The capture of Ribéry on a free was the most unlikely move of the Italian window. Already, it looks one of the bestThis time Fiorentina did not blow it. You could forgive supporters at the Stadio Artemio Franchi for thinking they were about to, when Sampdoria’s Federico Bonazzoli forced the ball into their net in the 79th minute of Wednesday’s game. Fiorentina had been 2-0 up and cruising: exactly as they were at the corresponding point of what became a 2-2 draw against Atalanta three days before.The Viola were established experts in finding ways not to win. They had not tasted victory in Serie A for 220 days – since beating Spal on 17 February. Not since 2018 had they...
Arsenal and Manchester United have offloaded players whose 2018 swap deal conspicuously failed to live up to expectationsThe Liverpool teenager Bobby Duncan appears to have bucked a growing trend by leaving to join Fiorentina in Italy. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a dispute with the European champions that led to the player’s exit, Fiorentina are at least getting a promising young talent at the right age.Most of the recent Italian imports from the Premier League have been just the opposite, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining Alexis Sánchez in Serie A after failing to convince he was worth a regular place at Arsenal. Related: Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan joins Roma in loan with option to buy Related: Alexis Sánchez says he ‘didn’t...
The champions may have landed De Ligt, Rabiot and Ramsey but all has not run smoothly for Maurizio Sarri this summerItalian football’s summer break began in much the same way as the season had ended: with Juventus way out in front. By 1 July they had concluded the free agent signings of Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot. Then they did something far more audacious: signing Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax for €75m.Even for a club that signed Cristiano Ronaldo one year previously, it felt like a landmark deal. When did an Italian side last win a bidding war for one of European football’s most coveted young talents? At 19 years old, De Ligt had already started in a Champions League...
It’s that time of the year when clubs bring out their strips for the coming season, so which ones do we look back on fondly?There’s history behind this one. It was the first ever fluorescent outfield shirt (according to Umbro, at least) and kicked off a trend that has never really gone away (no surprise given it was said at the time that it was the best selling shirt, other than England kits, that Umbro had ever produced). But more importantly, to me at least, it was a) the first away shirt I ever owned and b) the shirt Sheffield United wore as they stormed to promotion to the old First Division in 1990, which was achieved via a 5-2...
Daniele De Rossi was just one of the players with tears in his eyes as football began again in Italy after the death of the Fiorentina captainFlorence downed tools to remember Davide Astori on Thursday. The player’s funeral had been held in the morning at the Basilica Santa Croce, with a crowd of 10,000 in attendance, but even those who could not be there in person joined in with a minute-long pause for reflection at 1pm. Across the city, businesses shut off the lights and ceased trading.One day later, Italian football sought to pay tribute by carrying on. The country’s top divisions had abandoned all fixtures after Astori’s sudden passing the previous weekend but the time had come to continue....