In a surprise move, Fiorentina announced this morning that it signed goalkeeper Luca Lezzerini on a free. Terms of the contract have yet to emerge, although Nicolò Schira claims it’s a 1-year deal with a 2-year option, which would be pretty strange.
Luca is a Viola.⚜️#forzaviola #fiorentina pic.twitter.com/wy7Aym9DdV
— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) August 1, 2025
It’s a homecoming for the 30-year-old Lezzerini, who rose through the Primavera ranks and even made 4 first team appearances in 2016 and 2017. He was unable to push past Ciprian Tătărușanu,
Marco Sportiello, and Bartłomiej Drągowski and moved to Avellino at the start of the 2018-2019 season on loan, earning a permanent move the following summer before moves to Venezia and then Brescia.
Lezzerini’s a competent veteran with some Serie A experience, although most of his minutes have come in Serie B. He won’t challenge David de Gea or Tommaso Martinelli and should slot in as the 3rd goalkeeper. Maybe he’ll get a start in the season finale or something, but his main job will be to serve as a resource for Martinelli and get along with the rest of the squad.
Oliver Christensen had been tabbed for that 3rd goalkeeper job but should be moving to Sturm Graz in the next couple days, so there was a need to bring in a steady pair of hands in case of emergency. Lezzerini is certainly that: not a lot of Serie B goalkeeper have picked up over a million euros’ worth of transfer fees in the past few years, but Lezze has. He’s talented enough to fill in as necessary without threatening the standing of the guys above him in the hierarchy.
This isn’t just a low-profile return, though. As an academy-trained player, he helps the Viola fill the homegrown quota; he, Martinelli, Luca Ranieri, Pietro Comuzzo, Niccolò Fortini, Alessandro Bianco, and Riccardo Sottil now give Fiorentina 5 guys with that designation. Because Fortini’s just 19, he may be registered as a youth player to open up a roster spot. That would leave 6 homegrown guys to fill the 4 required spots. Reading the tea leaves, Sottil won’t be with the tea this year (he’s not even on the roster for the England tour) and this signing makes me think that Bianco won’t be either.
Roster machinations aside, it’s good to see Lezzerini back. I always had a soft spot for him in his Primavera days and always enjoyed seeing his cameos with the first team. His Instagram is all pictures of his wife and daughter interspersed with highlights the Serie B account tagged him in and a few shots of him looking very tall and very genial, and his profile picture for the past 7 years has been him with Davide Astori. If nothing else, he’ll fit right in.
Bentornato a casa, Luha.
More from violanation.com:
