Sunday’s Derby dell’Appennino wasn’t just Fiorentina’s best performance of the season. It was also a chance for both sides to get some business done, business that’s now finished with that rarest of transfers:
the swap. The Viola get Giovanni Fabbian from the Oscar Mayers and send them Simon Sohm in exchange. Swap deals are often hideously complex but from what I can glean, it’s a loan both ways. Fabbian’s will become a €15 million obligation to buy if the Viola avoid relegation, with the player signing a contract worth €1.5 million annually, while Sohm will have a €15 million option of his own.
I looked briefly at Fabbian’s potential fit in the Viola midfield yesterday. My assumption is that Paolo Vanoli will stick with the 4-3-3 for now and that Fabbian will eventually replace Rolando Mandragora or Cher Ndour, although the mister’s been unwilling to change a winning (or at least not-losing) formula thus far. If Vanoli follows through on his intent to switch to a 4-2-3-1, Fabbian will probably compete with Albert Guðmundsson for a job as the 10, although there’s a chance he could partner Nicolò Fagioli in a double pivot too.
Fabbian’s an interesting player. At 23, he’s made 71 Serie A appearances, scoring 10 goals and adding 3 assists. An Inter Milan academy product, he failed to break through with the Nerazzurri and joined Bologna for €5.5 million in August 2023, although Inter retained a €12 million buy-back clause. Fabbian became a regular for Vincenzo Italiano but started just 17 games. As a former youth standout, he doubtless wanted to start more often and saw Fiorentina as a good option.
He’s less of a wispy, creative 10 and more of a physically-imposing box crasher. He’s a decent dribbler and passer but his best quality is the way he attacks the ball in the penalty area. Those runs from deeper positions are difficult to track and add a dynamism to the attack, although he’ll probably need someone to set him up to bring out his best. He’s also picked number 80 (the first in Viola history), which is slightly alarming.
Sohm, on the other hand, departs after an extraordinarily disappointing 6 months. He’s dealt with some injuries but got that Stefano Pioli stank all over him and never rinsed it off. His technical deficiencies and inability to physically impose himself saw him relegated to cameos after the first couple months of this accursed season. Based on those performances, it’s a minor miracle that Fiorentina might recoup the €15 million it forked over to Parma to sign him.
That said, I think he’s more of a short-term solution for the Rossoblu. While his physical characteristics, motor, and out-of-possession work could endear him to Italiano, he’ll have to leapfrog Nikola Moro, Remo Freuler, Tommaso Pobega, and Lewis Ferguson for a significant role. While that’s possible—maybe he just needs to live in Emilia-Romagna—I wouldn’t be shocked if he was back in Florence this summer.
In terms of talent and production, it’s hard not to see this as a win: Fiorentina gets a young potential starter while Bologna gets an experienced depth option. There could be some hidden financial costs to this deal (e.g. who pays what percentage of salary) but it adds firepower to a moribund attack and fits with the Viola strategy of getting younger and more Italian, although that one hasn’t exactly paid dividends so far. Fabbian could reverse that trend, though, if things come together. Here’s hoping they do.
