European nights were coming to Empoli FC as our exciting young side wrapped up a 7th-place finish in Serie A in 2025/26. We now faced a big challenge to try and strengthen to compete on two fronts with minimal finances.
An even greater challenge was posed by big teams looking at our best players in the summer. Indeed, the Empoli board stepped in to accept a Newcastle offer of £25m for winger Matteo Cancellieri, without even consulting me. However, £9m of that went to Lazio for a supposed 50% sell-on clause that I don’t recall putting in the deal to sign him two years ago. We also sold Jan Paul van Hecke, who signed on a free transfer two years ago, to Atlético for £20m and Alexsander, who refused to sign a new contract, to Leverkusen for £7m and bit-part midfielder Torbein Rhein to Gladbach for £8.5m.
The incomings took a little while but were worth the wait as we pulled off an absolute doozy of a signing. 18-year-old Mads Rasmussen is 6ft 7in, has 16 tackling and heading, 18 jumping reach, 19 determination and 17 bravery. He is an absolute Norse God of a man. And he only cost £2.5m from Tromso.
Rasmussen was joined by two more centre-backs in Pablo Palacios for £3.3m from River and Fernando Barreira for £2.2m from Rio Ave, two right-backs in Kristian Gram for £3m from Rosenborg and 6ft 5in Milan loanee Adam Bakoune, midfielder Mate Ivkvovic on loan from Roma and promising Colombian striker Víctor Álvarez for £1m from Tolima. I also promoted striker Admir Arap, who signed for £2.5m from Newcastle Jets last season.
The big Norwegian’s arrival also ushered in a change of approach, as I moved towards a 3-5-2. This is largely due to a lack of wingers since Cancellieri’s departure and a mass of promising centre-backs. But the idea behind the tactic is for the two central midfielders to push on as number 10s with the holding midfielder dictating play and protecting the defence. I’m also considering using an inverted wing-back on the right to offer a little more support in central areas, and I’m sure the tactic will evolve. Our squad now has an average age of just 21.1 so I think we’re likely to drop off a little.
Starting Season 4 at Empoli
The bookies have upped our chances a little, predicting a 13th-place finish with title odds of 200/1. Champions Milan are favourites at 5/4 with Inter and Napoli both at 5/1 then Juventus (15/2) and Atalanta (14/1). I think we may struggle early on despite the board now ambitiously expecting a top-half finish.
Walking out for the warmup ahead of our first game of the season at home to Atalanta, the atmosphere at Stadio Carlo Castellini-Computer Gross Arena was bouncing. I exited the tunnel to an unusually huge roar and turned around to my assistant Jaap Stam with a quizzical look. He ushered me to take a look around the stadium, and I immediately understood the chaotic atmosphere. The stadium was packed to the rafters with people wearing Viking helmets and Empoli shirts clad with ‘Rasmussen 5.’ It was also immediately obvious we had a significantly higher volume of female supporters than usual and the crowd greeted our new signing with chants of “We all dream of a team of Mads Rasmussens.” Apparently, the new 18-year-old was a popular lad.
The bumper crowd gave the boys a lift as homegrown midfielder Jacopo Fazzini opened the scoring after six minutes and the strikeforce of Stiven Shpendi and Nelson Weiper made it 3-0 before the break. We were solid at Palermo as Fazzini and Weiper were on target again in a 2-0 victory and did well at Juventus, only losing 3-2 to a late Kean goal, before a 3-1 home defeat thanks to Milan’s loanee Bakoune doing this…
A tricky start to the campaign saw us go five games without a win after those opening two fixtures, including a narrow 2-1 loss at leaders Napoli. But we got back to winning ways with a decent performance at home to Torino led by Weiper’s opener inside 21 seconds and Franco González and Fazzini screamers. However, the fact that their striker Vlasic earns twice as much as our top earner tells you a lot about what we’re doing at Empoli.
We struggled a little to cope with midweek and weekend games, but picked up a 4-2 win over Salernitana and 2-1 wins over high-flying Parma and struggling Udinese. Fazzini was barely in the team last season but the change in system has massively benefited him and a double in a 3-0 win over Cagliari took him to six goals in 13 games. And the fans were delighted to see Big Mads nick a 2-2 at rivals Fiorentina. The rarity of a week off preceded a home game against Ascoli and it showed as we put on our best display so far. Fazzini and Weiper got us started then a magnificent piece of skill from left back Liberato Cacace put Shpendi in for the third.
But a decent pickup in form this season sees us 7th heading into the new year, although most teams around us have a game in hand and we’re only four points above 10th place. We’ve scored a pretty impressive 36, but let nin the 7th-most in Serie A (30), which is a slight concern. Meanwhile, Napoli haven’t lost and have a 13-point lead!
Empoli In Europe!
This is a phrase I didn’t think I’d be uttering on this save, but Empoli FC are in European competition! We face an interesting mixture of fixtures that could pose a test as we rotate our side to compete on domestic and continental fronts.
The Europa League music blasting out as we walked out at the Arena St Gallen gave me goosebumps to be leading Empoli into European competition. But the same couldn’t be said of our attackers. We bossed the game completely but just couldn’t finish our chances and hit the woodwork three times until debutant Arap came off the bench to curl home a delicious effort in the 93rd minute.
We faced a tough trip to Greece but came out flying as Shpendi scored two in three minutes before creating a goal for Fazzini to wrap up a 3-0 victory. Our first European home game was a bit of a borefest against Rangers but midfielder Luca Lipani struck the only goal. I hugely rotated for a trip to Denmark and Weiper came off the bench to nick a point at Midtjylland. Bakoune’s late strike rescued a late point at home to Stuttgart before a strong performance against Anderlecht saw Weiper and Sebastián Miglioli seal a 2-0 victory. That sealed a playoff place, leaving us sitting 4th heading into the final two matches.
Fans’ favourite Rasmussen has impressed already, scoring three goals in 22 games with a 6.99 average rating. Although he’s averaging 7.14 over the last five games, so I’ve been really happy with his start. Him aside, we’ve shared things around, with Weiper scoring 12, Fazzini eight, Shpendi six and González and Miglioli five, while five players have five or more assists.
Can Empoli continue their good form to push for another top-half finish? And how far can we go in the Europa League? Join us on Friday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment