Torino Football Club found themselves occupying the Champions League qualification places while their city rivals Juventus lingered in the relegation zone heading into 2027. However, manager Lorenzo Bonino was convinced the likes of Lazio, Inter, Napoli and Milan would up their game in the new year, so they needed to try and maintain that momentum.
Coming into the new year, Bonino’s biggest headache was expiring contracts. Senior players like Nikola Vlasic, who has a one-year extension option, Ricardo Rodriguez and Pietro Pellegri were all going out of contract and wanted silly money to stay. The ineffective Pellegri was told he could leave and joined Montpellier on a free, before Rodriguez agreed a deal with PSV and left for £350k (and, of course, both left backs then got injured). Ineffective winger Zakaria Aboukhlal joined Betis for £2m, backup keeper Franco Israel moved to Guimaraes for £1.4m and striker Sandro Kulenovic went to Zagreb for £200k, while the equally bad Duván Zapata went back to Colombia on loan.
On the other side of the coin, Bonino now had £40m in the transfer kitty and £400k spare in the wage budget, so he looked to strengthen a slightly threadbare squad. The first signing of the Bonino era was 21-year-old midfielder Pietro Candelari for £1m from Spezia. That was soon followed by a mercurial talent as former Chelsea man Angelo, who Bonino had been tracking but couldn’t afford, had his contract terminated by Al-Nassr, came in on trial and wanted significantly less money, so signed on a free. The biggest transfer gamble was on a 17-year-old midfielder who the scouts were raving about, and Luca Weinhandl arrived for £13m potentially rising to £21m. And a young goalkeeper arrived but was loaned back to his previous club, so we’ll meet him in the summer.
Torino Form Stutters Early in 2027
Torino began 2027 with midfielder Gvidas Gineitis earning a 1-1 at Frosinone before Angelo and Weinhandl came straight in for their debuts at home to Parma. They got a flyer as Rolando Mandragora whipped a freekick into the top corner after 5 minutes but never really controlled the game and, as has become customary, conceded an equaliser in the 70th minute. They struggled in a 2-0 defeat at Cagliari but stepped things up as striker Giovanni Simeone, who’d only mustered 6 goals in 17 games, finally showed up with a 24-minute hat trick inspiring a 4-1 win over Fiorentina, in which Candelari scored his first goal late on.
Torino were pretty inept in a 1-0 loss at Atalanta, but a classic performance saw them cede 60% of possession while two Vlasic strikes earned a 2-0 victory. They then played out a dire 0-0 in the Mole Derby at Juventus, which left the hosts still just 2 points above the relegation zone after 24 games.
Angelo had suffered a shaky start to life in Turin but put a goal on a plate for Simeone 40 seconds into a home game against Bologna. However, just after a sub had been made (noticing this A LOT on FM27), Bologna won a dubious penalty to nick a point. But consecutive wins led to Bonino getting two of his compatriots sacked, as a 4-1 win at Sassuolo led to Alberto Aquilani getting fired and Simeone’s goal against his former club saw Massimiliano Allegri given the heave-ho by Napoli.
A six-game unbeaten streak was, of course, ended by defeat at bottom of the league Genoa. They then got dominated in the early stages at home to surprise leaders Udinese. But a Simeone goal out of nowhere got them back into it, before the striker created a second for Gineitis, and a late red card helped them earn an impressive 2-1 win. Simeone did exactly the same a week later, laying on the opener then scoring a last miute winner and scoring straight from the kick off to seal a 3-1 win.
They somehow lost 3-1 at home to Milan despite dominating with 15 shots to 7 before getting torn apart by title-fighting Roma’s attacking quintet in a crazy game in which they trailed 3-2 after 26 minutes and lost 5-2 after missing some huge chances. That prompted Bonino to switch to a new formation, trying out a 4-4-1-1, which debuted in style as Torino had their say in a three-way title race by defeating Como 2-0. Indeed, that potentially dropped Como out of the title race, in which Roma claimed top spot with four games remaining, while Torino were in a battle for fourth place with Milan, Lazio, Napoli and Atalanta.
Midfielder Kian Fitz-Jim scored twice off the bench to inspire a 3-1 win at Lecce before the in-form Simeone bagged all four in a 4-0 domination of struggling Frosinone. They lost 3-1 at Parma, but results elsewhere meant Torino locked down 4th place and qualified for the Champions League! Elsewhere, the title fight went to the final day with Roma, Udinese and Como split by 3 points. But Roma held their nerve as a 2-2 draw at home to Atalanta, while Udinese lost at home to Lazio, saw them wrap Gian Piero Gasperini’s side wrap up the title.
Torino finished in an impressive 4th place in Serie A with 64 points after 18 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats, scoring 64, which was bettered only by Roma’s 72, and conceding 46. Juventus annoyingly escaped a relegation scrap and a strong finish saw them climb to 10th. However, Simeone’s superb end to the season saw him finish as the league’s top scorer with 24 goals in 31 games, 1 more than Scamacca. While Vlasic was the joint-third top assister with 12, only beaten by Soulé and Thuram.
Objective #1 Passed in Promising Debut Campaign in Turin
Bonino achieved the first objective set out by Gianluigi Lentini and the Torino FC board as he helped the club finish above city rivals Juventus in his first season. Simeone was certainly the star man behind that achievement, leading the way with 24 goals in 32 games – although 18 of those came in an impressive run at the end of the season. And that was enough to earn the Argentinian 2nd place in the European Golden Shoe, finishing behind Raphinha with 28. Vlasic scored 10 goals and 12 assists – but, having seen his contract extended, he got ideas above his station and wants to join a bigger club – and Gineitis impressed with 10 goals and 9 assists, even though his form was very hit and miss.
Torino had two players listed on the new-look NxGn list, with Cacciamani in 40th and Weinhandl 41st. The award was unsurprisingly won by Lamine Yamal, followed by Saba Kharebashvili, Babis Kostoulas, Flávio Goncalves of Sporting and Franco Mastantuono.
Bonino was pretty taken aback by how well his Torino side had performed this season, albeit largely due to sides like Inter, Napoli, Milan and Juventus all underperforming. So his second season would likely be a bit more of a challenge if those teams stepped up – especially as Torino would be competing in the Champions League!
Could Bonino strengthen Torino for a Champions League campaign? And how would they fare in his second campaign at the helm? Join us on Wednesday to find out!
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