The difference between you and me. A 'saving' Empoli. Como spares no expense

by Simone Cioni EMPOLI Upon resuming the championship after this last break for the national team's commitments,Empoli is expected to As an for a challenge that is more fundamental than ever in the sprint for salvation. Both for the fact that they are a newly promoted team and for their history, the Lariani could be considered a direct competitor for salvation: after all, even the standings, although the men of Fabregas, says that the Biancocelesti still have to earn their salvation. From the point of view of economic possibilities, however, Como cannot be put on the same level as the 'little' Empoli, given that the owners of the Lombard club, the Hartono brothers, is the richest of the Serie A. A strength that was seen in the transfer market, with Como being the sixth team to spend the most after Juventus, Napoli, Milan, Roma and Atalanta, but as often happens it doesn't always pay off on the pitch. Although safety is actually within reach and Fabregas' team has often received numerous compliments for the game played and for the young talents that it is showcasing (Nico Paz and Diao above all), if we compare the position in the standings with the placement in the specific market balance ranking, Como is thirteen places lower. From this point of view, however, Empoli, who has spent nothing on the market compared to the almost one hundred million invested by the Como team, is only five places lower. A difference that also emerges from the overall value of the two squads: the Como team is close to 140 million euros, while the one set up by president Fabrizio Corsi and sports director Roberto Gemmi reaches 88 million. Just as the most valuable eleven fielded so far by the Larians has stood at around 87 million euros, against the little more than 53 million of the Azzurri. If on the one hand, after the arrival of the two Indonesian brothers in 2019, the economic gap between the two clubs has become impressive, from a footballing and pure sporting history point of view Empoli and Como are the two closest realities in this Serie A. Despite being the expression of a decidedly smaller city, just over 49 thousand inhabitants against the over 83 thousand of Como, the Azzurri have more participations in the top Italian championship (17 against 14), where overall they have also collected a good 218 more points, 603 against 385, which places Empoli in 23rd place in the perpetual Serie A ranking since 1929, with the Como team ten positions further back.