An unbelievable season saw Parma Calcio claim their maiden Serie A title in dramatic fashion, finishing level with Inter Milan on points then beating them at their own ground 3-2 in a title playoff.
An open-top bus tour saw the city of Parma party like never before. The Birra Moretti flowed freely and Aperol spritz was spilt all over the city as boyhood Parma fan Alessio Rinaldi and his exciting young squad, including superstars Kerim Alajbegovic, Mateo Pellegrino and Noah Dervich and cult hero, gentle giant Auréle Amenda, were praised by swarms of Parma fans. Rinaldi put a cap on the celebrations after two full days out partying in the city, retiring to his parents’ home to celebrate with his delirious father Matteo and his tearful mother Maria, who’d also become swept up in the success despite having zero interest in the calcio her husband and son loved so dearly.
Having worn off a seismic hangover with sizeable plates of his mother’s legendary risotto and lasagna, Rinaldi eventually set his sights on even loftier ambitions. He sat down with his mentor Filippo Galli, the club’s Head of Methodology, to assess future objectives – which remained finishing in mid-table – and potential transfer opportunities. Rinaldi remained focused on developing young players, signing potential that he could hone into his playing style.
Parma began the summer of 2028 with £71.3m in the bank, a transfer budget of £28.5m and £125k spare in the £800k wage budget. That was boosted by centre back Alessandro Circati and midfielder Christian Ordonez having their heads turned by Saudi oil money and leaving for £35m each. While academy star Giulio Marino ludicrously refused to sign a contract at the sniff of interest and joined Chelsea for £6.5m. They also sold full back Mathias Fjortoft to Schalke for £3m and midfielder Luca Lipani to Monza for £8.5m before their contracts expired.
Circati was replaced by promising Turkish defender Hamza Güreler, who joined on a free transfer from Başakşehir. Ordonez was replaced by a massively structured deal for Sverre Nypan, who requested to leave Man City two years ago but rejected a Parma move 12 months ago, for an initial £15m. The youth-based approach continued by signing striker Francesco Pio Esposito, who’d only started 6 league games in 3 years at Inter, for a cut-price £10m and loaning winger Roony Bardghji from Barcelona. Rinaldi then signed last season’s loanee left back Davide Bartesaghi for up to £10m from Milan and promising 18-year-old midfielder Jan Delprato for £10.75m from Basel.
Rinaldi wanted to try and get his best players into the first 11, so toyed with the idea of a 4-2-4 in possession that switched into more of a 4-2-3-1 out of possession. However, he kept last season’s 4-3-3 approach in his back pocket just in case it went horribly badly – and it didn’t look great as they lost 7-1 to Inter in a testimonial game for Federico Dimarco.
Parma’s First-Ever Title Defence
The bookies don’t fancy Parma’s chances of retaining their title, predicting them to finish 9th with title odds of 50/1 (much shorter than last season’s 200/1). Napoli are 3/1 favourites followed by Roma (7/2), AC Milan (5/1) and Inter and Juventus (6/1).
Parma kicked off the season at home to promoted Cremonese and started well as Yusi played Pellegrino in to coolly slot into the bottom corner. Cremonese undeservedly equalised but the new front two combined with Esposito’s low pass putting a second on a plate for Pellegrino. And, despite being wasteful, there were positives in a 2-1 win. The approach seemed to click at Catanzaro, who Parma scored 10 goals against last season, as Alajbegovic and Pellegrino braces before Esposito’s first for the club inspired a 5-2 victory. Alajbegovic and Pellegrino teamed up again early on at home to Cagliari before Esposito, who was playing against his older brother Sebastiano, teed up winger Cardoso Varela’s first of the season and two for Alajbegovic.
The front two secured a 2-1 win at Genoa before a repeat of last season’s title playoff as they travelled to Inter. Esposito scored with 14 minutes of his debut but Parma settled for a point in an entertaining affair. Bartesaghi and Varela nicked a 2-1 win at home to Atalanta before Parma took a while to get going at home to Roma, until Pellegrino leapt highest to head in an Alajbegovic corner but settled for a point. The good start continued by crushing Torino 5-1 with goals by Pellegrino, centre back Auréle Amenda, Varela, Esposito and Alajbegovic before NxGn winner Mikkel Bro Hansen scored in consecutive 2-0 wins over Bologna and Fiorentina. But it came crashing to a halt with a 3-0 defeat at their bogey team Lazio.
Parma recovered by dominating Monza, then Esposito headed home Alajbegovic’s cross for the only goal at Napoli. That was followed by an absolute cracker of a game at home to Juventus, who led through Vlahovic but centre back Luis Engelns equalised. Parma hit the front through a Bremer own goal six minutes from time, Vlahovic scored again 2 minutes later, but an Alajbegovic corner found Bro Hansen unmarked to head in at the backpost and nick it 3-2. Varela, Nypan and Pellegrino inspired a comfortable 3-0 at Palermo before another big game at home to Milan, which began well with Varela’s lovely turn and shot from 20 yards. Hamza showed the poise of a striker as Darvich found him with a short free kick and picked out the bottom corner and Pellegrino wrapped up a 3-0 win – but it should have been more convincing as Esposito missed two huge chances.
2028 concluded with a dull 0-0 at Udinese, which kept Parma sitting pretty at the top of Serie A. They held a 2-point lead over Inter, and it looked like very much a two-horse battle with Sassuolo another 8 points back. Parma led the way with 44 goals and Pellegrino was the top scorer with 15, Alajbegovic topped the assist with 11 ahead of Esposito’s 8, and Esposito and Alajbegovic had the 2nd and 3rd best ratings of 7.51 and 7.43.
Seeking Champions League Improvement
Parma got a much friendlier set of Champions League fixtures than last time, with trips to Barcelona and Leipzig being the big tests. They began at home to Nantes, who scored their first shot courtesy of Parma’s summer target Nico Paz. But Parma equalised through Esposito scoring with his bum before Pellegrino stroked home a penalty, Esposito clinically converted a third and Alajbegovic finished off a delicious move to kill the game off.
The trip to Leipzig was up next, and a delicious Varela cross was headed in by Alajbegovic after half an hour. The hosts dominated with 17 shots but Parma held out for a point. Next up was the trip to Barcelona, who scored straight from the kickoff, again inside 3 minutes and another inside 5 minutes! Esposito got one back and Pellegrino missed a sitter after half an hour. A wild game heated up as a brilliant Martim Fernandes run teed up Esposito’s second to make the game interesting. Olmo restored the lead, Esposito bagged his hat trick but Raphinha repeated the feat to secure a 5-3 win.
Esposito maintained his good form with the opener 9 minutes into a home clash with Aston Villa before Nypan popped with his first goal for the club. Esposito doubled his tally from a clever throw-in routine and Alajbegovic wrapped up a crushing 4-0 victory. Parma then faced a trip into the Arctic Circle to face Bodø/Glimt. Both teams hit the post in the first 10 minutes before Darvich half volleyed into the top corner and Hamza’s first goal for the club secured a 2-0 win. A superb run by Varela teed up Pellegriuno for the opener at home to Galatasaray and the winger repeated the feat for Delprato’s first Parma goal.
That saw Parma sitting 6th in the league table with a couple of decent games remaining. So Rinaldi was feeling good about the progress they were making, with the likes of Alajbegovic, Pellegrino and Esposito very much firing on all cylinders.
But could Parma defend their Serie A title and progress in Europe? Join us on Friday to find out!
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