Two seasons under the tutelage of boyhood Parma Calcio supporter Alessio Rinaldi had seen the Emilia-Romagna club enjoy back-to-back top six finishes. The challenge now was for the young manager to refresh a squad that he felt was in danger of becoming stale.
Rinaldi began the summer with £87m in the bank, a transfer budget of £60m and £166k spare in the £770k weekly wage budget. That was boosted by the departures of last season’s expensive loanees and captain Enrico Delprato at the end of his contract. They also sold goalshy striker Brenner to Flamengo for £2m, wantaway left back Emanuele Valeri to Saudi for £12.5m and right back Elias Baum for an annoying minimum fee release of £6m.
Rinaldi got his transfer work done early, starting by triggering a £14.5m fee for last season’s loanee Kerim Alajbegovic. He was joined by promising Danish attacker Mikkel Bro Hansen, who’ll retrain as a winger, for £5.5m from Bodø/Glimt, another winger Cardoso Varela for £9.75m from Dinamo and former Barcelona midfielder Noah Darvich for £6m from Stuttgart. But the big signing of the summer was full back Martim Fernandes, who was the only decent right back available, for £18m from Porto and loaned in left back Davide Bartesaghi from Milan on deadline day. Rinaldi also promoted academy prospect striker Giulio Marini, midfielder Guido Della Rovere and defender Karlo Pajsar.
With those players recruited, Rinaldi stuck with a more traditional 4-3-3 he’d introduced at the end of last season. He tweaked a few player instructions to give the two midfielder playmakers more freedom. For the first time in his reign, Mateo Pellegrini becomes the first-choice striker with wide support from Alajbegovic and Varela or Bro Hansen, who’ll compete for the starting position on the right. And Rinaldi thought he’d put together a solid team.
Season 3 in Parma
The bookies still didn’t fancy Parma to do overly well, predicting them to finsh 11th with title odds of 200/1. Juventus are now 10/3 favourites followed by Napoli, Inter and holders Roma (9/2), Milan (13/2) and Atalanta (20/1).
Rinaldi’s third season again began with a tricky game as they visited holders Roma, gave up an early penalty and lost 2-0. A week later, they welcomed a strong Juventus side to Stadio Ennio Tardini and took a bit of a battering in the first half. But they held out and took the lead on 52 minutes as Pajsar’s shot was deflected in. And they held out for a 1-0 win. The new approach looked much more effective at Spezia as Alajbegovic’s corner was turned in by a defender before the winger doubled the lead inside six minutes. Midfielder Martin Baturina won a penalty that Pellegrini tamely passed back to the keeper, but the striker made up for it by converting Pajsar’s cross.
Baturina scored twice as Parma dominated Sassuolo 3-1 and a Darvich assist hat trick inspired a 3-1 win over Udinese, which saw Rinaldi claim the September Manager of the Month award. A Pellegrino double led an easy 3-0 win at home to Cagliari before a big test in a trip to Inter, which began well as new captain Adrián Bernabé picked out Pellegrino to score after 84 seconds. Lautaro quickly equalised and Pellegrino had a goal ruled marginally offside, before Alejbegovic’s strike bounced cruelly off Facundo Torres for an own goal. But Inter turned it around through Lautaro and Thuram. Another tough test followed at home to Napoli and Pellegrino’s late goal nicked all three points.
The good results continued at Atalanta, where Pellegrino scored early before a quickfire Alajbegovic double and De Roon was sent off for chopping down Bernabé. And, despite the second half no kickoff bug, they went on to win 5-1 thanks to Alajbegovic completing his hat-trick and Varela’s first goal for the club. They took that performance into a home clash with Catanzaro as Pellegrino turned home Bartesaghi’s cross, then laid on Darvich’s first Parma goal. Varela crossed for Alajbegovic to head in a third as Parma racked up 16 first-half shots, before Varela, Pellegrino’s second, Baturina and an Alajbegovic 30-yard half volley wrapped up a 7-1 thumping.
Pellegrino and Darvich earned a 2-1 win at Torino to take Parma top of Serie A for the first time in Rinaldi’s reign, before throwing that away by losing 1-0 at Bologna and 2-1 at home to Lazio. Parma got back on track at Pisa and missed a mass of chances before conceding from Pisa’s first attack. But giant centre back Auréle Amenda headed them level just before halftime and Pellegrino put them in front just after it. Pisa fell apart, getting a man sent off then giving away a penalty that Pellegrino converted.
Parma wrapped up 2027 at home to leaders Milan, who battered themin the first half and eventually went in front through Kolo Muani. Rinaldi fired his team up and got a response as Darvich converted Baturina’s cross, only to immediately concede two goals to Leao. That took Parma into the new year sitting in 4th place, 5 points behind Milan but well in the race for European qualification again. Furthermore, they were the top scorers in Serie A with 40 goals, 8 more than the Milan sides, and Pellegrino was the joint-top scorer in the league with 12, alongside Nkunku and Lautaro.
Parma in Europa League
Aftr last season’s Champions League exploits, Rinaldi was more hopeful about dropping into the Europa league. Parma began with a trip to Austria to face SK Rapid and made a strong start as Marini, making his full debut, teed up Bernabé to score inside 2 minutes. Four minutes later, the 17-year-old had his first senior goal as a defender failed to clear Pajsar’s low cross and the game was wrapped up with Bro Hansen’s first goal. Luca Lipani gave them a good start in their first home game against Brondby, hitting a 25-yarder into the top corner after 16 minutes. Bernabé doubled the lead with an absolute beauty from 20 yards then won a penalty that Pellegrino converted and Alajbegovic wrapped up a 4-0 win.
Pellegrino and Alajbegovic earned a hard-fought 2-1 win at home to Young Boys before the toughest game of the league stage at home to Spurs, in which Baturina’s late strike nicked a point. A rotated team nicked a 1-0 win at Braga and won 3-1 at Saint-Étienne through Alajbgovic, Bro Hansen and Baturina goals. That saw Parma sitting comfortably in 4th on 16 points, and critically 4 points above 9th place.
Rinaldi was really excited about the progress this Parma team was making. Pellegrino was absolutely flying up front with 14 goals in 19 games, while Alajbegovic has scored 15 in 25, Darvich had 4 goals and 6 assists and Bartesaghi had 7 assists in 14 starts from left back.
Could Parma keep up this form in the league and the Europa League? Join us on Monday to find out!
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