Transfers
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This summer was all about recouping money and making profits on our most prized assets in order to return the club back into the black on the balance sheet, as set out by the club board.
We did magnificently well on this front with not one cent being spent on new incoming players and we made over €4.75million in transfer fees for our players, who I feel we have adequately replaced with lower cost players.
Midfielder Alessandro Sersanti was the first to leave for cash, joining French side Metz for €250K, joining Felipe Melo’s retirement in becoming the first to leave the club.
Del Frate, Mbaye and Hardley were all offloaded on the wage bill as their contracts expired at the end of June.
Our first big-money sale was the €1.2M transfer of 17-year-old midfielder Jacopo Sotgiu to newly-promoted Torino, with 50% of any profits on his next transfer to be given to us signed into the deal. Shortly after, last season’s star striker Nikolaj Möller was transferred for the same fee size to his home nation as IFK Norrköping came in for the striker who scored 16 goals in 33 Serie B games for us last season.
First-teamers Jacopo Fazzini, Filippo Pellacani and Davide Di Molfetta were all loaned out to clubs to save money on their wages.
However, it took until deadline day to officially move Pro Sesto back into the black with the €2million transfer of Gorka Olaizola to Juventus, with 50% of any future transfer fee coming back to us. On top of this, Juventus offered to loan Olaizola back to us for the entire 2025/26 season with no charges on his wage, whereas we were paying €2,200 per week for him before. The deal was a no-brainer and sets us up well financially for the remainder of the season.
Coming in to replace these players included eight new loanees, including the returning Gorka Olaizola. Bologna gave us forward Antonio Raimondo and winger Maurizio Schettini on loan, meanwhile goalkeeper Pietro Perina, defender Simone Davi, midfielders Cas Odenthal and Luca Di Maggio along with 17-year-old right-winger Andrea Otelli all joined on full-season loans too.
Luca Maniero came in with intention of being this season’s back-up goalkeeper to replace Martinez and Del Frate and we later travelled to England to snap up Albanian winger Leon Dajaku from Sunderland on a free transfer.
Trio Francesco Deli, Benjika Caciel and Alberto Dossena all joined within a day of each other in a free transfer swoop, shortly followed by another trio of permanent arrivals with Nicolo Cudrig, Issouf Paro and Luca Coccolo all joining us on free transfers.
However, once the lucrative Gorka Olaizola deal had been completed, we completed two huge swoops from Croatia. Legendary Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modrić joined us following his release from Real Madrid after his 13th year at Santiago Bernabeu.
The 39-year-old star was then followed by the arrival of fellow countryman Antonio Čolak on a free transfer after the striker’s release from Scottish Premiership runners-up Rangers.
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In goal this year, loanee Pietro Perina is set to fight it out with permanent arrival Luca Maniero for the starting spot in between the sticks.
Davi and Maurizii will also be competitive on the left side of the back four, with the latter having fended off competition successfully so far under De Luca’s reign as Pro Sesto manager.
On the right side of defence, Gorka Olaizola becomes a certain starter, followed up by Garattoni.
Antonsson is the only remaining player from last season’s centre-backs, with a new look of Dossena, Paro and Coccolo to compete against for the Iceland U21 international.
Odenthal looks set to assert his authority over Bovolon, who switched more into a defensive midfielder than a full-back throughout last season.
In the middle, Luka Modrić is the key player in the whole squad and will offer so much this season if he can remain fit at the age of 39. Thankfully, we have great options if he can’t keep as fit as we’d like, with Sala and Di Maggio set to be the first challengers in central midfield.
For another season, we have new-look flanks as Otelli and Schettini come in on loan as starters, with Dajaku and Caciel set to compete or become back-up options on the wings.
Antonio Čolak arrived on deadline day to provide great competition to the on-loan striker from Bologna Raimondo. The third choice is Nicolo Cudrig with Alessandro Adamo as a last resort as we try to move on the player either on loan or permanently.
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This season, even despite the late signing of Modrić, we are still odds-on to be relegated this season once again. However, as the same as last season showed, we are much better than the bookmakers, having achieved a Play-Off spot last time around, defying projections every single year I have been in charge.
The relegated teams Salernitana and Sampdoria are the favourites to win the title and be promoted, but in my opinion they are less intimidating than last year’s line-up of Bologna, Cagliari and Torino who made their way into the top-flight. Palermo have also been relegated and are only predicted a mid-table finish by the bookmakers, further proving that the relegated sides seem much weaker than before.
Being promoted are the likes of Ternana, Cesena, Pordenone and Avellino 1912 who are all projected to have a tough first season in the second tier.
One significant change, however, is the lack of funding and quality handed to Juventus Next Gen from their senior management. From finishing in the Play-Off spots last season, their wage bill has more than halved and their squad depth has almost gone for the upcoming season, so it will be interesting to see how they end up this season with a lack of support from the management at Juventus.
James: Well considering the circumstance, I believe that we've put together a decent squad for the requests in cost-cutting made by the board. If last season we could make the play-offs, I see no reason why we couldn't do it all over again this time.
], but I'm in complete agreement with what he said anyway! Modric can still be your starting CM in 10yrs time, and still be the best player at the club. The draw to Juventus Next Gen must've been a real kick in the teeth, but the character your team showed in the game against Pisa says to me that you're on the right track.