by The year ended with the news that many in Italian football feared. After a heated debate between government ministers on Thursday, the Decreto Crescita (growth decree) which granted tax breaks to foreign professionals is allowed to lapse.
Introduced in April 2019, the decree had a major impact on Serie A, reducing the tax burden for teams signing players from abroad by up to 50%. He made transitions possible that would never have happened otherwise. Football finance website calcioefinanza.it estimated that Roma and Milan are saving more than €20m a year on their wage bills, with Juventus, on €17.55m, not far behind.
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The changes will not apply retrospectively, so players already under contract are unaffected. Still, Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani said the sudden end of the decree would change his team’s plans for the January window. Inter teammate Beppe Marotta called him “an own goal” for Italian football. Lazio president Claudio Lotito cited the fact that three Serie A teams were in the European final last season as evidence of how the decree strengthened the domestic game.
But there is another side to the coin. The Italian football association (AIC) issued a statement welcoming the news, arguing that the decree encouraged teams to buy from abroad instead of developing players locally. “Finally, from January 1, 2024, Italian and foreign players can compete on the same terms,” said AIC president Umberto Calcagno.
If he needed a supporting example of what can happen when you give homegrown kids a chance, he could point to Fiorentina’s game against Torino on Friday. A tense game was decided in the 83rd minute by a link-up between two young Italians, 19-year-old Michael Kayode swooping over a cross to head Luca Ranieri and give the hosts a 1-0 win. Viola.
Fiorentina 1-0 Torino, Napoli 0-0 Monza, Genoa 1-1 Internazionale, Lazio 3-1 Frosinone, Atalanta 1-0 Lecce, Cagliari 0-0 Empoli, Udinese 3-0 Bologna, Milan 1-0 Sassuolo, Verona 0 -1 Salerno, Juventus 1-0 Roma
It was a victory that allowed Fiorentina to end 2023 in the top four. It was a marathon year for them, taking in 64 games as they reached the Coppa Italia and Europa League finals. It was a big thing to lose both, but it is clear from the foundation that the manager, Vincenzo Italiano, was laying to bounce back with such a strong start to this season.
Few could have imagined a year ago that Ranieri would be an integral part of the Fiorentina project. Although he spent five years in the club’s academy, the first four seasons of his professional career were spent on loan, at lower league clubs or fighting high-flying relegation with Salernitana.
But Fiorentina’s qualification for the Europa League last season created an opportunity. Uefa’s home players rule reserves four of 25 spots in each team’s squad for those who have trained at the club for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. Ranieri fitted the bill. No one was quite sure which position was best for him, having played at left back and in midfield, but it was better to have an extra body than otherwise.
It was the League of Congress that made Ranieri. He started for almost the entire stage, including the final, at center back. Italiano was rotating his squad to keep legs fresh through a long campaign but by the end of the season Ranieri had started to be given opportunities in Serie A as well.
Today Ranieri is a regular name on the team sheet. “When you get beautiful stories like this, all the praise belongs to the player who came here with humility and a spirit of sacrifice,” Italiano said on Sunday. “He knew he was behind at the start, but with hard work, serious attitude, goals, he is earning his moments and the faith we have in him.”
Ranieri had already scored three times in the Europa League this season, including the equalizer at Ferencvaros that ensured his side topped their group – avoiding an extra tie in the knockout stages. It was his debut for Fiorentina in Serie A, cementing his status as a fan favourite.
The local media speculated that Ranieri must have done enough to be considered for a call-up by Luciano Spalletti, the Italy manager. It might be a bit early for that, and Ranieri still sometimes looks like a player who doesn’t fit neatly into a box: too narrow to dominate physical duels against stronger and more effective centre-backs when is spared to read the game and jumps instead of sticking to a man.
Then again, Spalletti’s predecessors lamented the meager options available to them for the national team. Center back is quite strong for Italy – with Alessandro Bastoni and Giorgio Scalvini both emerging as exceptional talents – but, as Ranieri’s last year at Fiorentina shows, it doesn’t hurt to give yourself another option.
So far, the player is delighted to have earned a place at a club that continues to defy gravity. Fiorentina lost one of their most influential players when Sofyan Amrabat joined Manchester United last summer, and have yet to find an adequate replacement for Dusan Vlahovic since selling him at the start of 2022. But Italiano kept them moving on face.
Arthur Cabral and Luka Jovic were both left stranded last summer after failing to meet the targets they were signed for, but Lucas Beltrán and M’Bala Nzola have fared no better. Nico González and Giacomo Bonaventura, left wing and No. 10, the team’s top scorers, but Ranieri and his centre-back partner, Lucas Martínez Quarta, are close behind on four each.
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That speaks to the collective ethos and pragmatic style that Italiano has embraced. He is an attacking coach by nature and Fiorentina have the second highest possession percentage in Serie A, but if the starters don’t stick the ball in the net other methods must be found. Twelve of their goals this season – 24% of the total in all competitions – have been leaders.
Sometimes, that could be predictable too. Fiorentina suffered one of their most frustrating games this season at home to Juventus, when they had almost 70% of the ball and 50 crosses into the box but lost 1-0 and it didn’t matter equally well done on the scoring.
However, how much more can you ask of a team that is already meeting all the projections? Fiorentina were expected to be out of contention when González damaged his side in December, but have since won three out of three.
There are other challenges ahead, with Riccardo Sottil injured against Torino and another winner, Jonathan Ikoné, in charge of the Africa Cup of Nations. “We’ll see what news comes from the transfer market,” Italiano said. “We had already intended to do something in that part of the park.”
Fiorentina, just like every other club in Italy, will have their options narrowed due to the expiry of the growth decree. They don’t have to look far to be reminded that this doesn’t have to be the disaster others imagine.
