Inside Fiorentina: Palladino’s Tactics, Transfer Window and Best Players

There were only 15 minutes left on the clock at the Stadio Ennio Tardini when Cristiano Biraghi stepped up to take a free kick for Fiorentina. It was the opening day of the Serie A season and Fiorentina were 1-0 down to a newly-promoted Parma side who should’ve been out of sight.

Yet the Gialloblu’s hatful of scorned chances had given La Viola hope and, as Biraghi stood over the dead ball on the edge of the penalty box, but at an acute angle, there was a sense that the left-back could bend the free kick into the net. 

And that’s exactly what happened. Biraghi curled the set piece into the opposite corner of the goal, leaving Parma stopper Zion Suzuki with little chance. The Japan international had impressed on his debut, but was powerless to stop Biraghi’s effort. The club captain had rescued a point for the away side, and ran down the pitch to take in the moment with the loud purple contingent, who’d filled up all of their allocation at the Tardini.

New manager Raffaele Palladino has found it difficult since arriving in Florence from Monza. The club has, once again, lost key talent to Juventus. Like Federico Bernardeschi, Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic before him, Nico Gonzalez decided to swap Tuscany for Piedmont and left Fiorentina in the final week of the window to sign for The Old Lady. 

Transfers in: Fiorentina spent close to €40m in the summer. Moise Kean arrived in the hope of finally ending La Viola’s Dusan Vlahovic-shaped hole in attack, while Marin Pongracic arrived from Lecce in a €15m deal. Amir Richardson signed from French side Reims for €9m and Argentine defender from Belgrano. 

Fiorentina also signed Albert Gudmundsson from Genoa on loan initially, with an obligation to buy at the end of the season. Robin Gosens was also brought back to Italy via a loan move, while Edoardo Bove and Yacine Adli were signed from Roma and AC Milan respectively. The biggest surprise deal was the club signing former Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea on a free transfer.

Best performers: Gosens scored on his first start for the club in the 2-2 draw against Monza and looked something resembling his old self, but many of Fiorentina’s new signings are yet to make an impression in these early days. One of the best performers has been right-back Dodo, who impressed when Destination Calcio went to see Fiorentina’s game against Parma on the opening weekend of the season.

Tactics: Palladino will continue the work carried out by Vincenzo Italiano. In fact, one of the many reasons why Italiano was hired was due to his way of playing at Monza, which was similar to Italiano’s. Palladino started the season with a 4-3-3/3-4-3 hybrid, but pivoted to a 3-5-2 for the 2-2 draw against Monza in the hope of maximising the players in the squad. You get the sense the 40-year-old is still feeling his way at the club, and so we could see more chopping and changing with tactics before settling on something concrete.