Fiorentina played its first non-Primavera friendly today, taking on local Serie D outfit Grosseto at their grandly-named Stadio Olimpico Carlo Zecchini. The visitors clearly weren’t taking it too seriously, as the starting lineup was obviously the backups (Martinelli; Kospo, Pongračić, Kouadio; Parisi, Bianco, Montenegro, Sottil; Puzzoli; Džeko, Braschi), probably with a view towards getting the starters in against Carrarese tomorrow.
I’m always skeptical about drawing too many conclusions from preseason
friendlies because there’s just not all that much to learn from watching Serie A guys square off against Serie D guys in a no-stakes situation. I tend to be more interested in looking at the young players and the general principles of play, but I also know enough not to build too many expectations based on anything that happens in July. That said, here are my 3 main observations from the game.
1. A LITTLE TOO TENSE FOR PRESEASON
Riccardo Sottil is so clearly a better athlete than anyone in Serie D that it’s almost comical. He could beat his man every time he gets the ball but it almost felt like he didn’t want to because it’d make him look like a tryhard, and Ricky’s cultivated a persona of cool arrogance over the past few years. The facade broke when he got kicked one too many times—and, to be clear, he’d gotten collected on several previous occasions—and he reacted like a petulant child rather than a 26-year-old with years of Serie A experience. Not a good look against a Serie D team.
Riccardo Sottil classe 99
— Duce Daniele Pradè ✪ (@DanielePrade) July 24, 2025
26 anni
Ancora aspettiamo che esploda. BASTA
pic.twitter.com/Cpcz6NGNS5
He wasn’t even the first one to get into it: Fabiano Parisi also had some altercations with his man: first, he got fouled from behind after he’d gotten through and popped up to talk some shit, prompting the other guy to push him in the face. Not long after, Fabi put a reducer in on the dude in revenge, then gave him the same face shove, prompting a brief fracas. In the second half, Abdelhamid Sabiri and Luca Ranieri (of course) both put in some unnecessarily crunching challenges.
Lads, it’s Grosseto. Relax.
2. THE PRIMAVERA PIPELINE ISN’T EMPTY
Fiorentina’s academy has been one of the best in Italy over the past decade, winning trophies and cranking out professionals. Pietro Comuzzo is the most recent success story, making an unbelievable jump from amateur teenager to senior Italy call-up in just a few months, but Alessandro Bianco, Michael Kayode, Lorenzo Amatucci, and Niccolò Fortini all look like Serie A quality players either now or in the next couple years.
I don’t think there’s a Comuzzo-level prospect in the hopper right now but preseason’s a great time to preview the youngsters. Of the guys we saw today, I’d say that Riccardo Braschi, Eddy Kouadio, and Eman Košpo are closest to ready. Braschi’s goal was a rocket from the edge of the box, but it was his movement that impressed me. He constantly found creases in the defense that better midfielders would’ve spotted. Košpo’s big and strong and has personality, even if he’s still a little rough around the edges, so about as advertised.
Kouadio was the most interesting, though. He’s very tall but moves well for his size, showing none of the awkwardness that sometimes infects big teens. He’s very quick, quite strong, and can change direction fluidly. Physically, he looks ready for Serie A. He needs to figure out his positioning and clean up some of his on-ball stuff but I can see him cracking the Viola rotation in another year or two; he’s already trained with the senior side a few times and even made the bench a couple times.
3. BETTER PLAYERS = BETTER TEAM
Stefano Pioli brought in most of his starters (no David de Gea, Rolando Mandragora, Jacopo Fazzini, or Albert Guðmundsson) at about the hour mark, and although none of them scored, the difference in quality was stunning. For example, Dodô looks rapid even against Serie A opposition but seeing him do it against these Serie D guys makes it obvious just how much faster than a normal human (i.e. one of the people reading this) he is. That goes double for Moise Kean, who didn’t even bother to turn it on more than a couple of times and still looked miles better than everyone on the pitch.
It’s not just the physicality, though, although that’s stunning when you get to measure it against the Grosseto players, every one of whom would be the best player you’ve ever played with. Nicolò Fagioli doesn’t just glide out of pressure like he’s on ice skates; he also played some vertical passes into the box that made him look like prime David Pizarro. Even Abdelhamid Sabiri, who was obviously a cut below everyone else, is just so good.
And what happens when you put a bunch of those good players together? Well, the team improves to an alarming extent. This isn’t to pile on the Primavera kids and backups, who are all outrageously talented, but the difference between the backups and the starters, even when they’re not trying to get out of second gear, is pretty stark.
More from violanation.com:
