Hello everyone, welcome back to the Fiorentina Journey with ABTFM. Last week, we have just arrived at Florence doing some pre-season works like meeting the players, setting up training drills and creating tactics. Today we are at the 1st September 2021, which means the Summer Transfer Window has just ended. We have signed a couple of players to the team, but unfortunately, some players have to leave. Without further ado, let’s meet the new players!
Friendly Matches
Before showing the players that we have signed, I would like to cover a little bit about the three friendlies we had in the pre-season.
First game was against Fulham. Although we won the game 2-1, our performance was quite poor in general. Fulham had a total of 22 shots compared to us with 11 shots. We did have more possession that the English club, but honestly, we were very lucky to get the win. Our 17 years old wonderkid, Nicola Tagliaferri scored the opener in the 44th minute, giving us the lead. Fulham’s striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the equalising goal in the 64th minute with a powerful volley. However, Pol Lirola, our right back stepped up and scored the winner with a powerful striker outside the box in the 75th minute.
Second game’s performance was much better and it was against Vicenza. We started Riccardo Saponara as the central midfielder playing as Mezzala. He scored a penalty at the very 1st minute of the game. Gervinho then scored the second goal in the 20th minute. We absolutely dominanted the game, with 61% possession and 22 shots in total.
Moving on to the third game against Arezzo, another weaker team as well. We won the game 3-0. Riccardo Saponara once again enjoyed playing as the Mezzala and even scored a hattrick in this game. All three goals came from penalty which was insane. He actually had the chance to score 4 penalty, but he missed the third one. Anyways, what a solid penalty taker.
Budget
Initially, we were given a total of £19M transfer budget and an £1.3M wage budget. It isn’t much, but I think we are going to sell some players from the squad to gain some more money. We are currently spending £930K per week on wage budget, which means we actually still have quite an amount of money that we can allocate from the wage budget to the transfer budget. I am also not going to ask for some extra money from the board since this is only the first month in the team. The fact that Fiorentina is not in the European competition this season will surely affect the transfer. As a result, I am looking to bring in some bargains or decent players that don’t mind the European competition.
Serie A Transfer Window Roundup
So, let’s have a look at the major transfers in Serie A in this transfer window. Yes, you may have notice that one our previous player is in one of the major transfers – Federico Chiesa. Believe me, I have tried my best to keep Chiesa because he is such a talented player and he is probably the best player we had.
Federico Chiesa was already looking to move to a bigger club since the first day I arrived in Fiorentina. Obviously, he was disappointed because Fiorentina did not qualify for the Champions League, and not even Europa League. He approached me and talked about leaving the club. We then came to an agreement which I would only sell him with the asking price of £75M. Two days later, two clubs made an offer for the Italian winger. One being my previous rival PSG and another one was the English giant Man City. Both of them offered a £75M for Chiesa and I accepted the offer immediately. At last, our main man Federico Chiesa chose PSG over Man City and left the club. Fortunately, the board and the fans weren’t angry with this deal, but surprisingly, they were happy with the amount of money we made. Later on, I will show you how we utilise the money.
Back to the major transfers here, Rodrigo Bentancur has joined Manchester United for £75M from Juventus. However, their replacement is a big – Bruno Fernandes from Tottenham for only £66M, which means Juventus makes a £9M profit. Shockingly, Juventus is not the club that spends the most. Inter Milan has spent £159M in this transfer window after appointing Diego Simeone as their new manager. They bought in 7 players into the team with fairly low transfer fees. Breel Embolo, Cesar Azpilicueta and Riccardo Orsolini are the players that cost more than £30M.
New Players In
Now, I am going to introduce 7 players that I signed in this season. Our highest transfer fee is only £27M and the lowest one is £5.5M. In total, we only spent £102M. The 7 players are Mario Hermoso, Rolando Mandragora, Matteo Politano, Willian, Thilo Kehrer, Weston McKennie, and Bartosz Bereszynski.
Mario Hermoso
Mario Hermoso, the Spanish defender, pens a 5-year contract with us in this transfer window. He is transfer listed by Atletico Madrid and only cost us £27M. He is 26 years old, which I think is a good age for defender. He is also versatile because he is both natural in left back and centre back. I personally will play him as a central defender because his marking ability and tackling ability are sensational. He has great concentration, great positioning, and decent strength. I love his player traits a lot as well. Marks opponent tightly and stays back at all times are very good for a centre back. In short, I am really happy to have Hermoso in my team.
Rolando Mandragora
Rolando Mandragora is previously playing for Udinese and unfortunately Udinese has relegated to Division 2 this season. I declared interest to the media and asked my captain to speak to the media. We paid £20M for the Italian midfielder, which I think I might be overpaying a little bit. However, he is great player and he is a Home-Grown player as well. He is only 24 years old with good attributes. He has 15 passing, 15 tackling, 15 off the ball, 15 positioning, 15 vision, and 15 balance, which is very good for a Deep Lying Playmaker. Both of my defensive midfielders, Etienne Capoue and Joshua Guilavogui are already in their 30s, so Rolando Mandragora will be a great replacement.
Matteo Politano
I need a replacement in the right winger department. I came across Matteo Politano’s profile and I thought he is the one! He is 28 years old right now which is in his prime year. He can play as right winger as well as striker. I did a comparison between him and Chiesa and they are quite similar in terms of their ability. Politano is a very great winger, as he has 16 crossing, 15 dribbling, 15 first touch, 16 off the ball, 14 technique and 14 passing. His acceleration and agility are great, which also suit his player trait knocks ball past opponent. I am very looking forward to playing him in my team and hopefully he can be our star player.
Willian
Another winger that we have picked up in this transfer window is the Brazilian winger Willian. Although he is already 33 years old, I think he still have the quality. He is very versatile and his attributes are still looking good. 15 dribbling, 15 off the ball, 15 first touch, 16 technique and 15 flair make him a great addition to our team. He might not be starting a lot of games, but I see him as a reliable backup player for us. We actually signed him on the transfer deadline day, with only £14M.
Thilo Kehrer
Thilo Kehrer is another defender that we signed in this season. If you have noticed, I love versatile players and Thilo Kehrer is definitely one of them. His natural positions are right back and centre back. In my opinion, I think he is a better right back because his positioning and concentration are not the best for a central defender. He also has the dives into tackles trait which is not ideal in my system. I am planning to do additional focus on him and try to get rid of the trait. However, he is still a good player to have in my team.
Weston McKennie
The first player that we signed in this transfer window is the American youngster Weston McKennie. We successfully signed him from Bayern Munich and surprisingly he is only £9M. I am playing to play him as the Box To Box Midfielder because he has incredible mental ability and physical ability. He has 16 teamwork, 17 work rate, 17 stamina, 16 balance, 17 bravery, 17 aggression, which is an absolute engine in the midfield. However, he also has the dives into tackles trait which we will have to work on it as well. In short, I am looking forward to developing him into our key midfielder.
Bartosz Bereszynski
The 7th player is the Polish defender, Bartosz Bereszynski. He is transfer listed by AC Milan for £5.5M so we just pick him up easily. He is 29 years old and I think he is a good right back. He has 15 crossing, 15 tackling, 13 off the ball, 13 positioning, 16 stamina and 16 strength. I am actually considering between him and Kehrer to be my first choice right back. Initially, I was only bringing him in as a backup, but his attributes are actually quite similar with Kehrer.
Players Out
So, in total we spent £102M bringing in new players. On the other hand, we sold a number of players and received £127M. We sold other players like Kevin-Prince Boateng and Bobby Duncan. However, three major players that left us are Federico Chiesa, Pol Lirola and Erick Pulgar.
We received a £75M from selling Federico Chiesa like I said earlier. Pol Lirola, our only right back, left us for Atletico Madrid for £30.5M. We then used the money on Thilo Kehrer and Bartosz Bereszynski, which I think it was a big win as we brought in 2 right backs with cheaper price. Erick Pulgar was another player that we sold for £20M to West Ham United. He was asking for new contract, but I didn’t think he was good enough for the team, so I asked him to prove himself. He went quite mad at me, so I decided to just sell him. If you don’t like my managerial style, then leave! In fact, we signed his replacement McKennie for only £9M.
Conclusion
Overall, I am very happy with the transfers that I made. There are a couple of exciting players that I am looking forward to, and hopefully we can have a great season. We already played two league games, one against Crotone and one against Napoli. In the next chapter, I am going to cover my first league game as a Fiorentina manager against Crotone.
Thank you guys for reading the Fiorentina Journey written by ABTFM. I hope you all enjoy reading this because I am enjoying writing it. Do follow me on Twitter @abt_fm and join the discussion of football. Take care everyone and I will see you next week!
ABT Football Manager 