Fiorentina fans lambast owners for sales of Borja Valero to Inter Milan and Federico Bernardeschi to Juventus and reaction is to put club on market
FIORENTINA’S owners have put the club up for sale and told enraged fans they “can have it” following intense criticism.
The wealthy Della Valle family took over the Tuscan giants after they had been declared bankrupt in 2002.
La Viola were admitted into Italy’s fourth tier for the 2002-03 season and, just four years later, would finish in a Champions League place.
However, their willingness to sell the club’s best players year-after-year has led to revolt from the fans — something passionate Fiorentina supporters are not alien to.
Borja Valero is on the verge of joining Inter Milan, despite the club denying this.
And the Spanish midfielder recently stated he “will soon tell my truth. All the Fiorentina fans have to know.”
This led to disgruntled supporters hoisting a banner in Florence aimed at the Della Valle family, which read: “You sell our icons as if they were dustbins, when the only rubbish here is you!”
Fiorentina boasts one of the most passionate fanbases in Italy — despite the club never reaching the heights it regularly threatened to.
And the supporters are in a difficult position, owing their very existence to the club’s shoemaking tycoon owners.
But also being seriously held back by their distinct lack of ambition.
Throughout history, they have sold their best players.
The sale of Roberto Baggio to Juventus for a then world-record £8million in 1990 caused riots in the streets of Florence.
And, now Federico Bernardeschi, who has been likened to the Azzurri great, looks to be going the same way.
It is a club rich in history, despite having only won Serie A on two occasions — the last of which was in 1960.
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Fiorentina have been down the abyss and risen again, and their long-suffering fans deserve some glory.
Any trophy is greeted with a sea of violet in the streets of Florence.
They were the first Italian side to the European Cup final, losing 2-0 to the great Real Madrid in the Spanish capital in 1957.
And they have also been runners-up in the Cup Winners’ Cup and Uefa Cup, winning the former in 1961-62.
But it was in the 1990s when they enjoyed a golden period — led by the great Gabriel Batistuta, while also boasting the likes of Francesco Toldo and Manuel Rui Costa.
They would win the Coppa Italia twice as well as a Suppercoppa Italiana.
In the 1998-99 season, they looked on course to win the Scudetto — only to eventually finish third behind AC Milan and Lazio — but would show their class in the following Champions League campaign by beating both Arsenal and Manchester United.
Failure to make a swift return to Europe's elite competition saw the club engulfed in severe financial difficulties — a little like what Leeds would suffer from just a few years later.
Batistuta was sold to Roma for £32m in 2000, and a year later, Toldo moved to Inter for £22.5m Rui Costa to Milan for a whopping £34m.
However, it was still not enough.
In 2001, Roberto Mancini had led La Viola to Coppa Italia success in his first season as a manager, but financial figures at the start of the next campaign — despite the big-money sales — would show the club was straddled with crippling debts.
Completely unsustainable, they would finish second-bottom and went into administration.
Fiorentina were denied entry into Serie B and effectively ceased to exist.
However, in August 2002, a new era would commence.
Shoe and leather entrepreneur Diego Della Valle bought the club and they won Serie C2 at the first attempt.
A restructuring of the Italian league pyramid — which saw the top tier extended from 18 to 20 teams — meant Fiorentina skipped Serie C1 and went straight to Serie B.
They finished sixth and beat Perugia in a play-off to make a return to Serie A for the 2004-05 season, where they would finish 16th.
And the Della Valle family showed their ‘ambition’ in the following by bringing in the highly-rated Cesare Prandelli as manager and signing Luca Toni.
The former Italy international would become the first Serie A player to net 30 in a single season since 1959, and claimed the European Golden Shoe.
His goals saw Fiorentina finish fourth — but they were denied entry into the Champions League after being docked points for their part in the Calciopoli scandal which saw Juventus relegated.
Despite the absence of the Bianconeri in the top flight, the Della Valle family failed to move forward and sanctioned the sale of Toni to Bayern Munich.
In 2009, they would return to the Champions League again and beat Liverpool home and away before being controversially eliminated by the Bundesliga giants in the last-16.
Prandelli left to take over as manager of Italy, and star man Stevan Jovetic soon followed as he joined Manchester City in 2013 — before Juan Cuadrado left for Chelsea 18 months later.
In 2015-16, Fiorentina started the season like a train and spent much of the early part in first place.
However, they suffered a dreadful second-half of the campaign and eventually finished fifth.
Since then, the club has made no real in-roads and continued to sell anyone a big side would meet their price for.
For the first time since 2011, fourth place in Serie A will guarantee entry for the Champions League.
If Fiorentina could keep hold of the likes of Bernardeschi and possibly strengthen, they would be in with a real chance of returning to the big time.
But, as their fans know, for Della Valle family, it’s money over success every time.