Fiorentina pays the 8th-most salary in Serie A

As is traditional around this time of year, Gazzetta has released the player wages for every club in Serie A, including Fiorentina. Keep in mind that these figures are after taxes rather than before, unlike the figures you’ll see released for English sides (or for Cristiano Ronaldo, depending on how much he decides not to pay). Anyways, we’ll break down the squad’s salaries first, then do some comparisons to the rest of the league.

Gazzetta

There are a few major points of interest here, although none of them are exactly groundbreaking. The first is that this squad has too many players, especially when you take into account guys like Tòfol Montiel and Bobby Duncan, who are likely to bounce back and forth between the Primavera and the senior side. Veterans who don’t seem to be regular starters or substitutes—i.e. Marco Benassi, Valentin Eysseric, Cyril Théréau, Sebastian Cristoforo, Bryan Dabo, and Federico Ceccherini—are pulling in a combined €4.35 this year, which is good for 8.7% of the wage bill. That’s a lot of money wrapped up in what are essentially dead contracts, especially if those players aren’t shuffled on in January.

The second thing worth noting is that this table is likely to change, and soon. Rocco Commisso has spoken of his desire to hand Federico Chiesa an extension, which would doubtless come with a big pay raise. Nikola Milenković, Gaetano Castrovilli, Riccardo Sottil, and Luca Ranieri are all likely to negotiate new contracts soon, which will make getting rid of the high earners who are watching from the bench or the stands even more important.

Finally, take a look at when the contracts run to. Daniele Pradè hasn’t handed any of the new signings a deal that will keep him on the books for more than 3 years. That may explain some of the higher wages that guys like Pol Lirola and Pedro are on, as the agents aren’t likely to sign shorter deals and deprive their clients of guaranteed money unless the salaries are high. It’s a good move by the DS, who avoids locking the club into contracts should the player not pan out, which is something that Pantaleo Corvino, despite lowering the overall wage bill, failed at rather badly.

Compared to the rest of Serie A, Fiorentina are probably overpaying for a lot of their players. After all, this is a club that finished 16th last year, has added some decent pieces without a real superstar, and still carries the 8th-highest wage bill in the league. Torino (€54 million), Cagliari (€44 million), Bologna (€41 million), and Genoa (€40) are probably the closest squads in terms of salaries paid. Big shout out to Atalanta, whose €36 million wage bill is the 13th-highest in Serie A, which hasn’t prevented la Dea from scrapping its way into the Champions League.

As usual, Juventus top the spending charts, with Ronaldo’s obscene €31 million salary leading the way. That’s nearly 4 times the earnings of the next-highest player (Juve’s Matthijs de Ligt) and more than the total outlay of a quarter of the teams in Serie A. The Old Lady more than doubles Inter Milan’s wage bill, which is the next highest. Let’s all chuckle at AC Milan, spending €115 million (fourth-most in the league) this year due to guys like Lucas Biglia (€3.5 million), Pepe Reina (€3 million), and Fabio Borini (€2.5 million).