Report: Burdisso set to join Fiorentina

We’ve heard a lot about the Fiorentina brain trust of Daniele Pradè and Joe Barone looking for front office reinforcements, particularly in the scouting department; that’s why guys like Roberto Goretti, Marcello Carli, Massimiliano Mirabelli, Gianluca Petrachi, Marcello Lippi, and Cristiano Giuntoli were tipped to either replace Pradè or bring their expertise to bear for the Viola. It sounds like the actual choice, though, will be a slightly more International one.

That’s right, it’s former Inter Milan, AS Roma, Genoa, and Torino defender Nicolás Burdisso, who’s just left the DS gig at boyhood club Boca Juniors. The 49-time-capped Argentina international has been running the show at Boca since 2018, but his 14 years as a Serie A player, his Italian dual nationality, and his history with Pradè (the man who brought him to Rome) should make this a pretty seamless fit.

As an executive, he’s shown a knack for grabbing veterans for cheap or free (Daniele de Rossi, Lisandro López, Eduardo Salvio, Marcos Rojo), which means he and Pradè should have plenty of common ground. He’s also spotted some excellent South American talents—Nahitan Nández, Jan Hurtado—while mostly relying on the academy to produce younger contributors.

The hope is that he’ll bring some Western Hemisphere expertise to bear on an Italocentric group in Florence, opening up the pipeline from Argentina. Especially with some intriguing talents at Boca right now in Exequiel Zeballos, Augustín Almendra, Nicolás Capaldo, and Gonzalo Maroni, there’s a decent chance that Burdisso could bring one or more of those talents with him.

It’s not clear how this would impact the org chart. Burdisso could work as Pradè’s top lieutenant, his chief scout, or even replace him entirely, moving Daniele to more of a supervisory role. Either way, it’s never a bad thing to get some a new voice at the table, particularly when it’s one that can provide contacts within talent-rich South America that the current regime seems to lack. As you can probably guess, we really hope this one goes through.