to a long-term deal, preferably without a release clause, although unlikely. 

His current deal ends in 2027 but reward and recognition are needed to keep the Georgian sweet because losing not one, but two prized assets in the summer is not an option for the club in its current state. 

If they hire Antonio Conte, let’s just hope he isn’t used as a wing-back in a 3-5-2…

And it’s just that. Napoli’s future isn’t exactly looking bright and President Aurelio De Laurentiis has some big decisions to make at the end of this season to not only recover but to make up for his neglect. 

Whether it will be Antonio Conte or Vincenzo Italiano - giving the new manager the financial backing (fuelled by Osimhen’s transfer), as well as the freedom to build their squad, is of the utmost importance to allow Napoli to go forward and get back to Champions League football. 

Once Kvaratshkelia is signed to a long-term deal, the next priority is to replace Victor Osimhen, of course. But how on earth do you do that?

> **Amir Rrahmani looks past his best and Natan has disappeared from the starting lineup.**

They’re linked with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee (also linked with Milan and Juventus), Victor Boniface from Bayern Leverkusen and even Viktor Gyokeres. And no, they don’t have to get someone named Victor. 

Away from the striker department, replacing Piotr Zielinski is a must. The midfield is weak, and with the danger of Stanislav Lobotka being poached by Barcelona, it could get a whole load worse for them. 

Jens Cajuste and Hamed Traore are not good enough but with Gianluca Gaetano showing promise at Cagliari, it begs the question as to why they let him leave on loan in the first place. 

18-year-old Matteo Popovic is joining on a free transfer this summer as well, which could provide another good option in attacking midfield, if he’s ready for first-team football. 

They’re also lacking at centre-half. Juan Jesus is deadweight, Amir Rrahmani looks past his best and Natan has disappeared from the starting lineup for whatever reason. 

I’m not sure anyone expected the departure of Kim Min-jae to derail Napoli’s defensive work as much as it did but when you combine that with appointing tactical dinosaurs, it takes its toll. 

Properly replacing Kim has to be near the top of their list this summer, even if it’s a year too late. 

> **It’s a vital time for the club and needs to be handled carefully and strategically.**

Shockingly, Giovanni Di Lorenzo has dropped in favour among Napolitani too. He’s miles off his Scudetto-winning level, with some calling for him to be dropped entirely, albeit to the stubborn refusal of coach Francesco Calzona. 

One of the main reasons is most likely to be the lack of a capable replacement. If I were Napoli, I’d be looking at Raoul Bellanova from Torino who is a breath of fresh air down the right flank. 

Right now, Napoli long for the end of the season so they can draw a line under this dismal year and put it behind them. 

Whoever they hire and whoever that manager signs, it’s a vital time for the club and needs to be handled carefully and strategically.

It might be my blind hope but I expect Napoli to hire right and be back fighting at the top of the table. I guess time will tell,. 

## S﻿ign up to our newsletter at the bottom of [this page](tmgitalia.net/)!

Napoli: Life after Victor

As a Leeds United fan, I’m familiar with the burden of expectation and what it must be doing to Palermo right now. 

A city of around a million people, a club with European football in its recent history. It’s no wonder that City Football Group (CFG) bought the club in the wake of its promotion back to Serie B in 2022.

For Palermo and its rather large fanbase, this probably felt like a seminal moment in the club’s future. 

An imminent return to Serie A. Money flowing into the club. A helping hand from their newfound friends from Manchester via Abu Dhabi.

> **Palermo fans may point to Girona, their footballing step-brothers, who look set to play Champions League football for the first time in their history, largely thanks to CFG’s influence.**

Two years later, the Rosanero find themselves limping into Serie B’s incredibly competitive playoffs; and few would have them as favourites to reach the promised land. 

So what, if anything, has gone wrong? It would be wrong to accuse them of complacency or having made a series of recruitment errors, neither of which the modern CFG are known for.

For all their (alleged) faults, they have made a habit of harvesting a bounty of talent for the clubs within their web.

Palermo fans may point to Girona, their footballing step-brothers, who look set to play Champions League football for the first time in their history, largely thanks to CFG’s influence.

However, that journey to the top was not without its moments of doubt and pain. Relegation, multiple underwhelming seasons in the second tier; a tale that will sound all too familiar to those in the Sicilian capital.

Reading the comments under Palermo’s posts announcing their shock 4-3 loss to Pisa on Easter Monday, one could be forgiven for not realising this was a team that had been playing in Serie D four years prior. 

> **T﻿he manager and sporting director resigned in protest at CFG' transfer strategy.**

A club of Palermo’s standing should never grace Italy’s third tier, never mind the semi-professional Serie D, but the same could be said of Parma and Bari, two sides who befell the same fate. 

In May 2019, despite qualifying for the Serie B playoffs, Palermo were relegated to Serie C by FIGC, the game’s national governing body, who cited “administrative irregularities”. As always in these scenarios, the financial situation failed to add up.

Salaries had not been paid for three months and the €500,000 fine imposed by FIGC went unpaid, and before long, Palermo declared bankruptcy. 

It had been rumoured two years previous that then owner Maurizio Zamparini was keen to sell up as the club were tumbling towards the abyss, and perhaps the instability that followed sealed their fate.

Having reformed in Serie D under the stewardship of Dario Mirri, they returned to the second tier in June 2022 having come through the brutal 28 team Serie C playoffs, powered by a 29 goal season from Matteo Brunori, their current club captain.

Both summer transfer windows since CFG’s arrival saw transfer activity that could be considered significant by Serie B standards, as the club built a team around Brunori’s goals.

CFG’s aggressive strategy ticked off manager Silvio Baldini and sporting director Renzo Castagnini in July 2022, who both resigned in protest at players being signed without their approval.

> **CFG were overly patient, based on a zealous belief that their recruitment strategy and footballing philosophy would be enough to conquer one of Europe’s most attritional leagues.**

Baldini’s replacement, his ex-player Eugenio Corini, arrived with the memory of promotion to Serie A at Brescia three years earlier and set about integrating CFG’s signings and playing football the ‘City’ way. In essence, 4-3-3.

Having just missed out on the playoffs in 2022-23, the pressure on Corini to deliver promotion will have been a huge weight to carry throughout this season, and it played its part in seeing him sacked a few weeks ago.

Despite being comfortably inside the playoff places, Corini’s job security has been non-existent since winning only once in an eight-game run between October and December 2023. 

A late Jacopo Segre winner against Pisa at La Favorita, the iconic home of Palermo, saved Corini’s job, but it was the aforementioned 4-3 loss in the return game that sealed his fate.

While it would have been easy to sack Corini back in December, prior to the first Pisa game, it may have been a case that CFG were overly patient, based on a zealous belief that their recruitment strategy and footballing philosophy would be enough to conquer one of Europe’s most attritional leagues.

It almost worked, however, as another aggressive transfer window in January brought new hope of automatic promotion. 

> **Venezia was likely the last chance for Corini  to convince his bosses that he could take them higher.**

Along with defender Salim Diakité and winger Chaka Traoré came Filippo Ranocchia, an attacking midfielder from Juventus.

Four million euros, a fee only surpassed in Serie B this year by Como’s purchase of Gabriel Strefezza for double. A statement of intent.

After four goals and an assist in his first eight games, Ranocchia suffered a muscle strain before Palermo’s crucial home game against Venezia last month. A win in front of 27,000+ at La Favorita would have sent them into the March international break in contention for automatic promotion.

However, Venezia floored them with a heavyweight of their own, as the league’s top scorer Joel Pohjanpalo added another two goals to his tally along the way to a 3-0 win. 

The Pisa loss came after the international break, prompting the end of Corini’s time in pink. Palermo lead 2-0 and 3-2 before succumbing to defeat that day, a fourth loss in five games and proof that Venezia was likely the last chance for the manager to convince his bosses that he could take them higher.

His replacement, Michele Mignani, must right the ship in time for the playoffs. Draws against Sampdoria and Cosenza do not inspire hope that this is a team reborn, but one must allow him some time.

> **This is a league that cannot be tamed, and that wealth certainly does not guarantee success.** 

A switch to a back three has prompted a total shift in role and responsibility for most of this Palermo side, which still looks rather fragile, having surrendered the lead in both of Mignani’s games.

Five games left to arrest the slide and get everyone fit for the playoffs, especially Ranocchia. Starting with Parma this Friday, Mignani must light a fire inside his team.

He came agonisingly close to consecutive promotions with Bari last season, taking them to the playoff final and leading by virtue of finishing higher in the league table, before Leonardo Pavoletti scored Cagliari’s winner in the dying embers of injury time.

Presumably, nobody told CFG that Serie B would be easy; and if they did, they were lying. This year’s edition looks a little like Squid Game, a battle to the end with many casualties along the way.

Cittadella briefly occupied 2nd place in early January, now they sit outside the playoffs. Sampdoria spent the first half of this season in the relegation zone, yet currently occupy the final playoff place (8th). 

This is a league that cannot be tamed, and that wealth certainly does not guarantee success. 

> **The expecting Palermo fans will demand better, and likely demand promotion from their club this season, but the realistic neutral would be very unlikely to put their money on a Sicilian success.**

Even Como, who came into the division with Palermo in 2021, have had to spend more than double the outlay offered up by CFG, only to find themselves a mere three points ahead of Venezia in 2nd. 

Palermo have come a long way since declaring bankruptcy in 2019, thanks to a little help from their new friends, but they clearly have some way to go before they can call this project a success.

Perhaps they can kick into gear in time for the playoffs, but they will have Catanzaro plus two of Venezia, Como and/or Cremonese to contend with. 

The expecting Palermo fans will demand better, and likely demand promotion from their club this season, but the realistic neutral would be very unlikely to put their money on a Sicilian success.

CFG bought into one of Italy’s more unique clubs, in one of the nation’s biggest cities, and now more than a million people expect. Time to deliver.

City Football Group and Palermo: The Weight of Expectation

For calcio advocates, the conversation mainly focuses on a select few players. Kvicha Kvaratshkelia, Rafael Leao and maybe Joshua Zirkzee, for the most part. 



In recent months, players like Christian Pulisic, Riccardo Calafiori and Alessandro Buongiorno have become increasingly prominent in Italian football discourse. 



It helps that the latter two have hit form this season and are pushing for a place in Luciano Spalletti’s Euro 2024 squad. 



But there’s one player currently plying his trade at AC Monza that I don’t feel is talked about enough. No, not Matteo Pessina (who deserves all the plaudits he receives) - it’s his counterpart, Andrea Colpani. 



And before Italian football aficionados come at me with their torches and pitchforks saying “Colpani isn’t good enough for the Azzurri this summer!” or “How can you say Colpani is as good as Rafael Leao?!”, that’s not what I’m saying. Colpani deserves credit, and for me, he often goes under the radar when discussing young(er) talent in Serie A. 

> **He has the potential to cause a selection headache in the future.** 

“I knew that I was on the longlist but I wanted to be certain. I hoped for it, I’m giving my best at Monza,” Colpani said of his first national call up in November. 



It was well deserved at the time, following a sequence of top Serie A performances. He’d scored five times and assisted once in 11 games leading up to the call; a return that couldn’t be scoffed at. 



Despite this call-up, Colpani is yet to make his debut for the Azzurri, but being included in the squad was good enough recognition for the performances he had been putting in at Monza. 



His exclusion from recent friendlies is harsh, and there’s an argument to say the upcoming tournament is too much too soon. 



He might not be ready to challenge the established Azzurri players, but he certainly has the potential to cause a selection headache in the future. 

> **The tall, gangly build. The long hair and hairband.** 

The Brescia-born player was signed to Atalanta’s youth academy as an 8 year old, which is nothing short of impressive at a club with their youth output. He never featured for their first team, and was eventually loaned to Trapani in Serie B. 



“Real football is when you leave home, in Trapani I had a year that I’m really proud of,” Colpani said. He was a prominent feature in that team during the 19/20 season, one which actually saw Trapani relegated to Serie C. 



Character building, for sure. And upon his return to Atalanta, it was a quick turnaround as he was shipped back out on loan to Monza. After two seasons there, helping them clinch promotion to Serie A, he signed permanently and under Rafaelle Palladino, began to flourish. 



Now, I’m no tactician or analyst. One of the main reasons I like Andrea Colpani is because I’m quite the football romantic. The tall, gangly build. The long hair and hairband. 



Put this together with his playing style and you can begin to see why he’s been compared to Javier Pastore in the past. But looking at his playing style and Monza’s tactical approach, his influence in Palladino’s system is massive regardless of his stats. 

> **It’d be beautiful to see him at the Maradona, wearing the Neapolitan blue.**

He’s often situated as a wide right midfielder in a 3-4-2-1 formation, despite being entirely left-footed. Not only are Colpani’s tactical proficiency and awareness two of his standout features but his technical ability is wonderful, too. 



He’s not your typical winger. More of a technical player, with the ability to beat a man, yes, but one that doesn’t rely on pace. 



Combine this with his ability to make late runs into the box and break lines when required to do so, you start to realise why his name was being mentioned alongside Jude Bellingham’s at the start of the season. 



His momentum has slowed towards the end of this season, but interest from bigger clubs in the league hasn’t dwindled and I suspect his name will be tossed around a lot during the summer market. 



Inter, Milan and Juventus have all expressed an interest in the past but it’s hard to know whether they’ll reignite that. 



For me? I’d love him at Napoli. It’d be beautiful to see him at the Maradona, wearing the Neapolitan blue. And, depending on who Napoli hire at the end of the season, it’d be a good fit. 



“My biggest idol is Totti,” he said when asked about his football inspirations. Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso and even Mario Balotelli were also listed. 



Colpani has a high ceiling, for sure, and he’s at a critical stage in his career. A slower second half of the season so far, but with the talent he possesses, there’s a whole heap of potential to fulfil. Whether he stays at Monza or moves, I’ll follow him and keep an eye on his development. You should too.

Andrea Colpani: Romantic Football

As the heavens opened, we ducked for cover into the bar opened inside Florence’s Loggia del Grano, condemned to paying €7 for a bottle of beer at midday on a Sunday. 

A tough life, I know. This former grain market has been converted into a ‘bar’ where prices are inflated and food looks microwaved, so we were not compelled to stick around.

Rather, we would chance our arm at making it as far as Piazza Santa Croce before admitting defeat against rain so heavy that it prompted us to ask: “Is this match actually going to be on?” 

A couple of friends and I had made our way to the city for a weekend of football tourism and food. We had just seen Bologna-Inter the night before and were on a hot streak of finding good food spots, which was not about to end like this.

> **A wooden board of goodness made us forget about our damp socks before long.**

While huddling under one of the piazza’s balconies for shelter, good fortune appeared over our shoulder in the form of an open bar that appeared welcoming and shuffled a few tables around to make space for three soaked football fans. 

The potent combination of an enticing drinks list and the sight of several locals and tourists eating meant we had nowhere to be in a hurry. 

![](/assets/blog/whatsapp-image-2024-03-24-at-20.54.41.jpeg)

Meat, cheese and bread appeared at our table in semi-miraculous circumstances and we were settled. 

It was still seven hours until our Sunday night kick-off at Artemio Franchi, and it was to clear up before 3pm, so life was good. 

A wooden board of goodness made us forget about our damp socks before long, anyway.

Onto the game at hand. Fiorentina-Roma. A game worthy of the Sunday evening primetime slot. Roma had just dismantled Brighton; Daniele De Rossi’s side winning 4-0 to continue their acutely upward trajectory post-Mourinho’s sacking.

Fiorentina remain enigmatic. For large periods during games, they look like a top four side, but then they go and spoil it all by doing something stupid like missing a penalty. More on that later.

![](/assets/blog/whatsapp-image-2024-03-24-at-20.18.04.jpeg)

I have been lucky enough to see the Viola live in Florence twice before and have only good things to say about the city, the stadium, the fans and the lampredotto panini outside the ground.

Few other places in the world can claim to exude such beauty and also provide top quality football. Maybe Leeds. Joking, sort of.

A trip to Dolce Vita Vintage Lab, a shop filled to the brim with football nostalgia, fulfilled its potential and left me a few euros lighter.

> **M﻿y ginger hair acted as an assuring symbol that we had not come up from Roma.**

A quick stop for a drink in Piazza Santa Maria Novella allowed us to catch a glimpse of Juventus’ struggles against Atalanta, much to the delight of the locals. Drinks finished; off to the station.

Huddled in like cattle on the train to Campo di Marte, a five minute journey felt like a pilgrimage of penance before the football we were about to enjoy. 

For those who make this journey on a fortnightly basis, the sight of these pasty boys wearing light clothing must have been odd, but at least my ginger hair acted as an assuring symbol that we had not come up from Roma.

![At the gates of Stadio Artemio Franchi](/assets/blog/whatsapp-image-2024-03-24-at-20.18.25.jpeg "At the gates of Stadio Artemio Franchi")

An evening at Stadio Artemio Franchi always feels like a proper football experience. That welcome buzz of a congregation with the same intention, the hum of a food truck's engine and slightly uncomfortable seating. 

A balmy, by my standards, fourteen degrees and no sign of the afternoon rain that had threatened to turn this night into a damp squib. The conditions were perfect.

Despite the generally poor state of Italian stadiums, they do make up for it in atmosphere, functioning barista and the ability to just stand near the pitch during warm-ups without being ushered to your seat every five seconds.

Watching Paulo Dybala juggle a football before stroking it 50 yards onto Aouar’s foot was great, as was watching the various Roma fans sat in the home end drift towards the magnetic away end, rather than stay undercover among discerning Tuscans. Before long, it was time for kick off.

> **While the Torino version still eludes us, the Fiorentina Belotti thrived in the physical battle with Roma’s defenders.**

*Oh Fiorentina!* blasted out as the players emerged from the tunnel in the pit of the Curva Fiesole. The stage was set. 

Fiorentina’s cup runs, domestically and in Europe, failed to stop them from sending out a strong XI to match Roma; a team whose Champions League ambitions are three-fold. Fourth place is in sight, as is the Europa League final, and finishing fifth might even be enough under UEFA’s new competition format.

The game itself was delightfully entertaining. Andrea Belotti, draped in Florentine purple, gave his old Roman teammates a tough evening. 

While the Torino version still eludes us, the Fiorentina Belotti thrived in the physical battle with Roma’s defenders.

![Half-time: Fiorentina 1-0 Roma](/assets/blog/whatsapp-image-2024-03-24-at-21.07.19.jpeg "Half-time: Fiorentina 1-0 Roma")

Roma started the better, but it was Luca Ranieri’s goal which kicked this game into life, his header putting the home side ahead in the 16th minute. 

Fiorentina enjoyed almost total dominance for the rest of the half, going close on multiple occasions, but the profligacy that has haunted the Italiano era continued. 

Houssem Aouar equalised early in the second half before Rolando Mandragora made the most of a defensive mix-up to tap in Fiorentina’s second; and that’s where the game gets a little loopy.

As the entered the final ten minutes, Belotti turned Leandro Paredes just inside the Roma box, prompting the Argentina to grab him and give away a laughably soft/silly penalty. 

Step up Belotti, against his old team, to make it 3-1 and send them back to the capital with frowny faces, right?

Unfortunately not, says every Fiorentina fan. Rather, team captain Cristiano Biraghi, admittedly a dead ball specialist, but also a left-back, took the ball and placed it on the spot before giving Mile Svilar one of the easier penalty saves he will have to make in his career.

![Curva Fiesole, Fiorentina](/assets/blog/whatsapp-image-2024-03-24-at-20.19.12.jpeg "Curva Fiesole, Fiorentina")

Oh well, not to worry, just see out the last few minutes and take the 2-1. If only. Fifteen seconds after the four allotted minutes were up, a wild Diego Llorente saw Evan Ndicka’s knockdown bounce into his path and caught it perfectly. 

With the last kick, the game was level. Roma close the gap on Bologna in 4th and Fiorentina fans head home feeling short changed. 

Perhaps that goal never happens if Italiano decides against making three subs in injury time, but we shall never know.

> **Should we really have drank that shot of Borghetti at half-time?**

After joining the masses to flock out of Artemio Franchi after a wonderful night of calcio turistico, we headed for a debrief in La Guerrina, a pub near the stadium. 

Only then did we process the fact that Diego Llorente, once of Leeds fame, had equalised with the last kick. 

Heading back to town, we jumped in a taxi whose driver proceeded to tell us he used to play football in Ireland and referenced various rural villages, prompting us to question: “Should we really have drank that shot of Borghetti at half-time?”

Meat, cheese, pasta, lampredotto, beer, Diego Llorente going full Roy of the Rovers and the only taxi driver in Florence to have played in the Irish League. All in a day’s work.



### C﻿over photo: [Lewis Urquhart (@calciolewis)](https://twitter.com/calciolewis?lang=en)

Florence: Coming in from the rain

The first week of March is not just like any other for a Fiorentina supporter. It resonates with the memory of Davide Astori, who was not only our Captain, he was also a leader in the truest sense.



I remember that Sunday morning very clearly. I did not wake up early, as usual. I went to the kitchen, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. There was a famous Italian sports presenter speaking, but without the same old joyful atmosphere of a game. She was visibly touched and then she said the words I will never forget: "And so the captain of Fiorentina is dead". 



I shouted: "NO!" I was in total shock, I could not believe it. I thought it must be some kind of hidden camera moment but then they showed the body being taken away from the hotel and the tragedy became painfully real.



I called my mother and she said that she heard the news on the radio. She had to pull over the car because she could not believe it either. She cried. When I opened Twitter, the feed was full of other Fiorentina fans in disbelief. Opening Whatsapp, I found messages from friends telling me the same heartbreaking news.

> **Everyone in Florence was crying that day.**

We saw on the local news that the Curva Fiesole ultras had hung a banner and scarves at the stadium gate; by which point, more fans had begun to do the same. As soon as my mother got home, we decided to bring a purple seedling to the stadium as our way to honour the Captain.



As we arrived, the gate was already covered with purple scarves and objects, each carrying a message. Walking past this wall filled with esteem and love made our eyes teary. We were still in disbelief that we were there to remember a guy who we had seen recently scoring for our team and talking to camera. We thought he would be our Captain for a long time to come.



We placed our plant there and stayed for a few minutes, quietly praying. I remember vividly looking behind me and seeing a mother with a baby, crying and wiping her tears. I don't know if that mom was a fan or just there with her child, but everyone in Florence was crying that day.



Davide Astori's family later agreed to have a funeral in Florence, perhaps sensing all the love this city had given (and received) from him. The Basilica of Santa Croce was not only full inside, but outside, despite the rain. Hundreds, if not thousands, gathered to witness the final farewell to our forever Captain. The casket's journey to the church was accompanied by thousands of people on the streets silently paying their respect, many who had taken leave from work or had come from out of town.



I was at the first match after Astori's death, Fiorentina-Benevento, and I have never seen, even for the most important of matches, the Stadio Franchi so full. The rain had not stopped the love of an entire city for its Captain.



Perhaps it is because Florence and Fiorentina feel like one big family, or perhaps because in Davide Astori the city had truly found a Captain with a capital C, worthy of the armband he wore, but his loss seriously shook all of us. I treasure my jersey with his name printed on the back and wear it with great pride.



Despite all the murals, titled stadiums, charitable initiatives, and cheers in the 13th minute of every home game, it still does not seem enough to express what we lost on that March 4th. If Davide Astori were still with us, he would probably still be leading the team. He would have led us in the Italian Cup and Conference League finals last year, and who knows how it would have gone...



### Florence has changed but one thing will never change, at the reading of the lineup in response to "and with jersey number 13, Captain forever" the stadium will shout "DAVIDE ASTORI".