It was a mixed bag for the guys plying their trade away from the friendly confines of the RBCVPetc this year. Some of them were fortunate to get away from Fiorentina, thus avoiding the sea of troubles that broke against the club all year; others were part of the problem and were shipped off to minimize further damage. Let’s take a look at the guys who have a realistic chance at making the first team next year and see how they fared.
Because this is already a long article, I’m skipping Antonín Barák
and M’Bala Nzola. Both are under contract until next year but the former failed to make an impact at Sampdoria in Serie B, removing himself from Viola contention; the latter had some good moments under Fabio Grosso at Sassuolo but looks likely to stay there, possibly as part of a transfer deal for a Neroverdo to be named later. That still leaves us 11 guys to get through so let’s dive in.
Lorenzo Amatucci (UD Las Palmas)
The 22-year-old midfield general put in an excellent campaign in la Segunda, marking his second outstanding second tier season. He’s not a goals-and-assists guy but instead occupies the deepest role, orchestrating the buildup and breaking up play. He was one of the best midfielders in the division, regularly earning praise for his distribution and commitment while cleaning up the one area of his game that was a real problem last year (an outlandish number of yellow cards).
Stats: 41 appearances (39 starts), 4 assists, 5 yellow cards
Final grade: B+ At worst, he’s a star at this level. Now he needs to show that he can take the next step.
% he’ll stick: 50% Las Palmas has a €9 million option on him but Fiorentina has a buyback clause, although I haven’t been able to find the number. He might not be ready to start 30 Serie A games but as a young, academy-trained guy in a position of need, Fabio Paratici and Roberto Goretti will take a long, hard look at him.
Lucas Beltrán (Valencia)
El Vikingo’s story continued in the same vein it was in Florence. He worked hard and won plaudits for his attitude but tallied just one (1) league goal. At 25, it’s not impossible that he adds that dimension to his game, but it’s very unlikely. At least he was willing to shoot this year (2.2 per 90 but I think it’s more likely that he drops into a box-to-box midfield role than becomes a prolific or even mediocre scorer in Europe. I like the guy as a player—squarest noggin this side of Christian Norgaard, ginger, excellent nickname, boundless enthusiasm—but I don’t think it’s going to happen for him.
Stats: 30 appearances (19 appearances), 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 yellow card
Final grade: C- We all knew what to expect but it’s still a bit disappointing that he only scored a single league goal.
% he’ll stick: 5% His former employer River Plate has been keeping tabs on him per reports from Argentina, as well as a host of other South American clubs. His contract runs until 2028 so maybe it’ll just be a loan rather than an outright sale but he’s probably made his final Fiorentina appearance.
Alessandro Bianco (PAOK)
He never broke out of his backup role under Rǎzvan Lucescu, picking up the majority of his starts in the cup competitions. Dikefalos won the league so Lucescu’s decision to keep Al White shackled to the bench was the correct one. At 23, he’s got plenty of time left, although it’s fair to question if his ceiling is as high as we thought it might be a couple years ago when he was bossing Primavera games.
Stats: 24 appearances (12 starts), 2 goals, 7 yellow cards
Final grade: C- A day late, a dollar short.
% he’ll stick: 10% PAOK has a €4 million option but probably won’t take it, so he’ll return to the RBCVPetc and figure out his next move. He’s an academy trained player and could be fine as a depth option but my guess is that Paratici will view him is a pure plusvalenza and ship him off to a Serie B side.
Maat Caprini (Mantova)
The 20-year-old youth international endured a difficult season, failing to register a goal or assist and dealing with injuries that knocked him out for nearly 2 months over the winter. I won’t pretend to have watched a ton of him but what I saw confirmed the impression he left over the summer. He’s quick and has a decent first touch but needs to improve both technically and mentally before he’s ready.
Stats: 16 appearances (7 starts), 2 yellow cards
Final grade: D Slightly concerning that he couldn’t score at all but Serie B’s a fickle league and I’m not too worried.
% he’ll stick: 5% He’s not ready for Serie A yet and, with a contract expiring next summer, needs to demonstrate concrete development to continue his Viola career.
Jonas Harder (Padova)
The Florence-born midfielder featured regularly and even seized the starting job for a month or two, impressing the Biancorossi fans, before a soft tissue injury knocked him out for the final two months. He demonstrated growth under the since-fired Matteo Andreolotti and looks like a player on the rise. He still needs to fill out physically but he reads the game pretty well and has an eye for the killer pass, as evidenced by his 2 assists for the Italy U20s this year.
Stats: 26 appearances (17 starts), 1 goal, 6 yellow cards
Final grade: B- Shame about the injuries but he showed enough to give us hope for the future.
% he’ll stick: 0% Half a good season in the second tier doesn’t translate to a Serie A role. He’ll take another loan and try to break into the first team in summer 2027.
Tommaso Martinelli (Sampdoria)
After spending the first half of the season as David de Gea’s understudy, he finally got a chance for regular minutes and responded well. He had a few wobbles, particularly when dealing with high crosses, but his shot stopping was quite good and he didn’t make many mistakes as the Blucerchiati turned what looked like a doomed season around with him between the sticks. They conceded 1 goal/game with him and 1.73 goal/game without him. He also made his debut for the Italy U20s, so all in all it was a very good season.
Stats: 16 appearances, 16 goals conceded, 7 clean sheets.
Final grade: B+ Still has some rough patches that need smoothing over but he’s making progress.
% he’ll stick: 5% Even if David de Gea moves, Paratici will target a more experienced pair of hands for the centenary season and send Martinelli on loan for another year, hopefully in Serie A. His window to win the starting job opens in 2027-2028.
Matías Moreno (Levante)
Los Murciélagos weren’t great his year but Moreno did more than his part in keeping them up. He was commanding at the back, using his physical talent to stifle opponents and showing a good reading of the game. He also looked more comfortable on the ball than he did last year, hinting at a higher upside than I’d expected. With his size, speed, and technical ability, he looked every inch the modern centerback while still showing the personality that every top level player has to have.
Stats: 29 appearances (27 starts), 8 yellow cards
Final grade: B He wasn’t perfect but he was quite good.
% he’ll stick: 25% Levante has a €12 million option but probably won’t pick it up. Strasbourg has stepped up as a potential suitor as well and Paratici sounds open to selling, which is too bad. He’s a young defender with outstanding characteristics who’s clearly on the rise.
Amir Richardson (FC København)
Alarm bells are ringing for the Slender Man. After he talked his way out of Florence following a difficult summer and a largely overlooked start to the campaign, the assumption was that he’d rehabilitate his reputation as a standout in Denmark. Had he shown enough, he had an outside shot at making Morocco’s World Cup squad and earning a big move elsewhere. Instead, he publicly stated that he wouldn’t agree to a permanent move despite the Løverne having a €9 million option to buy him, and manager Bo Svensson simply dropped him from the matchday squad. Now Richardson can look forward to an awkward return to the RBCVPetc; maybe he can repair his relationship with the club but my guess is that the bridges are all burned.
Stats: 4 appearances (2 starts), 2 yellow cards
Final grade: F Chatted his way out of a starting role for a big club ahead of the World Cup. That’s pretty bad, man.
% he’ll stick: 5% Never say never but even if Paratici and Grosso rate him, reintegrating him with the other players might not be worth the trouble for a guy who won’t keep his head down.
Tommaso Rubino (Carrarese)
Despite his late equalizer against Venezia in his 3rd appearance (set up by fellow loanee Filippo di Stefano, who subsequently scored the winner), the 19-year-old never found his feet and was mostly an energy sub. Despite playing as a 10 or winger with the Primavera, Antonio Calabro often used him deeper in midfield. The underwhelming season isn’t any reason for immediate concern; it was his first foray outside of youth level and Carrarese struggled after January, winning just 3 games. Still, it would’ve been nice to see his influence increase over the course of the season rather than hold steady.
Stats: 26 appearances (12 starts), 2 goals, 4 yellow cards
Final grade: C Just about what you’d expect from a teenager testing out the hurly burly of Serie B.
% he’ll stick: 0% I don’t think he’s physically ready for the next level and needs to show that he can nail down a starting job in the second tier before he moves up to the top tier.
Simon Sohm (Bologna)
I already wrote about how wrong it went for him in Florence so I don’t want to beat that horse any further. He did better in Bologna, for what it’s worth, but still didn’t really impress anyone. He runs around a lot but he’s just not good enough with the ball to play for a club aiming for Europe. The Oscar Mayers apparently agree and won’t trigger his €15 million option.
Stats: 16 appearances (9 starts), 1 yellow card
Final grade: C- He probably wasn’t going to stick at that price but didn’t do anything to improve his standing.
% he’ll stick: 25% A fresh start under Grosso could help him; he’s not that dissimilar from Aster Vranckx, for example, and he could be a useful depth option. It’s far more likely, though, that Paratici will sell him at a discount as he tries to trim the roster.
Nicolás Valentini (Hellas Verona)
Valentini’s season began poorly—he reportedly wanted to fight for his place at Fiorentina but was instead sent back to Verona, where he missed the first month with a hamstring issue—and pretty well stayed there. The Mastini fielded a poor defense (61 goals conceded, 2nd-worst in the league) so it wasn’t an environment conducive to excellence but Valentini wasn’t great either. He struggled with that balky thigh all year and never found his rhythm. I didn’t see anything in him that heralds untapped talent. Now 25, he looks to me like someone who belongs on that Serie A/B divide; he’s got all the physical and technical ability but his decision-making isn’t reliable enough.
Stats: 22 appearances (15 starts), 7 yellow cards, 1 red card
Final grade: C- Not his fault that he couldn’t stay healthy but his performances were subpar even when he was.
% he’ll stick: 0% Verona’s got a purchase option around €4 million and might be able to talk Fiorentina down to half that; his contract in Florence runs until 2029 and he’d be no better than 5th in the centerback pecking order under Grosso.
