Empoli FC had reached heady heights, enjoying a 7th-place position heading into 2026. That was despite having already lost three times more home matches than last season and struggling slightly at the start of the campaign.
Big news off the pitch saw a protracted takeover finally completed on 20 January and, obviously, the new chairperson Mattia Ascani saw no need to provide any much-needed investment. What a waste of time. He did, however, decide to hand me a new three-year contract worth £18k per week.
New Year, Same Goalkeeper Issues
We also came into the new year with goalkeeper Ignacio de Arruabarrena sidelined for six weeks with a broken arm and top scorer Nelson Weiper out with a virus. So homegrown 17-year-old Primoz Kompara and backup striker Sebastián Miglioli got big opportunities at home to Atalanta. Kompara struggled a little as he conceded twice, but Miglioli scored and winger Stiven Shpendi bagged a brace to lead us to victory.
The young keeper also had a howler at Sassuolo, letting a pea-roller in early on and then gifting an injury-time equaliser after Franco González and Weiper had put us ahead. He then faced two shots on target at home to Salernitana… and conceded neither as Matteo Cancellieri and a late Torben Rhein free-kick earned a 2-0 victory. He made up for that by conceding the first three he faced at Juventus but was bailed out as homegrown midfielder Jacopo Fazzini’s brace led us to a draw.
de Arruabarrena returned to ensure we only conceded once at home to Lazio after Rhein had given us the lead then lost 2-1 at Atalanta. Our Udinese hoodoo finally ended as Shpendi’s late strike earned our first win over them in seven attempts and he scored again in a 2-1 win at Parma. Bottom side Bologna then obviously scored their first shot on target from a striker who’d scored once all season and was suddenly clinical, but we won 3-1 through Weiper, Cancellieri and Jan Paul van Hecke’s late header after just the 23 shots to 8.
We unsurprisingly lost 2-0 at home to a strong Milan side before a wild game at Genoa. The hosts led early but Weiper responded immediately then we shared three goals in 10 minutes at the start of the first half with Cancellieri and centre-back Diego Coppola edging the match in our favour. And just as some positivity was building, de Arruabrrena pulled his hamstring in training. Luckily, we only had to play lowly Lecce next and Kompara managed to prevent both their shots on target as we eased to a 2-0 victory with Eduardo Quaresma scoring his first goal for the club from a short free-kick routine.
Outside Chance Of European Football?
With eight games remaining, we found ourselves 7th in Serie A, just two points behind 5th-place Roma and 10 clear of 9th-place Lazio.
The run-in began with a tough trip to Napoli and we got thumped 4-1. An easier game followed at home to Monza yet, unbelievably, de Arruabarrena let in both their shots on target to twice gift them the lead. But a switch to 4-2-4 saw us turn things around through van Hecke, Miglioli and Shpendi. Atalanta lost so we now had a seven-point gap to 8th.
Coppola’s header nicked a 1-1 at rivals Fiorentina and Shpendi and a Cancellieri brace sealed a 3-1 home win over Hellas Verona before a narrow 2-1 defeat at Inter, which saw Atalanta close the gap to two points. Next up was Torino at home and they gifted Weiper the opener on half an hour and we held on to win 1-0. The next day, Fiorentina did us a favour by getting a 2-2 at Atalanta, which grew our gap to four points with two games remaining.
That was important as the final away day took us to Roma, who we’ve lost to in all five previous meetings. And that trend continued with a 2-1 loss while Atalanta won 3-1 at Ascoli, so we went into the final day one point clear of them. That final fixture saw us entertain Ascoli, who gave us the perfect start as Weiper was fouled in the box and picked himself up to score the penalty. A lovely bit of play by Veloso saw him pay a one-two with Cancellieri from a corner, then tee up van Hecke to double our lead. And it was all over 50 seconds into the second half as Weiper headed home from close range. But we didn’t let up as González surged forward to hammer home then teed up Shpendi to wrap up a 5-1 thumping.
That big final-day win saw us confirm a 7th-place finish, which equals Empoli’s all-time record-high finish. However, we only received a paltry £5.4m in prize money, which is absolutely pathetic. And that meant Empoli initially qualified for the European Conference League, before being bumped up to the Europa League! We finished on 67 points, scoring 68 and conceding 49, winning 20 matches with 11 defeats and seven draws.
Analysing Season 3 at Empoli
I hadn’t factored that our style of play was particularly squeaky clean, however, Weiper won the Fair Play Player of the Year as he didn’t pick up a single card all season while Empoli won the Serie A Fair Play Club of the Year. That’s because we only collected 38 yellow cards, which was 60 fewer than the dirtiest side Roma, and only made 266 fouls, which is 96 fewer than anyone else and 332 fewer than Roma’s 598. We also have the most efficient tackling, winning 80% of all attempted tackles.
Our 68 goals were the 8th-most in the league while we attempted the 6th-most shots with 12.03 per match. One interesting stat is that we give up the 8th-most shots (407) but face the 8th-fewest shots on target (173), of which we conceded 49. de Arruabarrena only ranks 19th for saves held per 90 minutes (1.13), with a preference to tip (7th) and parry (10th).
Cancellieri got the joint 2nd-most assists in the league with 12th while González got the 9th-most with 10. Weiper was the 5th-top scorer with 18 goals in 37 games, which was only two short of top-scorer Elye Wahi at Napoli. van Hecke made the 3rd-most blocks (28) and Coppola made the 7th-most key headers (43).
Weiper led our goalscoring chart with 19 in 38 followed by Shpendi and Cancellieri (10), González (7) and Miglioli and Coppola (4). Cancellieri was our creative force with 13 assists followed by González (10), Veloso and Liberato Cacace (7) and Weiper (6). And we had a new high of five players averaging over a 7.00.
Another exciting prospect emerged from this year’s youth intake. The star graduate was winger Stefano Formichi, along with midfielder Michele Ferrari, who lacks the pace his name suggests, wingers Matteo Barabino, Nicola Boschiroli and Giampaolo Raffaelli and full-back Alessandro Tarantino.
Our financial situation means there’s likely to be significant activity this summer – and probably not in a good way! Bigger clubs are already circling around our better players, and we may be forced to sell.
Can we keep hold of Empoli’s players and, if not, can we rebuild to compete in Serie A and in Europe? Join us on Wednesday to find out!
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