Allegri's launch, Spalletti's esteem, Juve's regrets. Geometries and balls. The architect... Fagioli

They say that Allegri was the first to be surprised: "But is Juve really selling him? It's a huge mistake". Because he really believed in this Emilian midfielder with silent features and a very well-trained foot, to the point of promoting him as a starter at just 21 years old in his Juventus 2022-23 season: "He has the right playing timing, he knows how to free himself, when and how to pass the ball. It's nice to watch him play", he said with conviction. He was certainly not the only one who thought so, given that last summer, despite a long absence from the playing fields due to a betting ban, Luciano Spalletti also wanted to call him up for his national team at the European Championship, giving him the starting shirt in the very delicate do-or-die match with Switzerland. The tangible sign that in the environment Nicolo Fagioli from Piacenza, 178 centimetres and a concentration of football intelligence, he is considered a predestined one.

Someone who dictates the tempo in the middle of the field with the vision of an architect and the intensity of a carpenter. And so it matters little why Thiago Motta didn't believe in him, pushing Juventus to his inexplicable sale for Max Allegri and many others. What matters is that today, after 11 long years spent in black and white, he considers Florence not as a place of passage but as the ideal place to build his future, given that he has already asked Pradé to close the operation for his definitive redemption. Something promising and comforting. Because Nicolo Fagioli, in this Palladinian Fiorentina baptized in the credo of the restart, is probably indispensable. In terms of characteristics, in fact, he is perhaps halfway between Pecci and Borja Valero, a bit of a director-organizer, a bit of an all-rounder with a foot that paints and therefore a hypothetical footballer who excels in the possession phase. But in the 3-5-2 framework on which Fiorentina travels after the match with Lecce, he is certainly the man with the vertical vision.

If Cataldi is the breakwater in front of the defense and Mandragora the mine-laying raider, he is the man of geometry with the ruler in his hand. midfielder who finds his best in volume, who has to touch the ball many times to light up, find the rhythm of the game and transmit it to the team, but who intersperses all this with plays that belong to the Parnassus of football, as well described by that polished touch of the right outside to trigger the trot and the goal of Rolly Mandragora against Juventus. Fagioli, the man who was not in the Viola squad, the talented and prospective footballer who is a candidate to try to bring Fiorentina back to where it has often been, that is, to fight for a high ranking like it hasn't been for years. A scenario full of promise for a championship finale that until a few days ago seemed without prospects and that now, also thanks to him, we could follow with a completely different pathos. In any case, a beautiful football story.