Parma, 26 June 2025 - CEO Federico Cherubini's words at manager Carlos Cuesta's presentation in the “Gianfranco Bellè” press room at the Ennio Tardini Stadium in Parma. 

“Hello and thank you to all of those here today, also on behalf of President Kyle J. Krause who is not in Italy so he couldn't make it, but of course he welcomes and wishes the best of luck to Carlos at the beginning of this adventure. The presentation of our new manager also allows us to explain how we came to this choice, one that has been spoken about a lot, and we liked this, however we want to clarify one thing right away: our choice was not aimed at surprising anyone, and we weren't trying to gain attention in signing such a young coach. There is also nothing in common with the last experience we had with Cristian, it isn't that making a risky choice that worked in February led us to think that this was the definite path to take, and therefore we are looking for a challenge. When we chose Cristian, there were specific reasons that made us think he had the right profile, and we had deep reflections on what brought us to thinking that Carlos Cuesta was the right fit. We thought about both general and particular things. One was a more open reflection on our system, often our sporting directors and leaders, we speak of a project, maybe we say it too often and then we saw that just last year more or less 50% of Serie A managers were relieved of their duties. We were one of the Clubs to have done this, which is certainly not the best way. This trend, which has become more common recently, means that in Italy the average stay of a manager is one of the lowest, probably, in Europe's top leagues, and let's say it is just over 300 days. This means that we are entrusting multi-year projects and then we are discontinuing at the end, or almost never, after more than one season'.

I believe that we focused on how to find a solution to this trend that normally leads to managers having a sort of contrast and almost conflict with clubs, as these numbers also make it tricky for managers, I think, to trust in these corporate projects. So we thought that we had to try and change something, to bring back this idea of a manager as a key element, with importantly the right profile, and as a fundamental figure within the structural growth of the Club. To do this, we thought of believing in someone, who has the characteristics we were looking for, and who can look beyond simply medium-term goals. And thus, why Carlos Cuesta? He has an international profile, and he is a young manager with experience in three countries: he managed in Spain, in Italy, and he had key experiences in England over the last few years with Mikel Arteta in Arsenal's first team. He also has experience in youth systems which for us is a key part of creating a Club culture. He is ambitious, he is young, this is just a fact, but the thing that struck me most about Carlos, was how he is so naturally positive and how he holds himself at such a young age. For this reason we believe the right decision was made and above all that he can support this Club in its growth, which will have to be centred on short-term objectives, the ones that guide our valuations which will unfortunately be linked to results in some ways. But we are above all asking Carlos and his staff to be integrated in helping us build the culture of this Club which aims to unite with the youth sector, paying attention to everything that is important to this club and not just what is going on with the first team. So these were the prerequisites that led us to choose Carlos Cuesta. I would like to thank Arsenal as they allowed this with a 'non-negotiation', but otherwise Carlos would have had to terminate his contract at Arsenal, so thanks to Arsenal, Director Berta and Arteta who gave us they chance to bring Carlos onto this new adventure. Today, Carlos Cuesta's adventure begins, and in the next few days we will make the staff by his side official in his new adventure with Parma. As there are people still leaving their clubs, people linked to Carlos, we will not give any indication as to who these staff will be, but in the next few days we expect to bring in the full staff who will begin to work with Carlos from mid-July onwards.

I want to speak about two things to clear up on the new internal organisation that Parma has in the technical area. Just a few days ago, the resolution of Mauro Pederzoli's contract was made official, and actually a few months ago we anticipated that Pederzoli would be moving onto other roles. Our Football Director is Alessandro Pettinà, and he has taken on the typical roles of the sporting director, and he will be assisted by chief scouts Massimiliano Notari and Mathieu Lacome. Parma Calcio's sporting direction is in the hands of those three who have a great relationship. I am very happy. Finally, I want to thank the city, and our fans for these first days of our season-ticket campaign. We put up important numbers last year, but this was largely due to the excitement surrounding our return to Serie A. It wasn't easy to get back the same enthusiasm after an exciting end to the season, but with a lot of suffering in between. Seeing how important these first days are makes us very proud. We would like to thank everyone who signed up for a season ticket and we hope that many more do so it as the atmosphere at the Tardini must continue to be that added push for Parma Calcio, just like it was at the end season'.