Why did Fiorentina fall apart so dramatically in just one season? Around this time last year, they were among the top teams in Serie A. They never quite reached first place, but they entered December 2024 just one point behind leaders Napoli, with the best attack in the league and a run of eight consecutive wins. Then injuries struck, the team lost momentum, and January brought a winless run of six matches. Still, as players returned, Fiorentina regained their rhythm and eventually finished sixth, reaching the Conference League semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest issue last season was the relatively short rotation. Seven players logged more than 3,000 minutes, another four played around 2,000, and four more exceeded 1,500 minutes. Everyone else was essentially passing through. Because of that, Fiorentina entered the 2025\/26 season believing it was finally time to stop going in circles as a team that was “almost there” and start competing seriously.<\/p>\n They made permanent signings of Robin Gosens, Nicolo Fagioli and Albert Gudmundsson, who had all been on loan. They spent \u20ac40 million on Roberto Piccoli and Simon Sohm, signed young Jacopo Fazzini and Tariq Lamptey, and brought in Edin D\u017eeko. At the same time, Fiorentina did not lose any key players from last season. They sold Nico Gonzalez, Michael Kayode, Sofyan Amrabat and Jonathan Ikone for around \u20ac70 million, but all four had been out on loan last year, so the squad was actually strengthened over the summer.<\/p>\n Instead of those reinforcements pulling Fiorentina out of the familiar loop of being competitive but never truly challenging for big results or Champions League money, the team slid into the abyss.<\/p>\n Read More<\/strong>: From Rejection to Redemption: The Antoine Semenyo Story<\/a><\/p>\n And this is not a sporting collapse that can be explained by injuries, tactical mistakes or a dip in form. This is a complete structural, psychological and identity breakdown. Fiorentina spent nearly \u20ac90 million last summer to move closer to the Champions League. Right now, they are just one point off the bottom of Serie A.<\/p>\n It is almost unbelievable that essentially the same team, arguably even a stronger one, which was one point off first place at this stage last season, is now in the relegation zone. So how did they fall apart? Well, everything crumbled at once.<\/p>\n On paper, the decisions made sense. The team had David de Gea and Moise Kean as a foundation. They secured Gudmundsson, Gosens and Fagioli, proven players who carried the team last season. D\u017eeko was brought in as a Plan B for the attack, Lamptey to add physicality, and young players to provide energy from the bench, something Fiorentina struggled with last season when the schedule became too congested.<\/p>\n In essence, the squad was built to add quality, not to build a system. Fiorentina believed they already had a functioning system that only needed upgrading. Instead, that system collapsed. There are too many players asking for the ball, too few setting the tempo, and too little authority. Once that happens, teams begin to fall apart.<\/p>\n The clearest illustration was the penalty against Sassuolo. Rolando Mandragora and Kean argued over who should take it. Captain Luca Ranieri pulled Kean away, and coach Paolo Vanoli publicly accused Gudmundsson of refusing responsibility. The Icelander responded on social media, saying that was not true and that he simply did not want to argue with a teammate who insisted on taking the penalty in front of the entire stadium. To make matters worse, Mandragora missed, and Fiorentina lost.<\/p>\nThe System Collapsed, and So Did Morale<\/h3>\n