Collecchio, 5 February 2026 – This is what CEO Federico Cherubini had to say during his press conference at the Mutti Training Center in Collecchio.

INTRODUCTION

“Just a very brief introduction: this press conference comes at the end of the transfer window and therefore follows the tradition of reviewing the session. On my part, I also take the opportunity to talk beyond the transfer window. I’m pleased to see a fuller room than usual. I asked some of the main figures working within the Club to join me today – some are new faces – and for me it was important to have them here. Not to introduce them, but to share together the work we’re doing. It’s a mix of competitiveness and sustainability. We’re confident we can raise our ambitions once we maintain our place in Serie A. By ensuring continuity, it’ll be easier to achieve significant results. Sustainability only works in an organic way if you invest in young players. This naturally carries some risk, but our intention is to continue down this path, maintaining balance while integrating young players who are no longer considered ‘youth’.

“Throughout this process, a broader reorganisation of the Club is taking place. We’ve had people leave who contributed to Parma’s history, such as Mattia Incannella and Valerio Casagrande. What you see here are the driving forces behind the new Parma – to show you how much work is being done and the planning involved in giving the Club a new identity. President Krause is less physically present in Parma than in the past, but the ownership’s involvement, and the presence of the Krause Group, is constant, and we maintain regular communication. There is a strong desire to continue this journey together, and we hope that feeling is mutual. History teaches us that when you find people willing to invest like this, you shouldn’t let them walk away. I understand the mood of the supporters, but if we calmly analyse what this ownership is giving to Parma, I believe they deserve the city’s and fans’ utmost respect.”

TRANSFER MARKET

“We’ll only really be satisfied once the pitch tells us whether we made the right decisions or not. Together with the sporting director and the scouting department – and of course taking the coach’s input into account – we set ourselves some clear objectives. We’ve reduced the size of the squad. There were players who weren’t getting much game time and who expressed a desire to look for other opportunities, and we felt that was fair, as long as it didn’t compromise the overall reliability of the squad. At the same time, we brought in four players who can raise the team’s technical level.

“Alongside that, Mikolajewski has been officially added to the first-team squad. While he will train regularly with the senior side, he will also be given opportunities to play when possible, as being permanently part of the first team should not come at the expense of match minutes, either with the first team or in the youth setup. We’ve also brought Frigan back into the squad, with the hope of seeing him back on the pitch before the end of the season. He’s been out for several months, but we believe we can get him fit again for the run-in. In numerical terms, the squad is two or three players smaller, but we’re convinced it’s more than competitive enough to fight to achieve our objective of staying up.

“The January transfer window can be dangerous at times, because the pressure teams feel at an advanced stage of the season can lead to short-term decisions driven by immediate needs or by the result from the previous weekend. We didn’t make any signings at centre-back because Valenti is dealing with a muscular issue and could be back with the group as early as next week. Ndiaye is close to returning, too, and objectively what was considered Parma’s strongest department until a couple of weeks ago didn’t seem like an area that needed intervention. Løvik was replaced by Carboni, who can also play as a centre-back if needed, and when Ndiaye returns he should be viewed as a new signing in his own right. We didn’t feel there was a real need to do more.

“Over the past few days, Drobnic has been training with the first team purely because of the injuries to Valenti and Ndiaye. He’s a very strong Primavera player, and his presence underlines the value of the work being done in the Youth Sector. The Primavera side, back in Primavera 1, are doing extremely well. Personally, I’m less interested in the league table and more in the quality of the football and the players involved – players who could become an integral part of Parma’s first team in the future.

“Schjelderup? The negotiations were handled by Alessandro Pettinà from the very first days of the window. From the start it was never going to be easy, and the difficulties only increased. It was a positive idea early on, but we weren’t able to get it over the line. The desire was there on our side, but not from the player. These things happen.

“As for keeping our best players in January, that largely depends on the players themselves and on how much leverage the club has. We did receive some interest, but none of the lads expressed any desire to leave Parma at this point. A year ago in January we were in a similar situation with Bonny: we asked Angelo to stay until the end of the season, assuring him that if opportunities arose we would support his path – and that’s exactly what happened. Looking ahead, if some of the current squad receive opportunities in the summer, it may be harder to keep them. But no player came knocking on our door asking to leave.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all the players who have left the squad, especially those who were here for several years, like Hernani, or Djurić, who in just one year earned the respect and trust of the dressing room. Faced with an important offer like the one from Cremonese, we didn’t feel it was right to stand in the way of his career.”

SCOUTING, DATA AND RESEARCH

“On this topic, I’d like to say thank you because it gives me the chance to clarify something. From the outside, there’s been this perception that Parma is a ‘data club’, a place where players were signed on the basis of algorithms. I arrived a year ago and I’ve never found things to be like that. What I did find was a department – like the one led by Mathieu – that provides a huge amount of input and many opportunities for everyone at the club to access data and research.

“However, at least over the past year, we’ve never made transfer decisions based purely on data and analysis. We have a scouting department led by Massimiliano Notari, who is one of the most well-known and experienced scouts at national level, working through a traditional system. Our scouts travel all over the world, across Europe and throughout Italy. We integrate the findings from our scouting work with the data systems provided by Mathieu’s department. Mathieu’s departure does not represent a change in policy; on the contrary, we’ll continue along the same path, keeping one eye on what happens on the pitch and one on new technologies.”

CURRENT SITUATION

“A comfortable distance from the relegation zone? If you’d asked me before the season, we all would have signed up for this position. But we’re not in a zone of comfort. In fact, the relegation battle is still wide open and survival is still very much to be earned. In a week or two, the situation could change entirely.

“I understand the criticism, particularly regarding some of our performances that were seen as below standard. But you have to consider the significant turnover in the squad. We’ve brought in young players who need time to adapt to a new league. And we had a bit of bad luck in the opening months. Many players were unavailable for long periods. There’s plenty that can be improved, and we can certainly do better. Staying up is going to be difficult, but our ambition is to achieve this goal as soon as possible. All those working around the club, and supporting Coach Cuesta, should be viewed in the context of the difficulties we’ve encountered.

“I’m old-fashioned in some ways, but I’ve never been obsessed with the style of play. When results don’t come, we look at the table. The coach’s work in recent months has been intelligent: he’s focused on pragmatically overcoming difficulties, which has led to results when we least expected them. He himself wants to do more in terms of attacking play, because we know that to secure survival we need to win more games. And to win, we need to do more in attack. In this sense, I believe the current squad composition gives him the tools to achieve that.

“Regarding the formation debate, Cuesta can play either three at the back or four, with a forward line offering a number of options. We’ve reduced the squad by two players, but we’ve preserved the coach’s ability to change the tactical setup multiple times during a match.

“No one feels comfortable; we all carry the responsibility of balancing economic sustainability with sporting results, because without results the rest doesn’t matter. Staying up is our clear priority.

“I think Fiorentina are in a temporary position and have the potential to climb out, but other teams, like Pisa and Verona, are competitive and have lost points along the way even when they didn’t deserve to. Lecce also spring to mind. The fight will be extremely tough; every team has strengthened in the market.

“The average age of the squad? It shouldn’t be used as an excuse. Experienced teams have failed, while younger teams have achieved their goals. Even though the average age has dropped slightly after the departures of Djurić and Hernani Jr, the incoming players aren’t too young – they were born in 2000, 2001, and 2003. The youngest is 22. For me, a ‘young player’ is 17 or 18.”

PHILOSOPHY OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SPORTING RESULTS

“The January transfer window has had a positive effect on the club’s finances, thanks to the sale of Løvik and the savings on a few salaries. At the same time, we’ve made certain commitments – for example, regarding Nicolussi’s situation – that will come into play if we secure survival.

“The Club is not simply looking to cut costs; sustainability is a topic I’ve spoken about on several occasions. The figures that have come out recently, which relate to the football system in general and not just Parma, make it clear that we must pay careful attention.

“We’ll always pursue a sensible approach to cutting costs and boosting revenue, knowing that we don’t control the income directly, since it comes from TV rights. Our aim is to implement a strategy that produces different financial results from those typical of the system – and from those Parma has experienced up to now.

“One point I shared today with Paolo Capparelli from the Finance Division: in recent days, tables have been published showing the 2024/25 budgets of various clubs. Please note that Parma’s result appears negative, showing a loss of €63 million. Howeverm we are one of the few clubs operating on a calendar-year basis, with six months in Serie A and six in Serie B. You can see the impact this has on revenue.

“We’re aware that the steps we took both in the summer and in January have already reversed this trend. We don’t yet have the official data, but the accounts we will close in 2025 are heading in the opposite direction to the financial results of recent years.”

CORVI AND THE GOALKEEPING SITUATION

“When Zion got injured, Pettinà and I called Corvi and Rinaldi into the office. We told them we have full confidence in them, but we also acknowledged that the responsibility they were about to face was more than they could have expected. Playing a single match is one thing, but stepping in to replace a goalkeeper like Suzuki for four to five months is quite another. We said we’d try to bring someone in to support them – and that’s what happened. We ended our contract with Guaita, also for personal reasons, as he preferred to return to Spain. Suzuki isn’t ready yet, so for the next month we’ll have two goalkeepers plus a third player from the Primavera.

“Corvi’s contract renewal is already on the sporting director’s desk, and he’s begun discussions with his agent. Edo has shown he can perform at Serie A level. We’re not sure whether Suzuki will leave the Club or not, but we already have solutions in-house. If needed, finding a replacement wouldn’t be a major problem.

“I’d also like to mention Rinaldi. Beyond how he performed in Naples, every day we see a player who has grown tremendously. They’ve had very different paths: Corvi has always been at the Club, while Rinaldi developed through loan spells. But we’re certainly very happy with how they’re doing.”

CONTRACT RENEWALS, FROM BERNABÉ TO ESTÉVEZ

“We’re currently in discussions with Bernabé, who is one of the players with the potential to build an important career and who is attracting interest from other clubs. His agent will be visiting in the coming days. We’ve also started conversations about other players, though those aren’t a priority right now – for example, Mikolajewski and a few others.

“The Club’s strategy of building a strong core of owned players remains a priority. The efforts we’ve made to register players and strengthen the youth sector – such as Scarlato, Hartley, and others – show that we’re focused not only on the first team but also on developing a sustainable future through the Youth Sector. This will reduce our reliance on player trading.

“Estévez? He had certain opportunities in the market, and I’m glad he stayed with us. He contributes greatly to the group and the dressing room and continues to perform on the pitch. Estévez’s contract includes an option in our favour. When it comes up for renewal, we’ll assess whether it makes sense to extend it. We have an excellent relationship with him and his entourage.”

STADIUM PROJECT

“The stadium project started a few years ago and went through the usual bureaucratic process, reaching a reasonable stage. But the project didn’t sit well with the city or the fans. There was criticism about having to leave Parma for three years to use a temporary stadium.

“One of the first actions I took was to send an official letter to the city council to buy some time, allowing us to reconsider the project and change its approach – moving from a single-phase demolition and rebuild to a more phased, structured plan.

“At the moment, colleagues and friends from Krause Group Real Estate are conducting a more detailed analysis of what it would mean to switch from the original plan to a phased approach. There are challenges: timelines could be extended, and costs might be similar. But this is meant to encourage reflection beyond the current status of the project.

“I’ve heard talk that the Krause family was under some obligation to build a stadium, but the truth is they wanted to do it. We have to be frank: the owners are showing clear commitment. Just last week, members of the Real Estate team from the USA were here in Parma working on the project.

“It may seem like there’s a problem here in Parma, while elsewhere in Italy things are moving quickly. But the difficulties we’ve encountered are not unique – other projects face the same challenges. There was talk of the stadium law, but it doesn’t provide financial incentives. It’s legitimate for a private owner to take the time to assess the costs and benefits of such a project.

“In the coming months, our ownership will clarify the direction they want to take, the type of stadium they want to build, and the kind of intervention planned. Clearly, we all want to play in a renovated Tardini as soon as possible. The desire to provide a modern, functional stadium that meets current standards is a priority for the ownership.

“Anyone following the news – not just in Parma but also concerning the Krause Group – will know that a similar process has started for building a stadium in the USA. The ownership has never indicated a wish to abandon that project, but redefining it is certainly on the table.

“Italian football relies heavily on TV rights. Five years ago, projections gave one outlook; today, they give another. As an entrepreneur, I need to balance the Club’s accounts and adapt if the scenario changes. Krause, together with the professionals around them, is carefully assessing opportunities and planning with the aim of giving Parma a renovated stadium, while taking into account the economic and financial requirements that any responsible owner would consider.

“Regarding the change of architect: all communications about the stadium, especially formal matters, will be made official when decisions are final. For now, it is Krause Group Real Estate that is conducting analyses and evaluations of the new project.”

WOMEN’S SECTOR

“It’s working well – the department as a whole is growing. We’ve started a Second Women’s Team project; they play in a regional league. There have been some organisational challenges, but it’s certainly an interesting journey.

“The first team are going through the difficulties that all newly promoted sides face. Every team struggles; the jump from Serie B to Serie A is much bigger than in the men’s game. The team have constantly produced good performances, though, and face a similar issue with scoring goals as the men’s team.

“We’ve brought in four or five new players, so there’s been a reasonable level of turnover. Last Sunday’s match against Roma was very enjoyable, with the team scoring three goals.

“We’re advancing an important project at Noceto to make it the home of Parma women’s football, as well as the Primavera. We’re in discussions with all the local authorities and the municipality, because the ownership also wants to make a tangible contribution and leave something lasting and structural for the community. The process is moving forward, and we’re very pleased with the relationship we have with the whole Noceto community.”