The sticky Tuscan summer is at its height, which can only mean that Fiorentina’s preseason is about to begin. Not for this team the cooler air of the Val d’Aosta but the steaminess of the Viola Park right down the road, where the players will meet new manager Stefano Pioli for the first time and get to work ahead of another season. Which players? Well, we’ve got a list. The list, even.
Pre-season 2025/26 ⚜️
— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) July 13, 2025
SQUAD LIST #forzaviola #fiorentina pic.twitter.com/ginEWGz4gQ
THE SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS: David de Gea, Pietro
Leonardelli, Tommaso Martinelli, Pietro Terracciano
CENTERBACKS: Pietro Comuzzo, Eddy Kouadio, Pablo Marí, Marin Pongračić, Luca Ranieri, Nicolás Valentini, Mattia Viti
WINGBACKS: Dodô, Niccolò Fortini, Robin Gosens, Fabiano Parisi
MIDFIELDERS: Antonín Barák, Alessandro Bianco, Nicoló Fagioli, Jacopo Fazzini, Gino Infantino, Bala Keita, Rolando Mandragora, Cher Ndour, Amir Richardson
WINGERS: Jonathan Ikoné, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Riccardo Sottil
FORWARDS: Luca Beltrán, Riccardo Braschi, Edin Džeko, Albert Guðmundsson, Moise Kean, Christian Kouamé
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Great chance for the 4 Primavera players—Leonardelli, Kouadio, Keita, and Braschi—to train with the big boys and give us a glimpse of who they could become. As a reminder, it’s preseason and they’re kids, so don’t assume that they’re ready. They aren’t. Just enjoy watching the next generation for a few weeks.
Fortini’s a really exciting player but could take a little while to settle in. He’s mostly played on the left over the past few years despite being right-footed and the spotlight’s squarely on him as the new academy product everyone’s talking up. If he starts a little slowly, it’s fine. If he’s still struggling by mid-August, then I might worry about his short-term future a little.
Christian Kouamé’ inclusion should tell you how much everyone likes him. He’s still rehabbing the cruciate ligament he tore against Cagliari in April and won’t be ready until November at the very earliest, but he’s still with the team rather than rehabbing separately at the Viola Park.
It’ll be interesting to see where Pioli puts the wingers. My guess is Ikoné as a forward, Sabiri as a midfielder, and Sottil as a wingback. #ChaosJonny and Handsome Rick could both shine in those roles but don’t forget that they’re just killing time until a move materializes.
This has to be so uncomfortable for the guys we know are on the outs. My guess is the aforementioned wingers as well as Terracciano (close to AC Milan), Valentini, Barák, Bianco, and Infantino. Having more than a quarter of your first team veterans lined up for the exit has to create a weird environment.
BATTLES TO WATCH
Ranieri and Comuzzo should be locked into defense but the third centerback is up for grabs between Marí, Pongračić, and Viti; whichever of them wins could give us a clue into how Pioli wants to play. If Marí hangs onto the job, it could be a sign that penalty box defense is the priority. Pongračić could indicate a preference for a higher line and more sophisticated buildup. Viti’s the wild card, as he could operate in the middle or on the left, pushing Ranieri into the middle.
Fagioli should start as the regista with Mandragora and Fazzini as the mezzale but there’ll be plenty of rotation. I’m fascinated by Richardson’s role: given the desperation to find a new regista, Pioli seems down on him despite the strong conclusion to last season, so he might have more to prove than anyone else in the senior squad this year. If he can win the mister’s trust, it’ll allow Daniele Pradé a little more room to find the right complementary midfielder rather than a guaranteed starter. Ndour and Bianco also have an uphill battle into the first team but I don’t expect either to crack the rotation.
Up front, Kean’s the first name on the team sheet but the spot next to him will be hotly contested between Džeko and Guðmundsson. They’re wildly different players whose deployment will shape both Kean’s role and how everyone behind them plays, so I’m very interested to see who Pioli considers the starter and who’s the change of pace option.
THE ABSENT
The guys not called up fall into three groups. The first is young guys who probably aren’t ever going to crack the first team but have long professional careers ahead of them. They struggled on loan last year in Serie B or Serie C but still have sufficient talent to attract some interest. I’m including Dimo Krastev (sorry, Hesanka), Davide Gentile, Mattia Macchi, Niccolò Nardi, Costantino Favasuli, Filippo Distefano, Fallou Sene, and Eljon Toci in this collection. They’re training separately from the group and trying to stay healthy so they can get their next loan sorted.
Next up is the senior players who’ve been banished from the first team and are painfully surplus: Oliver Christensen, Josip Brekalo, and M’Bala Nzola. Nzola at least has garnered a fair amount of interest on the market and should be gone in the next couple of weeks. I’ve also heard of some mild interest in Christensen. Brekalo doesn’t have any suitors so far as I can tell but I’m more than happy for him to be sundered from the rest of the squad.
The final group is the smallest. It’s young players who might have first team futures and comprises two dudes: Lorenzo Amatucci and Maat Daniel Caprini. I’d thought Amatucci would get some preseason work with the senior side before leaving on loan to a promotion-chasing Serie B team, but maybe there’s already a move in the works for him. Caprini’s still eligible for the Primavera, but the fact that he wasn’t included makes me think he’s got a loan lined up as well.
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