THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE DIRECTOR FILIPPO FUSCO
A press conference was held today at Orogel Stadium - Dino Manuzzi by Sporting Director Filippo Fusco, who analyzed the transfer market session with the journalists present.
“First of all, I would like to make a brief introduction. I want to thank the players who have left for their contributions in the first part of the season. If we have achieved important results, it is also thanks to their performances and attitude over these months. At the same time, I would like to thank the new players for their willingness and enthusiasm in wanting to come to Cesena.”
"In particular, I would like to thank Alberto Cerri, who waited for us for a long time, perhaps even longer than other players we had identified and ‘blocked’ before they made other choices. But that's normal, because the January transfer window is a bit unusual and short. Alberto waited for us for a long time, because we had been negotiating with him for more than a month and a half. I want to thank his agent and, in a special way, Como, particularly director Carlo Alberto Ludi, because he showed great willingness not only in supporting the player's decision but also in negotiating with us."
As noted earlier, the January transfer window is unique and should be considered over the month. It's not that you make purchases on the last day because you only worked on the last day. The final hours are the culmination of a long process that began in December with Cerri, for example, but also with other players, both those who arrived and those who may not have arrived. It was a long process carried out by all of us in the technical and communications departments: Marco Valentini, Corrado Di Taranto, Massimo Agostini, and the communications department. It's obvious that there is a sharing of a long and quite difficult daily task because, unlike the summer transfer window, in the meantime, there are matches and there are different situations that you have to manage, and all of that doesn't help."
"The length of the process? It's clear that this club has particularly long timelines, not only because of time zones but also because of its structure. Therefore, the length of the process often does not depend on us, who are here and who work with great cohesion, unity, and clarity of purpose, but clearly on the ownership and how this club is structured. These long timelines inevitably affect the effectiveness of the acquisitions. As I have always said to everyone who has called me, I have always had a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C, and it is not necessarily the case that plan C is better than plan B or plan A. However, it is normal that I have to operate with this in mind, knowing that the objective, which we also mentioned here in this press room during my presentation, was to rationalize costs and conduct a “zero-cost” transfer market. This does not mean that important players have not arrived. Blesa arrived at zero cost, and Frabotta arrived at zero cost; this does not mean the player's value is commensurate with the acquisition price. On the contrary, these are market opportunities we must seize. Then some clubs have spent sums that, in my opinion, are illogical and, in any case, far from our corporate strategy and the management we have imposed on ourselves since the beginning of the season. We have always talked about wanting to rationalize costs, to manage expenses a little more carefully in terms of player salaries during the acquisition phase, and to evaluate market opportunities.“
”It's clear that I would have liked to have signed the new players on January 3 and have them on the field against Avellino, but even before that. That was my goal; I always told you all that. It's normal that you can't always do what you want, because the technical area's needs may not always align perfectly with other needs. However, it's important to have identified the area to strengthen: I always said that I wanted to sign a winger with Adamo's departure, then a central midfielder and a structured striker, i.e., a center forward. Once that was done, we could assess any notable departures and integrate other players. In the end, we will likely also sign another striker, given Blesa's departure, which was somewhat unexpected.
"I think that this first part of the season has exceeded everyone's expectations, from the fans to the experts, but not mine, because I have had great faith in this team from day one, in the group, in the coach, and in the staff. It's normal to see a slight dip in results, but not in performance. In my opinion, we played our best games of the year against Juve Stabia, Empoli, and Bari, which may also be a consequence of the transfer market, which is somewhat destabilizing for everyone. We all need to reset and start again, as a new championship begins with a group of players who will take us to the end of the season. We expect the best from everyone. I demand it from myself every day, and we must demand it from the players, who are the real protagonists of this sport, and from the group, because I continue to say that the true strength of a team is the group of players who are together, and this is an extraordinary group. Without forgetting the qualities of our boys, I am sure that the new players will fit in perfectly with this group, because I can tell you that one of the reasons for coming to Cesena is that everyone has had incredible references not only about the club and the company, but also about the group of players and the staff who train them, and so, for me, this is a great source of pride."
The full press conference is available on the Cesena FC YouTube channel: