Loanee reports: Serie B

Luca Ranieri (Ascoli)

The 20-year-old defender wrapped up his move on deadline day after the deal for Igor had come through. He slid into the starting lineup the next day and helped his new mates keep a clean sheet in the 3-0 over Livorno. The following week, he seriously injured his knee and is now expected to miss the next 2 months, which is a huge bummer both for him—after all, this move was to give him a chance to get some more playing time to speed his development along—and for il Picchio—who’d been on his trail since the summer. Hopefully his recovery goes smoothly and he’s back to his calm, assured, best as soon as possible.

Mattia Trovato (Livorno)

The winger (who just turned 22 a couple of weeks ago, so auguri, Mattia) had his loan at Cosenza cut short after he’d made just two appearances all year and has instead moved to traditional Fiorentina rivals Livorno for the rest of the year. He’s yet to make an appearance for the Mullets and it’s a bit tough to see where he fits into new manager Roberto Breda’s 4-3-1-2 setup, although he has spent time playing in midfield and could be ready to move back full time. What’s most interesting is that Daniele Pradè was willing to cut Trovato’s loan with the Lupi short in favor of a move to Livorno, which could indicate that he’s still in the club’s long-term plans to some extent, even though the Mullets have an option to buy him in June. We’d guess there’s a counter-option in there too, unless Pradè’s learned nothing from letting Gianluca Mancini, Jacopo Petriccione, Leonardo Capezzi, and countless others walk.

Szymon Żurkowski (Empoli)

The 22-year-old Polish midfielder has set high expectations for himself at Empoland, picking shirt number 10. He’s spent both of the matches since the move west on the bench; since both have resulted in wins over top-six opponents, manager Pasquale Marino may ease him in. However, we’re big believers that talent wins out, and Żurkowski has plenty of talent. He should push his way into the XI fairly soon, as he’s simply too good a player for a team like Empoli to leave out of the action for very long, regardless of their performance. And, if he doesn't play as much as we’d like, we still won’t be that worried: he’s young, in his first season outside of Poland, and still adjusting. He’s going to be just fine.