There’s nothing like a themed XI to break up the monotony of Fiorentina idiocy, so that’s what I’ve got for you here. It was a comment from matthew that got me thinking about the topic, mostly because
a train of thought this cursed hadn’t pulled up to my mental station in a little while.
That, combined with trying to figure out a good Roberto Piccoli analog (a Mario Gómez/Alessandro Matri hybrid?) got me thinking about the Viola paths not taken, and I decided to assemble a lineup of guys who, for whatever reason, never put it together in Florence.
I didn’t want this to be an exercise in bad transfers, so it’s not just a list of guys who blossomed once they left Fiorentina. There’s some of that, of course, but there are also some guys who couldn’t stay healthy, and some who just never fulfilled their potential. I only went back through the past couple decades that comprise my fully-conscious fandom, but thankfully, those past couple decades had plenty of options. Let’s run through them and feel a bit of saudade, shall we?
Goalkeeper: Alban Lafont
This one was easy. Lafont was touted as the next big thing when he showed up in 2018, aged 19 and with 3 seasons as a Ligue 1 starter under his belt. He had every physical gift: size, reflexes, athleticism, bendiness, but had a tough time settling in (thanks, Cyril Thereau) and made the mistakes you expect from a teenager in a foreign league. With a bit more patience and nurturing, he could’ve been the best Viola goalkeeper since Seba Frey and still holding it down between the sticks. Instead, he’s 26 and vying for minutes with Bartłomiej Drągowski at Panathinaikos. Time is a flat circle et cetera.
Leftback: Federico Balzaretti
Fiorentina’s leftbacks over the past couple decades are either long-serving, rock solid pieces (e.g. Manuel Pasqual, Marcos Alonso, Cristiano Biraghi) or anonymous backups who were never supposed to be anything else (e.g. Maxi Olivera, Hrvoje Milić, Aleksa Terzić). Balzaretti was the exception; he joined for €3.8 million in July 2007 but found himself blocked by Pasqual and got flipped in January to Palermo. I love Manny but Balzaretti deserved a longer look, as he established himself in Sicily and eventually became an important piece in Cesare Prandelli’s Italy that made the final of Euro 2012. Turned out he was very good, although keeping him wouldn’t have changed Fiorentina’s trajectory.
Centerback: David Hancko
Hancko was a €3.8 million mystery box when he arrived in Florence from Zilina in 2018 and Stefano Pioli wasn’t interested in opening it, giving him 2 starts and 3 substitute appearances. Hancko popped in those limited minutes but still moved to Sparta Prague on loan and then permanently before honing his craft as a centerback at AZ and blossoming into this summer’s must-have defender. Imagine if he’d stuck around and formed a partnership with Germán Pezzella and Nikola Milenković that would’ve been Serie A’s best 3-man defensive unit. At least he finally did the Viola a solid by snubbing Juve for Atletico Madrid.
Centerback: Michele Camporese
If you’re a certain age, you remember the giddiness you felt on 20 November 2010. Trailing 1-0 at AC Milan, Siniša Mihajlović hooked Cesare Natale at halftime and tossed on an 18-year-old academy project for his first-ever professional game. Given that Zlatan Ibrahimović (maybe the best striker in Serie A) had already scored and looked several cuts above any Viola defender, we all expected poor Camporese to learn an unpleasant lesson. Instead, Campo picked up Ibra and calmly pocketed him for the rest of the game. Instead of becoming the new Alessandro Gamberini, though, his knees gave out and he’s spent the years since in Serie B and Serie C when, if healthy, he could’ve been a pillar at the back for a decade.
Rightback: Michael Kayode
Fiorentina’s difficulty in finding a rightback was a 2-decade-long running joke. Lorenzo de Silvestri provided a couple years of solidity but it’s mostly been a revolving door until Dodô’s arrival. We’ve seen out-of-position centerbacks, journeyman jobbers, and overmatched youngsters try to fill the space, so it’s the most Viola possible outcome that its biggest what-if rightback emerged just a year after grabbing its first real solution at the position in 2o years. Michael Kayode wouldn’t have fixed Fiorentina’s current swoon but he’s ironed out the technical issues that limited his impact in the final third and become one of the Premier League’s best fullbacks. Dammit.
Midfielder: Lucas Torreira
The diminutive Uruguayan immediately became the pulse of the Viola machine. His all-action, all-commitment approach instantly endeared him to fans and he was the team’s best midfielder by a mile in his lone loan season in Tuscany. Hell, the man knocked out a tooth and kept going. I loved him. You loved him. We all loved him, except for Daniele Pradè. The details are still sparse but there was some sort of conflict about Torreira’s contract that led to a falling out with the Viola brass and Toothless Lucas returned to London. I simply don’t believe that Fiorentina loses all 3 finals if he’s present for them.
Midfielder: Gaetano Castrovilli
Tanino was one of the only cool things about Fiorentina in 2019-2020, a joyfully bright spot in Giuseppe Iachini’s otherwise dreary midfield. We all thought he was the future of Italy’s midfield, a dynamic box-to-box player who could break down deep blocks and win games, but he never developed further. Part of it was a series of knee injuries that knocked him out for long stretches, but he never improved as a passer or developed an off-ball game. I blame Iachini’s reliance on Franck Ribery at the expense of his younger attackers. Regardless, Castrovilli’s eventual falling out with the club was as sad as it was predictable. Had he stayed healthy in a healthy environment, the ceiling was there.
Left wing: Riccardo Sottil
Besides being the most ravishingly handsome man on earth, Sottil looked like he might equal Federico Chiesa there for a minute. Blessed with every physical gift and perhaps even superior technique than Freddy Church, the only thing preventing Sottil from becoming a game-breaking winger was his own head. The lack of coaching stability definitely hurt him, especially Iachini’s attempts to shoehorn him into a wingback position, but if a good coach had arrested Handsome Rick’s ego early on, there’s a universe where he and Chiesa formed Fiorentina’s most devastating wing combo of the past 70 years and really achieved something.
Trequartista: Nicolò Zaniolo
I hate it but yeah, it’s Zaniolo. The chaos of the Corvino-to-Pradè transition meant Zaniolo got lost in the shuffle and ended up at Roma before injuries and ego derailed him for years. He’s shown glimpses of his early promise with Udinese this year but imagine if he’d been given a supportive environment for his entire career. He would’ve been a wonderful player, sure, but also way less depressing. At worst, the prospect of him linking up with Chiesa would’ve been a blast, and at best it could’ve turned the Iachini years into something verging on positive.
Right wing: Mohamed Salah
His half year in Florence was insane. Now imagine if he’d stuck around for another couple years, pairing up with Federico Bernardeschi and then Federico Chiesa? I’m not saying Fiorentina would’ve won anything, but it sure would’ve been more fun that Christian Tello and Jakub Blaszczykowski. And the “questi egiziani” thing was a very fun bit, too.
Striker: Mario Gómez
One name stood out from a host of contenders. He wasn’t a good fit for Vincenzo Montella’s tactics but that doesn’t mean he was a bad player. If Cousin Vinnie could’ve harnessed Marione’s warhammer the way he did Giuseppe Rossi’s flickering rapier, we avoid the post-Montella depression under Paulo Sousa and his successors. No post-Montella depression means the fans don’t rebel against the Della Valle, and thus means no Rocco Commisso. That’s a club-altering shift. Plus, the button.
Honorable mention
GK: It feels fitting that Bartłomiej Drągowski, who was more successful in Florence than Lafont, loses out to him for a place in this XI too.
CB: Gianluca Mancini’s a jackass but also a good defender that should’ve been allowed to grow in Florence. I’ll also throw Ahmed Hegazy’s name into the ring here, as he’s had a solid career and could’ve been a contributor in Florence instead of a blip.
LB: Aleksa Terzić, maybe? He was always a low-risk gamble but like I said, Fiorentina’s had great luck with leftbacks.
RB: Danilo D’Ambrosio, Christian Maggio, Mattia Cassani, and Gilberto all established themselves as Champions League-level players after flaming out in Florence but Cristiano Piccini is still my pick. He wasn’t as talented as those other guys but as an academy product, he could’ve been the solution at his position for a long time.
CM: I really believed in Mario Suárez when he arrived, thinking he’d provide the muscle the midfield had lacked under Montella, but he was lost at sea from day one. Had he offered the requisite grit, maybe those Sousa teams wouldn’t have unraveled. I almost picked my beloved Andy Bangu too, but it has to be Amidu Salifu. Like Camporese, he broke through early but knee injuries derailed him and, despite being on the books until 2020 (!), he was never going to come back.
LW: I’m going with Ante Rebić. I always believed in the talent and thought he just needed stability but he got sold for a song instead. His versatility and grit would’ve been welcome across the front line under a variety of coaches.
AM: Every Polish fan I’ve talked to about Rafał Wolski acknowledges his natural talent but bemoans his mentality. If he’d hit his ceiling, he could’ve been something special.
RW: He didn’t come in as a winger but I’ll still say it’s Christian Kouamé. It’s easy to forget how high his stock was when Fiorentina bought him in 2019 and there’s a world where he recovered his Genoa dynamism and became a consistent threat up front.
CF: My shortlist was Dani Osvaldo, Luis Muriel, and Arthur Cabral, but the biggest mystery has to be Pedro, who’s been great in Brazil and whose bizarre Viola career will someday get an explanation.
For comparison’s sake, here’s the list I did during the coronavirus shutdown. I will buy you a beer if you can guess which 3 guys made both lineups.
