The scuttlebutt for the past couple weeks has been that Stefano Pioli wanted time to evaluate his new charges before deciding which fringe players were worth keeping, and that’s pretty much how it’s played out. An early July flurry brought Edin Džeko, Jacopo Fazzini, and Mattia Viti to Fiorentina but the only addition since is 18-year-old Eman Košpo, who’ll likely spend more time with the Primavera than the senior side. To quote the Organic Mechanic, “It’s gone awful quiet in there.”
The question
is whether Pioli’s weighed and measured his options, particularly in the midfield. Centerback, wingback, and striker are locked and loaded, but the engine room remains awfully light: Rolando Mandragora, Nicolò Fagioli, and Jacopo Fazzini are the nominal starting trio, with Amir Richardson, Cher Ndour, and Alessandro Bianco or Abdelhamid Sabiri as the backups. At least half of that latter group will probably play elsewhere this year as it’s simply not ready for extended minutes at this level.
Friendlies against Grosseto and Carrarese aren’t comparable to Serie A but Pioli’s seen enough players in training over the years to know who’s up for the challenge. I’m predicting that, while the team’s gallivanting around England (including a paintball outing today), the spin machine will shudder back into life and spit out a couple names every day for the Viola midfield.
Over the past couple weeks, Simon Sohm and Franck Kessié are the only two names I’ve seen linked to Florence by halfway reputable sources. I like Sohm as a rotational option and doubt that Kessié’s a real target due to his salary demands. In that same Kessié thing, by the way, Alfredo Pedullà mentions that Pradè’s probably got something bubbling on a secret burner.
Shortly after the squad arrived in England for last summer’s preseason tour, Fiorentina announced the signing of Andrea Colpani, who was considered a major addition (whoopsies). El Flaco made it to the Hull game but watched from the stands, if memory serves, before diving into action upon the return to Florence.
The timing of Colpani’s signing mattered, as the fans grumbled about losing Nikola Milenković and it felt to me that Fiorentina was trying to distract from the Mountain’s departure by dangling a shiny new toy in front of them. Dodô’s the only starter who might yet be sold in this transfer window but would also necessitate a direct replacement, so a parallel situation isn’t in the offing.
My concern isn’t anything you haven’t heard before: I don’t want Pradè to wait until the last moment to add a key starter in midfield. It takes several games for everyone to figure out how to work together, and the team as a whole operates below its maximum capacity during that process; just look at how last season began if you need an example.
If Pioli’s still trying to figure out if Richardson and Ndour can do a job for this team, these next few friendlies should help him arrive at a conclusion. Ideally, though, he’s identified the profile of the player he needs in the middle and has passed that information on to Pradè and Roberto Goretti so they can get to work bringing in the right guy(s). After all, we’re less than a month from the season opener at Cagliari. This is when the team ought to be fine tuning itself rather than scrambling to build an engine.
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