OFFICIAL: Fiorentina signs Marco Brescianini from Atalanta

Just a few days after the whispers began, Fiorentina confirmed that it’s signed Marco Brescianini on loan from Atlanta. Per Nicolò Schira, it’s a 6-month loan with a €2 million initial fee and a €10 million option to purchase the 25-year-old should the Viola avoid relegation from Serie A. If that happens, Brescianini will sign a 4-year contract, although I can’t find any firm reporting on his salary. He’s also chosen the number 4, which is a good choice.

Brescianini was born in Calcinate (home of Pietro Vierchowod, Manolo and Melania Gabbiadini, and Andrea Belotti) and rose through the ranks at AC Milan, making his debut in the season finale against Cagliari in 2020. He was thereafter loaned out to Virtus Entella, Monza, and Cosenza before being sold to Frosinone for an eyebrow-raising €6.2 million in 2023.

It was with the Canarini that he hit his stride, scoring 4 goals (including a lovely free kick against Milan) and assisting 2 more. He was a big part of why Frosinone nearly stayed up, with only a loss on the final day of the season consigning them to relegation. Not surprisingly, he earned a €12 million move to Atalanta. He had some good moments in Bergamo—6 goals, 2 assists—but was mostly a bench option under Gian Piero Gasperini, a designation he failed to improve under Ivan Jurić and now Raffaele Palladino.

Part of it is stylistic. Brescianini’s a strapping big boy with every physical gift. His primary attribute is his ability to drive forward on the ball, dragging his team up the pitch. He’s also a solid box-crasher, using his size to hold off defenders, and while he’s left-footed, he can use his right a bit as well. He works hard with and without the ball, too, so he’s not a liability on the defensive end.

Is he perfect as a player? No, of course not. To my untrained eye, his biggest weakness is his passing: he’s at his best when he can bulldoze through the middle but too often runs out of ideas when he gets to the final third in particular. He’s also not as good in the tackle as I’d like from such a physically formidable player, which may be why he’s been used behind the striker at Atalanta rather than in deeper positions. He reminds me of a larger, blunter Gaetano Castrovilli in some ways.

There are plenty of reasons for skepticism, too. The first is that he was originally a Daniele Pradè target, which opens all sorts of questions about Fabio Paratici (due to officially join the club any day now) and who’s calling the shots in the recruitment department. He’s also got a similar trajectory to Hans Nicolussi Caviglia: academy product at a traditional power who couldn’t quite make the grade but rehabbed his value at a provincial side. Too, it’s hard to imagine Palladino allowing a good player to join the Viola, given the acrimony in that relationship. Finally, there’s the Dea tax: Atalanta players seem to decay after leaving Zingonia (e.g. Rasmus Hojlund, Teun Koopmeiners).

I’m not too concerned about any of these issues because, aside from the first one, they’re all narrative-driven, based on fans’ interpretation of limited facts. I am a little worried about Fiorentina sticking to Daniele Pradè’s Big List of Transfer Good Ideas but also Brescianini is young, talented (2 Italy caps), and clearly needs a change of scenery. He’s the right sort of profile to gamble on.

My guess is that he’d replace Cher Ndour in midfield. I can see the fit: Ndour’s job has been to drop all the way in as a defensive midfielder, often behind Nicolò Fagioli, when Fiorentina’s in its defensive shape, and then charge all the way out to the left wing to provide balance so Albert Guðmundsson can drift inside. It’s an extraordinarily demanding job, both physically and tactically, and people have been too hard on Ndour for struggling in it.

Brescianini might be better equipped to handle such an exhausting brief but I don’t think he’ll fix everything that’s wrong with Fiorentina’s midfield, which probably requires holy water more than additional purchases. I wrote in the summer of 2024, “Brescianini is hardly a transformational talent, but he’s the kind of cog that can help any team tick,” and I stand by that assessment. He won’t move the needle on his own, but he can at least be part of a functional motor.