Pioggia Viola : AFC Fiorentina

You've become the new Juventus, it seems. And in the CL, you can become the new Real Madrid in the coming seasons I think.

Vincenzo Montella and Daniele Pradè turned their phones off and went out for a nice dinner on the final day of the transfer window. The team has been steadfast about keeping their starters, and despite a massive (£482M) transfer budget they aren’t interested in buying more players. Cost control and maintaining profits are the un-sexy rules they need to operate on. So far, it’s working very well.

The sale of Claudio Gomes was done a month before the window even opened, he was constantly complaining about playing time and Montella wasn’t about to start him over Daniele Albano or Franck Blanc. Gomes was banished from the squad with youngster Birahim Guèye getting called up to take his spot on the bench. Quite a step down from Gomes, Guèye is barely ready to sit on the bench let alone step in, so now Fiorentina are pretty thin at CM.

The primary threats Fiorentina needed to deal with came from Bayern Munich and Liverpool. Bayern Munich were adamant that they were going to sign Smoke Monday, the Bavarian giants came back (6) times to steal Montella’s secret weapon and ended on a dizzying £40.5M offer for the bench RB/LB. While the Germans were pitching insane offers Liverpool were trying a different kind of insanity by trying to buy up most of Fiorentina’s youth system for insulting amounts of cash. It was nice to see Pradè’s work validated by having a bigger club come calling, but there was no way Fiorentina were going to let these guys go for laughable offers.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Claudio Gomes (CM, Marseille) £8M

Senior Transfers (In)
None

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Ulrich Meyong (RB, Montpellier - Cameroon) £6.5M
Ibrahima Biaye (CM, Guinkamp - Senegal) £5.5M
Philip Rijkaard (RW, Ajax - Netherlands) £5.5M
Philip Vonk (RB, Ajax - Netherlands) £4.8M
Fedi Thamri (RB, ES Sahel - Tunisia) £325K
Wilson Quitadica (GK, Lens - Angola) £250K

How many titles does Fiorentina need to win for Italian players to take them seriously? Apparently this happened once or twice in previous seasons, especially before their first title, but this year (5) players refused to negotiate contracts after a transfer fee was arranged. Youth players from Roma, Milan, and Inter all refused to be sold after their clubs agreed to a fee. Fiorentina’s scouting strength is in Italy and France, at this rate the team is going to be all French players.

Speaking of French players, scouts had a terrible time in the first half outside of French / Tunisian Fedi Thamri. He looks very promising, a fast wingback who crosses well will always be welcome in Florence. Philip Rijkaard is also very promising, reminding scouts of current (Italian) Swiss Army knife winger Giuseppe Viola. As Montella continues to deal with keeping legs fresh, having players like Viola or wingback Smoke Monday who can play both sides of the field are a massive boost.

Those players refusing to join are missing out!

Fiorentina eased through the first half of the season, but the second half was anything but despite the overall results. Injuries, brutal fixtures, and a first for the club would make this one of the most memorable seasons in history. If Montella was on track for a statue before this, a new stadium might be named after him along with a massive wave of children named Vincenzo born in Florence next year.




In terms of shear difficulty, this fixture probably ranked 2nd just behind the road leg. A very hostile Wanda Metropolitano saw Atlético Madrid pull ahead 1-0 only to surrender late and give I Viola a chance to close it out at home. By this point in the season Talles Magno and Alberigo Maldini would be unavailable through injury, a 1-1 draw on the road was a miracle without them and Montella would need another one at Artemio Franchi.

Sergiy Kovalyov would line up in a true 4-3-3 and the team would be just as nasty without Diego Simeone to egg them on, but their new manager definitely didn’t have Simeone’s tough-as-nails defense to lean on. Being without key players and playing poorly really hurt I Viola, but this time Montella really pushed his players to improve in front of the home crowd. Degnand Wilfried Gnonto would score just 3’ in, but the goal would be disallowed due to Daniel Maldini being in an offside position. Atlético would be on their heels until Abdou Fall made it 1-0 after 25’ of tense football resulted in a major Atlético mistake. Shades of Pedro as Fiorentina’s high press harassed Atlético’s back line into passing the ball back to Jan Oblak when he himself didn’t have much time to do anything with it. A rushed pass up the field to Saúl, who literally looked surprised to see the ball coming at his head, was chested down by Fall who would glide right around Merih Demiral and score easily in what amounted to a one-on-one.

Whatever Kovalyov said at the break did not work at all. The second half was a trainwreck for Atlético with an embarrassing takedown in the box leading to a Fall penalty and a 2-0 lead. Up until that point Atlético seemed to be hoping for an opening that would pull them level, but the penalty broke things open. Oblak had a half to forget giving up goals on two one-on-one scenarios with the worst coming at the end when Jude Bellingham broke free and scored with a nutmeg. A 5-0 win would clinch a ticket to the final, Fiorentina’s second ever, and a chance for Montella to show everyone how good the team really is.



Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium would host the biggest game in Fiorentina’s history, and the Football Gods would not make things easy on them. This would be Liverpool’s 5th appearance in the final in the last (6) years, winning (3) and losing a close one 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the 2020-21 final. Jürgen Klopp has turned Liverpool into a Champions League winning machine, Fiorentina were mostly expected to do their best to make this a good game before Liverpool took home the trophy. Being with Daniel Maldini, Alberigo Maldini, and Florentino Firenze didn’t help change anyone’s mind of I Viola’s chances, but that didn’t mean Montella was going to give up.

This game was the complete opposite of the second leg against Atlético Madrid. The first half was absolutely insane, (6) total goals scored after only 37’ minutes seemed to promise a high scoring affair. Mohamed Salah scored just 3’ in when a Sadio Mané shot flew off the post and found the winger wide open at the far post. Roberto Cannata would answer back at 4’ off a corner, and then Rhian Brewster would put Liverpool up 2-1 at 10’. Pelayo Morilla would score on an ugly header at 19’ that looked more like he was accidentally hit in the face by a shot, it didn’t matter as the goal still counted and Montella was happy just to be level. Federico Marino would put the world on notice with a 27’ goal that summoned Klopp from the bench to scream at his squad. Running around everyone and squeezing the ball between the post and the keeper from almost point blank range is not something that will make a manager happy. Down 3-2 Liverpool would be on the right side of the weirdest moment of the game, at 37’ a corner would bounce out to the right corner of the goal area for an easy tap in by Ivan Castro. Fiorentina’s Ivan Castro, on loan at Liverpool, looked excited for a moment before realizing the pickle he was in. He would wave off the Liverpool players trying to hug him as an explosion of whistles rose from the purple end of the stands.

That first half left everyone’s head spinning, Fiorentina hadn’t allowed more than (2) goals all year and Liverpool looked very capable of making it more. All that promise of a high scoring game vanished like a fart in the wind in the second half as Liverpool seemed to lose the script. Things really fell apart after Degnand Wilfriend Gnonto scored at 63’ to make it 4-3. While Fiorentina were celebrating Virgil van Dijk was walking off the pitch and Klopp was about to make a fatal mistake. Liverpool came out in a 4-1-2-3 with Fabinho as the anchor man and when van Dijk went off Klopp moved him to van Dijk’s position and brought on Roberto Firmino to change to a 4-2-3-1. Klopp is always confident in his players and their preparation, but in hindsight the anchor man may have been their key and the change in formation played right into Montella’s hands. The defending champions were never the same after that and Fiorentina took over the game, dominating possession and getting plenty of chances to widen their lead. With Fabinho out of his face Morilla picked up his game and ended the game with a 9.0 rating and a PoM award to go with a Champions League trophy.


The second half of the season was a bit topsy turvy with the shifting of power at the top of the table, and possibly Europe, and Serie A is starting to be unrecognizable. The first red flag for the old guard came at the end of January as Juventus sacked Maurizio Sarri with the team languishing mid-table, Lazio is in a similar situation but they managed to show a bit of life as the month came to a close. The fact that Cagliari managed to finish second (with a bunch of Fiorentina players on loan) should tell you the kind of trouble the traditional powers are in. Inter and Napoli managed to finish strong, but Milan and Juventus finished outside the Top 6 with Roma and Lazio finishing in Europa League slots. Lazio only made it by a single point over Torino, there is going to be hell to pay across Italy if the big teams can’t make it back to the top of the table.

Montella’s biggest problem right out of the gate was losing Hélder Lavado for (5) weeks thanks to a calf strain. While more important players would spend time with the physios, the depth at CF turned this into a crisis. Pablo Ciricosta was called up from the U-20 side, but at this point he basically represents a warm body, going a month with only Gnonto as a viable striker was going to be tough. Luckily Montella managed to squeeze a little more out of Gnonto on his way to (27) goals across all competitions. He would need those extra starts to keep up with Abdou Fall who finally broke out as a top scorer. Fall would score a hat trick in the Derby dell'Appennino to push himself into the Serie A scoring lead at (14), he would finish the season with (18) but Gnonto would sneak past him in the end to finish the league with (21). Fall would tie him with (27) total, doing a ton of damage in the Champions League.

In Italy, Fiorentina had little trouble. The lowest point of the season came with Napoli got revenge for losing the Supercoppa final in the UAE by knocking Fiorentina out of the Coppa Italia quarter final 2-1. The Lavado-less second squad played rather poorly, ironically the only goal was scored by Ciricosta, and Montella had to stomach their second loss of the season. Both draws in Serie A came in the second half, 1-1 to Napoli and 0-0 to Inter, but it hardly mattered as Fiorentina ran away with the title and everyone else fought tooth and nail for 2-6. The Champions League was quite a bit more difficult outside of their first round date with Mainz 05, Barcelona would hand them their second loss of the half in a 1-0 second leg loss at Artemio Franchi but a 5-0 win at Camp Nou would make that loss pointless. The return of Lavado turned out to be key in that series as he would stun Barcelona with a hat trick stepping in for an injured Gnonto. Atlético Madrid and Liverpool made the last stretch difficult, but Fiorentina rose to the challenge and asserted themselves as the best team in Europe.



Well you don’t win the Champions League as a mid-market team without a swelling of talent, and it looks like Fiorentina’s “Buy Everyone” approach to the youth system is really paying off. Young Fiorentina players dominated the league with Federico Marino setting a new average ratings record at 8.30, beating Florentino Firenze’s record of 7.88 from last season. The top goalscorer would wear purple with Degnand Wilfried Gnonto taking 1st with (21) and Abdou Fall finishing 2nd at (18) just a single goal above AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek. The bigger surprise was Fiorentina completely sweeping the La Giovane Italia U-19 Best Players awards, even a number of players on loan impressed enough to garner recognition.

La Giovane Italia
GK : Maximo fazio (Cagliari)
GK (U17) : Baldassare Piano (U20 Squad)
Defender : Federico Marino
Midfield : Eugenio Barzini
Striker : Alberto Fabrizio (Loan Cagliari)

Once again, the team would dominate the Serie A awards with some solid representation in the Champions League dream team.


Serie A GK : Maximo Fazio (Cagliari)
Serie A Defender : Federico Marino
Serie A Midfielder : Maxence Caqueret
Serie A Striker : Degnand Wilfried Gnonto
Serie A Best Player : Federico Marino (5 goals, 17 assists)
Serie A Best Young Player : Federico Marino
Champions League Best GK : Bartłomiej Drągowski
Champions League Best Defender : Federico Marino
Champions League Best Midfielder : Abdou Fall


Montella had all the injuries he could have dreamed of in the second half, the fact that they still managed to stomp everyone and win the Champions League is a testament to the system he’s built. None of these were disastrous, but losing good players for a month or more is never good.

January really got the ball rolling with Drągowski (Hamstring - 2 weeks), Hélder Lavado (Calf strain - 5 weeks), and Florentino Firenze (Abdominal strain - 4 weeks) going down for most of the month. Firenze went down after playing Juventus, so at least Montella didn’t need to deal with that game without one of his best players. Franck Blanc would sprain his ankle to open February, wiping out (4) weeks of his season and giving Birahim Guèye some playing time. Of course this would happen just after the sale of Claudio Gomes because he wasn’t playing enough. Eugenio Barzini just couldn’t catch a break this season (no pun intended) as he opened March by spraining his ankle in a Champions League game with Mainz 05, this was the same foot he hurt twice earlier and Montella would hold him out a full (4) weeks just to be cautious.

I Viola went all of April without a real injury when karma dropped a number of bombs to close out the season. First Talles Magno pulled ankle ligaments and lost (2) weeks, then Alberigo Maldini tore his hamstring for a (2) month layoff. Maldini was truly crushed, the injury ended his season and completely ruled him out of the rest of the Champions League which ended up being (3) incredible games. Florentino Firenze would pull his groin against Atlético Madrid, missing (10) days even though he played through it and finished the game, and then Daniel Maldini would catch a break (literally) with a stress fracture in his lower back. A second season ruined, the son of a legend would also be ruled out for the rest of the season and probably never put on a purple kit again. The final blow came against Roma in a meaningless game when Firenze would break his arm, the team would send him to a specialist but still be without him for up to (7) weeks. Three players would see their seasons end with injury, but Montella still managed to get them over the finish line. Sometimes even a great medical staff can’t help you, at least nobody suffered career damaging injuries.

Wow. What a season...

Despite all the investment, Fiorentina’s youth recruitment is a long way off from the halcyon days of Vincinzo Montella’s first class. It’s hard to believe how insanely great that first class was with Florentino Firenze, Abdou Fall, Alberigo Maldini, and Eugenio Barzini all playing significant roles in the success of the club. Since that golden class things have been hard(er), and this is without a doubt the worst crop of players the club has seen since then. The group is mostly Italians (as expected) with two Americans, an Argentine, a Swede, and a Senegalese player rounding it out. While few see him as an equal to Fall, the Senegalese player is clearly the best of the group.

Babacar Badji (CD - Senegal) : The comparisons to Fall are not just because they both hail from Senegal, Badji is very physically gifted with the kind of drive to improve that coaches love. His height and speed, along with a decent passing ability, make him suited to a ball playing defender role. While he doesn’t rate all that high as a passer or with technical skills, he is able to play short simple passes very well which is what Montella’s tactics call for from his central defenders. If Badji can develop his off-ball defense, primarily positioning, he might have a shot at starting in the first squad. Right now he uses his speed and size to make up for poor positioning and a lack of anticipation, but as he moves up the system he won’t be able to get away with this against better players.

Dusty Martínez (CM - USA) : A solid midfielder who might be more suited as a DM / Anchor Man in a 4-1-2-3 formation, but he has enough of the tools needed to play a more defensive role in Montella’s double pivot. It’s hard to tell where exactly his ceiling is, he passes well enough and has enough speed to play either central midfield role but clearly lacks the ability to transition out of the midfield. Martínez looks to be a decent player, but his ceiling is probably the bench and will likely spend many years on loan or be sold to a smaller side that could use an Anchor Man.

U-20 : More of the same for the U-20 squad as talented youngsters become more and more common. The team would win the Youth Club Invitational, the U-20 Cup (again), International Cup (again), and the U-20 Division 1 by a wide margin over AC Milan. The team would cap things off with a 2-0 win over Ajax U-19 to bring home the UEFA Youth League. While all the winning points to a deep squad, one player rose to the top across all competitions; CAM Kike Moreno. Moreno’s (10) goals in (10) games was key to winning the UEFA Youth League, and his (8) in (6) games boosted their run in the International Cup. He’s probably a loan spell away from getting a full time shot at the senior squad.

U-18 : Fiorentina’s lowest team continues to perform well thanks to the annual influx of youth talent, a few players good enough to be on the U-20 side are stuck here until they turn (18) so other U-18 squads are at a real disadvantage. The team would win the U-18 Division 1 Group B by (28) points with a 23-1-0 record, U-18 Division 1, and the U-18 Super Cup. Speaking of players that are good enough for the U-20 level, CB Max Wijngaarde and CAM Antonio Campana would jump out as team leaders on and off the field. Wijngaarde has really developed into a solid central defender who could be playing for the senior squad soon and Campana impressed with (14) goals and (24) assists across all competitions. This group is also being jokingly referred to as Le Violet due to the number of French players that look like they have a future in the senior squad.

Success seems to flow through the veins of everybody associated with Fiorentina irrespective of the age group.

Wow, what a season for Fiorentina. There were high hopes and pressure from ownership, but nobody predicted Fiorentina would win their first Champions League and be the first Italian team to win since Inter did it in 2009-10. The win would form a treble of sorts with Fiorentina also winning the league and the Supercoppa, a stumble in the Coppa Italia kept them from an astounding quadruple but fans shouldn’t be splitting hairs on how great the season was.

Vincenzo Montella didn’t just guide the team to a Champions League trophy, he managed to craft one of the most dominant teams in Serie A history. They would set a record for goals scored (143) while only allowing (11) in (38) games, a pretty simple way to win silverware. They would set a record low for draws (2) and see a substantial surge in attendance to 5th in the league. All of this would help push them (13) spots higher on the European club rankings to finish 8th, well above their Italian competition.

Even with all of the success, Montella managed to lose out on one of his long term battles. Inside sources indicate that Montella was rejected on two separate occasions when he made a big push for a new stadium, while this no doubt left him frustrated he was able to spin that into some major upgrades elsewhere. The youth facilities will see some additional upgrades, which is so important for all the talent pouring into the system, and Montella can claim a win on his second pet project as ownership agreed to an expansion of their data analysis facilities. The expansion came with (4) more analysts and (4) scouts, half of the new analysts and all of the scouts hired are going toward improving their recruitment in France. All of this came with a bit of a dark cloud over club financing as the team posted a £61M loss without accounting for transfer income, the worst in Serie A, while recording an obscene £318M in transfer profits. Without a stadium expansion or a massive increase in commercial income the club is going to continue to rely on developing youth players as a means to make money.

An outstanding offensive and defensive record to boast of. A shame that Montella was unable to have all his wishes granted by the board but good things come to those who wait.

2020-06-26 00:59#274877 ScottT : An outstanding offensive and defensive record to boast of. A shame that Montella was unable to have all his wishes granted by the board but good things come to those who wait.

I can't tell if Florence is cursed, they keep saying we don't have enough attendance to build a stadium. The thing is old as dirt, we are getting killed on gate revenue, we have over a billion in the bank, we keep winning... I don't know what else I need to do.

Another Porto, or the next Real Madrid? Maybe too far, the next 90’s AC Milan is probably a more realistic goal for Fiorentina as the club continues to remain on top of Serie A. With their first Champions League title under their belt and a stable roster it isn’t all that crazy to think they can repeat, they will need to be a little more stable than they were against Liverpool but Vincenzo Montella should be able to fix any issues.

Once again, the team will not have a new stadium to look forward to but they are headed in the right direction. Financial success has allowed the club to pour money and resources into much needed areas of the club as they close in on Juventus’ place as the gold standard in Italy. There are definitely some financial hurdles as Fiorentina lag behind the traditional powers in terms of attendance and commercial income, but on the field they are running away with the league.

Long may it continue!

For once Vincenzo Montella isn’t being forced to completely rebuild half his roster, for the most part the team is just going to roll over the roster from last year and try to maintain the incredible heights the team has achieved. Tactically the team will be the same, if anything they could be better as young players have more starts under their belt and get even more suited to their role.

Goalkeepers
No changes here, Bartłomiej Drągowski (26) is still the team captain and immovable starter. There is little to no risk he will be sold and his current contract is pretty friendly, it also helps to have a rock solid defense that prevents teams from making him work too hard. Alban Lafont (25) returns as the backup and won’t be going anywhere right now, but he should be pretty worried about Maximo Fazio (20) after he took the Serie A Best GK award on loan at Cagliari. Fazio might be getting too good to let out on loan and Montella might want him to be mentored by Drągowski.

Best Player : Bartłomiej Drągowski (Captain)

Defenders
This is where luck and some killer signings by Daniele Pradè have really paid off for Fiorentina. Roberto Cannata (20) looks like an all-time best signing and remains as I Viola's first and best choice at CB. Cannata will continue to play with Alberigo Maldini (21) who continues to look like an incredible find, these two are beyond solid and fans have already completely forgotten about Lyanco and Armando Izzo. Backing them up is another super signing, Xabier Agirre (19), who some scouts think could be better than Maldini. Agirre is a lock for the second squad, and a future Spain regular, and will play with either Nicolò Santoro (19) or João Mubenga (20) who are locked in a fight for that last starting spot. There is good depth here, but the ceiling of Santoro and Mubenga might just be Serie A starters, if Fiorentina decides to convert their vast transfer wealth into a high end signing it might be at CB.

The one person in Florence who is above Cannata is without a doubt Florentino Firenze (21). A native son and well on his way to Legend status, Firenze might be the best player to ever wear purple and he’s barely been at the club. Yes, Gabriel Batistuta’s ears are burning, but at this rate Firenze could surpass all of his honors aside from the goal scoring record. Firenze has LB locked down, with Silvino Dante (19) backing him up and needing a serious injury to take his place, Smoke Monday (19) is back as the LB/RB sub Montella can’t live without. If anyone has a shot at beating Cannata to the great signing title it’s Federico Marino at RB. Marino has proven to be just about as good as Firenze, some would argue he’s better (but not many), giving Fiorentina the best RB/LB combo in Italy if not Europe. The club will likely bend over backwards to keep these two in town and will probably need to break the bank soon to do it. Ousmane Kante (18) is the backup at RB and would have a shot at the 1st squad if it wasn’t for Marino. The speed, technical skill, and crossing ability of this group is incredible. Buying all those wing backs has really paid off, even the U-20 / U-18 depth is promising.

Best Player : Florentino Firenze (Vice-Captain)

Midfielders
No changes to the solid midfield foundation that helps fuel the best defense in the league. Maxence Caqueret (24) is back at DLP with Daniele Albano (20) his rapidly rising backup, the only drama here is coming from fans who want Montella to give more time to an Italian who should have a decent international career. Jude Bellingham (21) is still starting at BBM with the ability to play CAM in a desperate emergency, Frank Blanc (19) will take the second squad and looks like he could be around the club for a long time. Birahim Guèye (19), now Italian citizen, is a vanilla bench option who’s upside is being able to play both positions in the double pivot. He has impressed coaches but could be at risk of losing his spot to a youth player with a higher ceiling.

Pelayo Morilla (23) is the driver of Fiorentina’s attack in the middle of the field and immovable CAM, fans are right to complain about him getting snubbed by Spain but the longer he stays under the radar the longer he’ll be in Florence. Nicolò Branzino (20) did well enough to keep his job but Montella is going to be looking for him to show some real improvement, Roman Mexès (19) spent more time complaining than he did on the field but he’s back as a solid bench option who could easily take over for Branzino if his form drops off. Everyone not named Pelayo is going to need to step up their game, Fiorentina has a number of CAM in their youth system that look like they could be real stars.

Best Player : Pelayo Morilla

Forwards
Talles Magno (22) still owns LW and is probably not going to be in Florence much longer, his form has drawn a lot of interest and Fiorentina probably can’t keep him no matter how many Champions League trophies they win. If Magno leaves Daniel Maldini (22) will not hesitate to make the left side of the field his own, he hasn’t managed to live up to his (20) goal season at AC Milan but the talent is there so Montella is willing to wait. Abdou Fall (21) has RW locked down and if he continues upping his scoring he could take over as I Viola’s best attacker. Montella can’t say enough about the Senegalese winger as his game develops, he’s going to be a nightmare for anyone to defend for years to come. Eugenio Barzini (21) is still the primary back up and for now he doesn’t have much competition behind him, there are some players who could eclipse him in a few seasons but for now he isn’t going anywhere. Giuseppe Viola (20), born to play for Fiorentina, remains a valuable bench option as someone able to play both wings. If Barzini’s form fails he could be the one to send him to the bench.

Degnand Wilfried Gnonto (21) did a great job taking over for Pedro and Fiorentina moved ahead without a hitch. Despite that, Gnonto has to feel slighted by the lack of confidence the media has shown in him. Despite scoring the most goals in Serie A, along with being voted the Serie A striker of the year, there is some grumbling that any competent striker can thrive in Montella’s squad. Gnonto is not even the favorite to lead the league is scoring again, that honor goes to AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek. The media (not the fans) have turned their attention to second squad striker Hélder Lavado (20) thanks to a combination of talent and a very active media in Portugal. Lavado is already being connected with a “dream” move to Real Madrid as the “Next Ronaldo” nickname gets used a little too much. He will have plenty of chances to impress but Montella doesn’t pick his squad with press clippings, Gnonto will need a dip in form to lose his spot.

Best Player : Talles Magno

Glad that Montella was able to retain his squad this season!

Fiorentina is still lagging behind a number of traditional powers in terms of commercial income, but it looks like that is going to change soon. Kit sales are good in Italy but that is never going to be a major avenue for income, Juventus is the only Italian club in the Top 10 of jersey sales and most of that is still running on the fumes of Ronaldo’s popularity. If Fiorentina are going to get anywhere they will need a bigger Nike deal or a substantial upgrade on their current kit sponsor. This is the last year of Vodafone’s deal and rumor has it that a much bigger deal is coming for next season, the deal could also include a new sleeve sponsor which will help as Estra’s deal has been rather minimal.


Another simple kit design that sticks to the purple-white-red color scheme, the subtle checkered pattern adds a little life to the design without being too distracting. The clutter of badges remains, but that is a good problem to have that Vincenzo Montella will work hard to keep.