OFFICIAL: Pantaleo Corvino is the DS

Fiorentina have officially announced what we all knew was coming: former DS Pantaleo Corvino has returned to take over the club he left in 2012, replacing the outgoing Daniele Pradè. This news caps off the rumors that have been building for months, and brings an emotional favorite back to Florence.

Corvino first broke through as the director at Lecce in 1998, where all his subsequent qualities were on display: a keen eye for talent, particularly throughout southeastern Europe, and a gift for finding talented youngsters, most notably signing 14-year-old Valeri Bojinov and 17-year-old Mirko Vučinić. Fiorentina brought him aboard in 2005, where, true to form, he signed an impressive succession of attackers: Stevan Jovetić, Luca Toni, Adrian Mutu, Alberto Gilardino, Juan Manuel Vargas, Adem Ljajić, and Pablo Daniel Osvaldo are some of the biggest names, although there are many others. He also arranged the sale of Felipe Melo to Juventus for €25 million, plus the €4 million-rated Marco Marchionni. However, things soured for him during his last few years, as Fiorentina stagnated, leading to his 2012 exit and subsequent employment at Bologna saw a reversal of fortune, as he turned the failing Rossoblu into an exciting, athletic young side during his years in charge.

In typical Corvino fashion, the announcement came via a post on Fiorentina's website, rather than a press conference. It sounds like he's hit the ground running, too, with the Viola already heavily involved in a variety of transfer rumors. It's hard to say if he'll be as successful this time around as he was for his first stint at the club, but it's awfully nice to have the Fat Ninja back.