📰 27: Sicilia Society 

Huber Moves Up: From Bunker to Belle Époque Luxury

Palermo’s golden boy on the touchline is now living like one off it. After months of makeshift living in a shared “football bunker” with his staff, Jacques Huber has traded late-night football arguments for marble staircases, modern art, and panoramic views of the sea.

The 32-year-old Palermo manager has taken up residence in the Trinacria Suite, one of the most coveted apartments inside the former Trinacria Hotel and once the most glamorous address of Palermo’s belle époque. Renovated and divided into exclusive apartments, the building still carries its aura of high society.

🏡 The Apartment

The suite is accessed through its own private courtyard and private lift, leading directly into a chic, art-filled living room. There are three ensuite bedrooms, but the true jewel is the terrace: a sprawling space that runs the length of the apartment, with views over Palermo’s marina and the historic “widows’ walkway.” Locals say it’s the kind of view where “you drink wine in the afternoon and forget the world.”

It’s a far cry from Via Agrigento, where Huber shared cramped living space with assistant Tobi Okori and coach Samir Halimi. The old flat was all whiteboards, laptops, and football devotion. The new one? A wine cellar, modern furnishings, and a shaded gazebo for entertaining.

🍷 Whispers & Speculation

Already, Palermo’s society pages are speculating: will the terrace of the Trinacria Suite become a new gathering spot for the city’s elite? Rumours swirl of dinner parties with local designers and late-night drinks with players and staff. Some even suggest that Claudia Costa, the fashion designer recently linked to Huber, had a hand in the apartment’s interior touches.

One neighbour reportedly quipped: “We used to hear about shouts of tactics at 2 a.m. Now we expect champagne corks.”

⚽ A Step Up with Serie A

Just as Palermo have climbed back into Serie A, their manager has also moved up a level. From the hum of the bunker to the glamour of the marina, Huber’s new life mirrors the club’s own ambitions: no longer fighting for scraps but stepping into the spotlight.

👉 Next Up: Serie A Continues. After the glamour comes reality: tough matches, tactical tests, and the battle for survival.

⚽ 28: Serie A Continues — Tests of Reality

🏟️ Results Round-Up

Matchday 7 — Palermo 3–1 Pisa (H)
In a crucial early-season relegation battle, Palermo came out on top against fellow strugglers Pisa at the Renzo Barbera. The visitors gave an early scare by rattling the crossbar from a free-kick on 12 minutes, but Haissem Hassan settled nerves six minutes later, smashing home after a set piece was only half-cleared. Pisa hit back on 31’, Alexander Lind firing in a loose ball in the box, yet Palermo responded quickly as Yeremay guided a composed finish into the corner on 36’ to restore the lead. Jérémy Le Douaron added breathing space on 62 minutes with a tidy strike to make it 3–1, and Huber’s side saw the game out calmly to claim a vital three points in the fight for survival.

Matchday 8 — Spezia 1–1 Palermo (A)
In another tense relegation six-pointer, Palermo ground out a late point away to Spezia. The first half was cagey and uneventful, with neither side creating anything clear, and the hosts eventually struck on 59 minutes when Tio Cipot arrived at the back post to turn in a low cross. Palermo huffed and puffed without much joy until the 89th minute, when substitute wonderkid Marco Turconi produced a moment of magic, dancing past his man and drilling a ball across the six-yard box for Tzimas to tap home. A precious 1–1 draw and another reminder of Turconi’s growing importance.

Matchday 9 — Palermo 1–3 Roma (H)
Against last season’s champions, Palermo matched Roma for long stretches but were ultimately undone by a touch of Balzanzi brilliance and their own wastefulness. Tommaso Baldanzi broke the deadlock on 53 minutes with a stunning 25-yard strike, and although Jérémy Le Douaron hit the post on 63’ and Tzimas crashed a strike off the bar on 71’, the equaliser wouldn’t come. Baldanzi punished them again, finishing from a Devyne Rensch cross to make it 2–0, before Lorenzo Pellegrini added a third on 86’. Antonio Palumbo pulled one back in stoppage time with a superb volley on 90+4, but it was little more than consolation on a night where poor finishing cost Palermo dearly.

Matchday 10 — Torino 2–0 Palermo (A)
Palermo slumped to another disappointing defeat on the road, undone by a Duván Zapata brace in Turin. The Colombian striker nodded in the opener on 16 minutes, then was slipped through on 36’ to finish calmly one-on-one, leaving Desplanches exposed for a second time. Huber’s side never really recovered, struggling to create clear chances and looking increasingly fragile at the back. A worrying sign, with the young goalkeeper’s form starting to feel like a growing concern.

Matchday 11 — Como 0–2 Palermo (A)
Palermo picked up a vital away win at Como, built on sharp attacking in transition. Stefanos Tzimas opened the scoring on 14 minutes, finishing clinically on the break, and Yeremay thought he’d doubled the lead soon after only for his strike to be ruled out for offside. The second did eventually arrive later on, Antonio Palumbo smashing in a rebound (67’) after Le Douaron’s effort was parried. Palermo managed the game well from there, securing an important 2–0 victory on the road in their battle to stay up.

Coppa Italia — Roma 0–4 Palermo (A)
Palermo claimed a historic scalp in Rome, dismantling the reigning Serie A champions with a ruthless counter-attacking display. Marco Turconi set the tone early, winning the ball high and sparking a break that ended with Christian Comotto sliding home for 1–0 on 8 minutes. A long ball over the top from Niccolo Pierozzi sent Tzimas through to make it 2–0 on 29’, and the striker needed just a minute more to add his second, finishing another swift transition for 3–0 on 30’. The night got even sweeter on 60 minutes when Palermo-born forward Giacomo Corona tapped in his first ever goal for the club after a recycled corner was worked wide and crossed in by Le Douaron. With limited possession but devastating efficiency on the break, Huber’s side ran out 4–0 winners. Their first major giant-killing since promotion and a statement that Palermo can hurt anyone on their day.

Matchday 12 — Palermo 1–2 Inter (H)
Palermo pushed Inter close at the Renzo Barbera but fell just short against the league’s most underperforming side. Jack Grealish broke the deadlock on 38 minutes, arriving to finish a Marcus Thuram cross, before turning provider after the break as he teed up Lautaro Martínez to make it 2–0 on 59’. Huber’s changes sparked life into the game, and substitute Marco Turconi smashed in a Le Douaron cross on 79 minutes for his first Serie A goal, his “Z” celebration sending the Curva Nord wild at the prospect of a late comeback. Ranocchia then had a superb free-kick tipped away in the 90+1st minute, but the equaliser never came and Inter escaped with a hard-fought 2–1 win.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Resilient Spirit: Palermo have bounced back quickly after setbacks, proof the squad has absorbed some of Huber’s mentality.
• The Youth Factor: Marco Turconi now has 2 goals and 1 assist in just a handful of starts, and his confidence is growing by the week.
• Consistency Needed: Defensive collapses particularly against the big sides show Palermo still need to tighten up at moments.

📊 League Table Snapshot

After 12 games, Palermo sit 17th, on 12 points. A couple of important wins have lifted them above the drop zone, but the battle for survival remains tight. Pisa and Pescara look dead and buried already but Spezia are only 1 point below with a game in hand.

🏥 Updates from Camp

• Finding Form: After a poor start to the campaign, Stefanos Tzimas (6.76) has begun to find some form with 3 goals and 1 assist in his last 3 matches.
• Defensive Concerns: Both Pietro Ceccaroni (6.49) and Sebastiano Desplanches (6.53) have started the season poorly. Ceccaroni has recently lost his place to Dimitris Nikolaou (6.72) and the club are looking into goalkeeping options ahead of the January transfer window.
• Transfer Listed: Following concerns over playing time, Alexis Blin has handed in a transfer request that has been accepted by the club. One to watch in January.

👉 Next Up: From Zen to the Spotlight. The rise of Palermo’s young striker is a story that goes beyond football. His background, his celebration, and his sudden fame are pulling him into the headlines, for better or worse.

📰 29: Sicilia Today

From Lo Zen to the Stadio: Football’s Promise and Palermo’s Problems

Palermo has a new sensation. Marco Turconi, just 16 years old, has burst onto the Serie A stage with creativity, goals, and the kind of fearless swagger that makes supporters fall in love instantly. His rise is remarkable, not just for what he does on the pitch, but for what it says about the city he comes from.

Every time he scores, Turconi forms a “Z” with his hands, a proud tribute to Lo Zen, one of Palermo’s toughest neighbourhoods. For some, it’s a moving gesture and proof that talent can come from the city’s most deprived corners. For others, it’s a reminder of a district long synonymous with poverty, crumbling housing blocks, and the grip of organised crime.

For decades, players from Lo Zen rarely had a pathway out. Palermo’s academy struggled, opportunities dried up, and too often young Sicilian men with talent drifted into the shadows. That has hopefully started to change with investment and the arrival of the City Football Group. With the construction of a local football pitch in 2020, as well as further investment in facilities and youth development, suddenly doors appear to be opening, and Marco Turconi may now be the first to walk through them.

📸 But progress never comes without tension. An Italian rap video filmed in Lo Zen went viral this week, showing young men dancing, and often flashing weapons. In a few scenes, Turconi appears, standing out in the crowd in his all-pink tracksuit. He’s not in any shots with people holding guns, but the images stirred unease. Was this a rising star caught too close to the old traps of his neighbourhood? 

That unease was sharpened by recent memory. In 2023, Palermo mourned the death of Rosolino “Lino” Celesia, a 22-year-old former professional footballer who was shot dead in a nightclub in the city. His assailant, just 17, confessed soon after. Celesia had once been a youth player with Trapani and Torino, before stints with Marsala, Troina and Parmonval. His career faded, but his life ended far too soon.

At the time a vigil was held in his honour in Palermo, while Torino issued a heartfelt statement:  “President Urbano Cairo and the entire Torino Football Club deeply share the pain of the Celesia family for the passing of Rosolino Celesia, a former youth player in the Granata youth sector.”

For some, the sight of Turconi in that video is a warning: Palermo cannot afford another tragedy of wasted potential. Maria Cuffaro, a social worker in Lo Zen, told Sicilia Today: “Lo Zen is a cycle. Poverty, unemployment, crime. These forces repeat themselves generation after generation. Football can break that cycle, but it takes more than talent; it takes structure, investment, and the courage to stay away from old paths. For the first time, Palermo is offering some that structure.”

At the Stadio Renzo Barbera, supporters made their feelings clear. When Turconi scored last weekend, chants of “Zen, Zen, Zen” rang around the Curva Nord. He is already their symbol: the boy who carries both the struggle and the pride of Palermo onto the pitch.

Palermo’s future under the City Football Group may be brighter than its past, and Turconi could be the first of many to rise from the city’s forgotten districts. But his story remains fragile. The question is no longer whether Lo Zen can produce a Serie A footballer. It’s whether Palermo can help him, and others who follow, become something more than just another story of what might have been.

👉 Next Up: The Grind of Serie A. After the headlines and the noise, it’s back to the pitch. Five tough fixtures await as Palermo fight for every point in their battle to stay afloat in Serie A. Can Huber’s side hold their nerve against Italy’s giants and rivals alike?

⚽ 30: The Grind of Serie A — Finding Form

🏟️ Match Results

Matchday 13 — Lecce 0–1 Palermo (A)
Handed a start in Lecce, Marco Turconi repaid Huber’s faith with a composed finish on 10 minutes, stroking home to give Palermo an early lead. The game quickly settled into a cagey affair with few clear chances for either side, but Palermo’s structure and work rate off the ball kept Lecce at arm’s length. In the end, Turconi’s strike proved enough, sealing a hard-fought 1–0 win and another precious three points in the battle for survival.

Matchday 14 — Palermo 3–1 Udinese (H)
Palermo claimed a big home win over Udinese, driven by a Haissem Hassan hat-trick. The winger opened the scoring on 27 minutes, firing in from a tight angle after a well-worked corner routine, only for Jordan Zemura to level five minutes later with a fine strike. Just before the break, Marco Turconi slipped Hassan in on 44’, and he coolly restored the lead. Zemura’s second yellow on 48 minutes reduced Udinese to ten men, and Palermo took full advantage late on as Hassan completed his treble on 83’, slotting home to seal a deserved 3–1 victory.

Matchday 15 — Palermo 2–0 Fiorentina (H)
Palermo earned an impressive home win over Fiorentina after a cagey first half at the Renzo Barbera. The breakthrough came on 50 minutes when Yeremay cut inside from the flank and saw his strike take a deflection that wrong-footed David de Gea. With the visitors chasing, Palermo struck again on 64’: a neat give-and-go between Tzimas and Antonio Palumbo ended with the midfielder sliding a composed finish into the corner for 2–0. Huber’s side saw the game out calmly, banking another crucial three points in their bid to stay up.

Matchday 16 — Lazio 1–1 Palermo (A)
Palermo battled to a draw in Rome in a game that swung dramatically inside the first ten minutes. Lazio struck early, finishing off a slick passing move through Gustav Isaksen on 4 minutes, but just three minutes later Nicolò Rovella threw an elbow in a clash with Stefanos Tzimas and was shown a straight red. Huber’s side took advantage on 25 minutes when Comotto was fouled in the box and Tzimas emphatically buried the resulting penalty. Palermo went on to create a host of chances against ten men but couldn’t find a winner, leaving the Olimpico with a 1–1 draw that felt like an opportunity missed.

Matchday 17 — Palermo 5–0 Napoli (H)
Continuing their good run of form, Palermo produced another stunning display by dismantling Napoli in Michel’s first game in charge of the visitors. Christian Comotto twice sliced them open in the first half, threading through balls for Stefanos Tzimas to finish clinically on 22’ and 25’. Napoli made a triple substitution at half-time but were punished almost immediately after the restart, Mariano Troilo rising highest to head in his first Palermo goal from a Yeremay corner on 47’. On 72 minutes, a Turconi strike deflected in off team-mate Le Douaron for 4–0, before Turconi finally got his own goal in stoppage time, running onto a lovely Ranocchia pass to make it 5–0. A historic win at the Renzo Barbera and a statement that Palermo are a new growing force in the South.

Matchday 18 — Cagliari 1–1 Palermo (A)
Palermo earned a late point in a tight encounter in Sardinia. After a largely even game with few clear openings, Cagliari finally broke through on 78 minutes when Mattia Prati got down the flank and crossed for Sebastiano Esposito to tap in at the back post. Huber’s side refused to fold, though, and their pressure told in the 89th minute as Jérémy Le Douaron whipped in a cross that Christian Comotto met to level the match. It finished 1–1, a hard-fought draw that felt like a small win on the road.

Matchday 19 — Palermo 2–3 Parma (H)
Palermo were edged out in a wild, see-saw game at the Renzo Barbera, undone by a Steve Mounié hat-trick. The Parma striker opened the scoring with a looping header, but Mariano Troilo quickly levelled on 25 minutes, nodding in a Haissem Hassan free-kick. Just two minutes later, Jacopo Segre’s cross was turned into his own net by defender Botond Balogh to make it 2–1 to Palermo. After the break, though, Mounié took over: he swept home a tidy finish on 53 minutes to equalise, then completed his treble with another powerful header on 67’. Despite late pressure, Palermo couldn’t find a response and slipped to a 3–2 defeat.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The Zen Factor: Marco Turconi is no longer just a prospect; he’s regularly getting minutes, developing well, and often becoming Palermo’s attacking heartbeat when on the pitch. His ‘Z’ celebration continues to spark chatter in the press.

• Ups and Downs: Palermo are managing to compete with Italy’s elite, but the most recent home loss to Parma is a reminder of their struggles for consistency.

• Good Form: Over the last 5 games, key individuals in the spine of the team like Mariano Troilo (7.24), Filippo Ranocchia (7.21), Yeremay (7.10), and Stefanos Tzimas (7.21) have begun looking at home at this level.

📊 League Table Snapshot

After 19 games and a good stint of form, Palermo sit at the heady heights of 8th. Only 6 points separates them from 15th but the have a decent foothold in the division at the halfway mark. 

🏥 Updates from Camp

• Job offer: Both Tottenham Hotspur and RB Leipzig approached Jacques Huber about potentially going for an interview to replace the outgoing Thomas Frank and Ole Werner. Huber declined stating he is loving his time at Palermo in Serie a. Later that month Huber signed a new 4 year contract on €16,000 a week. 

• Transfers: In hopes of maintaining the quest for survival the board have made an extra €1.2m available for transfers in January, bringing the total amount to 4.4m. Huber is already hinting at reinforcements, notably a keeper for competition with Sebastiano Desplanches (6.74), who has had a mixed season so far.

• Contract Renewals: Given his recent good performances and replacement of Pietro Ceccaroni in the starting lineup, Dimitris Nikolaou has signed a new 3 year deal, with improved wages and a promise of more starts.

👉 Next Up: Halfway House. A mid-season review: Palermo take stock of their first Serie A campaign so far. Who has impressed, who has struggled, and where will Huber look in the January market?

📊 31: Mid-Season Review — Palermo at the Halfway Mark

The halfway mark of Palermo’s first season back in Serie A has arrived, and the story so far is one of grit, adaptation, and a fair few bruises. The pink shirts sit comfortably clear of the relegation places, but everyone knows how quickly that can change. One bad run and the romantic return to the top flight can turn into a scrap for survival.

⚽ Tactical Overview

Huber has kept faith with his 4-3-3, but after a bumpy start the system has been steadily reshaped for life in Serie A:

• Compact Wingers – Rather than hugging the touchline high up the pitch, the wide players now tuck in and work harder without the ball, helping protect central areas.
• Faster Transitions – Palermo look to break at speed into space whenever they win possession, instead of trying to dominate the ball as they did in Serie B.
• Selective Pressing – The team sits in a mid-block, pressing off clear triggers in midfield and wide zones. It saves energy and keeps the structure intact in games where they expect to concede possession.

“It’s not always pretty,” Huber admitted after a grinding 1–0 win over Lecce, “but in Serie A you must know your limits. If we chase everything, we burn out. If we sit too deep, we suffocate. The balance is crucial for both survival and morale.”

📝 Regular Starting XI

• GK – Sebastiano Desplanches (6.74) – A good shot-stopper, but still inconsistent at this level. There’s already talk of bringing in competition in January.
• RB – Niccolò Pierozzi (6.69) – A stalwart of promotion who has found some of Serie A’s elite wingers a step up, but remains trusted for his work rate and attitude.
• CB – Mariano Troilo (6.91) – Strong in both boxes and increasingly vocal. After a shaky start he has grown into the leader of the back line.
• CB – Dimitris Nikolaou (6.86) – Replaced Pietro Ceccaroni in the XI and has been quietly excellent, anchoring the defence during the recent good run.
• LB – Honest Anahor (6.93) – Brings power and attacking thrust while learning a demanding inverting role. Still raw, but enjoying a breakout campaign.
• DM – Filippo Ranocchia (6.95) – Stepping into Claudio Gomes’ role, Ranocchia has been an outstanding pivot, breaking up play and sparking quick counters.
• CM – Christian Comotto (6.98) – Despite his age, already undroppable. Endless running, press resistance, and quality in the final third, though the heavy schedule is starting to show.
• CM – Antonio Palumbo (6.70) – Creative and capable of big moments, but form has fluctuated. Jacopo Segre and Marco Turconi have both pushed him for minutes.
• RW – Haissem Hassan (7.05) – One of Palermo’s main attacking weapons, with 5 goals and 4 assists so far. Direct, fearless, and increasingly decisive.
• LW – Yeremay (6.64) – Flashes of brilliance but still searching for consistency at this level.
• ST – Stefanos Tzimas (7.04) – After a slow start, the talisman has adjusted well. Still the side’s top scorer, though heavily dependent on quality service.

🔁 Bench & Rotation Notes

Serie A has exposed the limits of Palermo’s depth, forcing Huber to rotate and experiment more than in Serie B:

• Pietro Ceccaroni (6.56) – Lost his starting spot early and hasn’t yet convinced Huber he should win it back.
• Jacopo Segre (6.73) – High energy and relentless pressing from the bench, but can be loose in possession.
• Jérémy Le Douaron (6.84) – Frequently Huber’s go-to game-changer; offers goals, pressing and clever movement.
• Emmanuel Gyasi (6.71) – Key last season, but at 33 is struggling to maintain impact across 90 minutes.
• Marco Turconi (7.00) – The academy jewel. Three goals and three assists already in Serie A from limited starts. Coming from Lo Zen, he’s a Curva Nord favourite. There are questions about his entourage off the pitch, but on it he’s electric.
• Giacomo Corona (6.77) – Yet to see significant minutes, but his cameos suggest there’s promise if opportunities arrive.

🔄 Transfer Moves

The January window looms, and Palermo know they’ll need smart moves rather than a revolution:

Incoming: With Desplanches inconsistent, Palermo have secured a loan for Mallorca-born goalkeeper Ferrán Quetglás from Real Madrid. The deal includes a €1.3m loan fee and a €12m option to buy — if he impresses, he could become a long-term No.1.

Outgoing: Frustrated by limited minutes, Alexis Blin has left for Austin FC in a €375k deal. 

Huber has also pushed hard for better youth recruitment, and the board have agreed to expand the scouting network. A key step if Palermo are to build sustainably.

🌱 Academy News

Early reports on this year’s intake of first-year scholars are not encouraging. Coaches describe the group as “workmanlike” rather than star-studded, with no obvious Turconi-style standout. There is hope that one or two may grow into useful squad options, but for now the pipeline looks thinner than last year.

🎙️ Voices from the Stands

At the halfway point, the city remains cautiously optimistic. They are proud of what’s been done, but also aware of how fragile it is.

Gianni, 54, season ticket holder: “Serie A is merciless. Some weeks you feel proud, some weeks you wonder if we belong. But the heart is there. That’s what matters.”

Lauro, 19, Curva Nord: “Seeing one of our own, from Palermo, scoring in pink gives us goosebumps. This is why we fight to stay up. Serie A without Palermo is empty.”

Marco, 41, bar owner near the Barbera: “We need reinforcements. The boys fight, but fight only takes you so far. Give Huber two or three good signings in January and we won’t just survive, we’ll grow.”

📈 Mid-Season Verdict

• League Position: Safely mid-table, but bunched together with a pack of clubs. One bad spell could still drag them into trouble; one good run could push them toward the top half.
• Positives: Adapted playing style without abandoning the core philosophy; youth breakthroughs; strong morale despite the step up.
• Concerns: Depth in key positions, mounting fatigue, and the physical grind of Serie A.
• Verdict: Palermo are more than holding their own. Survival looks likely if focus remains high, but no one at the Barbera is taking it for granted.

👉 Next Up: Between Training and the Spotlight. Away from the pitch, Jacques Huber adjusts to Serie A life. A new apartment, new routines, and the uncomfortable glare of a league that never stops watching.

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🏟️ 32: Between Training and the Spotlight

⚽ Long Days, Hard Work

Despite Palermo’s rollercoaster start to Serie A, Jacques Huber’s focus has remained unrelenting. Sources inside the Palermo City Football Academy describe “long, grinding sessions” as Huber drills his squad in defensive shape, transitions, and set-piece routines. 

“He’s there before the players arrive and still scribbling on his notepad after they leave,” one staff member told Il Giornale di Sicilia.

If the gossip pages were full of his movements near the end of last season, this year has been different: less late-night sightings, fewer glamour dinners. Huber is visible, but mostly in tracksuit and trainers rather than tuxedos.

🎶 Curva Nord Connection

After an impressive 5–0 win at the Barbera against Napoli, Huber was photographed approaching the Curva Nord, shaking hands and exchanging words with some of the fans. The images of him smiling and celebrating with the ultras went viral, hailed by local fans as proof that he “gets” Palermo.

But national media outlets were quick to identify the men in the photos. Among them was Salvatore “Totuccio” Ferrante, previously investigated in connection with ticket scalping and money laundering, and Giorgio Marino, once questioned by police over alleged links to protection rackets around the stadium. Neither man has been convicted of serious crimes, but their reputations are notorious. The sight of Palermo’s young coach alongside them has sparked debate across Italy.

“Passion is one thing,” wrote Corriere della Sera. “Optics are another. Huber is no longer just a manager. He is a symbol, and symbols are judged by the company they keep.”

Huber’s response was typically straightforward: “The curva is the beating heart of Palermo. When we celebrate together, I don’t check court records before I shake someone’s hand. These people live for the club. Football belongs to them as much as anyone.”

The club issued a short statement of support, praising the bond between manager and supporters.

✈️ A Roman Detour

The balance between work and society flickered again in Rome. After a hard-fought draw with Lazio on the 30th of December, the squad and staff boarded the return flight to Sicily. Huber did not.

He was later photographed in Trastevere at a private early New Years gathering, with a mix of artists, business figures, and football personalities. While his staff returned to Palermo to prepare for the next match, Huber lingered in the capital, flying back a couple of days later.

Networking? Social indulgence? The lines, as ever with Huber, are blurred. Palermo fans will hope his extra-curricular visibility doesn’t distract from the unforgiving reality of Serie A survival.

👉 Next Up: Into the Fire. The season grinds on, and Palermo’s Serie A fight becomes a test of endurance. Can Huber’s team hold their nerve through injuries, setbacks, and the relentless rhythm of Italy’s top flight?

🏟️ 33: Into the Fire — Raising the Bar

⚽ Holding the Line

What started as a survival mission is beginning to feel like something else entirely. Palermo were meant to be clinging on in Serie A; instead, they’ve kicked the door open.  The pressure is still there, but it’s changed shape. It’s no longer “can we stay up?” so much as “how far can we go?”

Jacques Huber spends most days and too many nights at the Palermo City Football Academy, but the mood is different from the anxious autumn grind. The brows are still furrowed, the voice still rasps after training, yet there’s a quiet satisfaction underneath it all.

“In Serie A,” he said last week, “you can play well and still lose. But we’re starting to learn how to win our difficult games too. That is the difference.”

Right now, the difference is showing.

📊 Recent Results

A remarkable stretch of form has lifted Palermo from survival talk into the European conversation:

Matchday 20 — Pescara 0–4 Palermo (A)
Despite missing several key players through injury and fatigue, Palermo produced a ruthless display away to Pescara. Yeremay won a penalty early on and converted it himself on 6 minutes to settle any nerves, before Jacopo Segre beat his man and squared for Haissem Hassan to tap in a second on 22’. Hassan then intercepted a loose pass on 55 minutes and slid in Palermo-born forward Giacomo Corona, who calmly made it 3–0, and the winger wasn’t done there, escaping down the flank on 77’, he cut the ball back for Jérémy Le Douaron to add a fourth. A dominant 4–0 win and a statement of depth and attacking quality from Huber’s side.

Matchday 21 — Palermo 5–3 Juventus (H)
In a wild night at the Renzo Barbera, Palermo stunned league leaders Juventus in a chaotic, historic win. Pierozzi nipped in ahead of Kenan Yildiz on 12 minutes and fed Haissem Hassan down the flank, his low cut-back tapped in at the back post by Yeremay, before Loïs Openda levelled on 21’. Nikolaou restored the lead with a thumping header from a Palumbo corner on 29’, though the joy was tempered by an injury to Tzimas soon after.  

Jonathan David made it 2–2 early in the second half with a sumptuous strike from range, but then came the moment nobody will forget: Khéphren Thuram, receiving a throw near halfway, knocked a blind back-pass toward his own goal, not realising keeper Di Gregorio had drifted to one side — the ball rolled straight into the empty net for a remarkable own goal. Palermo then struck again from a set piece on 84 minutes, Troilo powering in a header from a free-kick to make it 4–2, only for Nicolás González to pull one back on 87’. As Juve threw everything forward for an equaliser, Hassan broke away in stoppage time to slot home on 90’, sealing a 5–3 victory with just 38% possession and delivering Huber’s most famous Serie A win to date.

Matchday 22 — Parma 1–2 Palermo (A)
Palermo earned an excellent away win in Parma, edging a tight game with moments of quality in the final third. Christian Comotto opened the scoring on 23 minutes with a deflected strike from the edge of the box, only for Adrián Bernabé to curl in a fine equaliser on 31’. Huber’s side hit back almost immediately: a clever free-kick routine on 34 minutes ended with Yeremay arriving to slot home what proved to be the winner. Palermo defended resolutely thereafter to see out a big 2–1 victory on the road.

Matchday 23 — Palermo 1–0 Milan (H)
Palermo claimed another massive scalp at the Renzo Barbera, edging Milan thanks to a first-half strike from Stefanos Tzimas. The forward powered home on 36 minutes after a sharp move in transition, giving Huber’s side a lead they refused to surrender. Milan did have the ball in the net twice, but both efforts were ruled out for offside, and beyond those moments they struggled to seriously trouble new keeper Ferrán Quetglás. A disciplined, mature display saw Palermo home for a statement 1–0 win over one of Serie A’s giants.

Matchday 24 — Bologna 0–1 Palermo (A)
Palermo ground out another big away win, edging Bologna thanks to a decisive first-half strike from Haissem Hassan. Just before the break on 44 minutes, Hassan drove in from the flank and drilled a low shot across the goalkeeper to make it 1–0. Huber’s side then dug in after the interval, defending compactly and managing the game well to protect their lead, closing out a hard-earned 1–0 victory on the road.

Coppa Italia Quarter Final — Inter 2–0 Palermo (A)
Palermo’s Coppa Italia run ended at San Siro as Inter’s quality eventually told in a tight quarter-final. The hosts dominated possession from the start, but it was Huber’s side who carved the slightly better early chances. However, as the half progressed and Inter’s control grew, Quetglas was forced to make several strong saves to keep it goalless at the break. The Palermo resistance was then finally broken on 57 minutes when Geny slotted home a composed finish to put Inter ahead, and Palermo’s task got even harder late on as Ranocchia was sent off for a second yellow after fouling Francesco Pio Esposito on 84’. Esposito then combined with Marcus Thuram for a neat one-two before finishing on 89 minutes to seal a 2–0 win, ending Palermo’s cup hopes for the season.

Matchday 25 — Atalanta 1–0 Palermo (A)
Palermo endured a grim afternoon in Bergamo, undone by an early red card and a penalty. Niccolò Pierozzi was sent off on 22 minutes for a reckless two-footed lunge on Lorenzo Venturini, leaving Huber’s side to play over an hour with ten men. Atalanta quickly capitalised, winning a spot-kick on 29 minutes after Jacopo Segre was penalised for a foul in the box, and Krstović calmly converted. Reduced in numbers, Palermo struggled to mount any real response, and Atalanta saw out a routine 1–0 win.

Matchday 26 — Palermo 3–0 Genoa (H)
Palermo produced a dominant home display to brush aside Genoa at the Renzo Barbera. The opener came on 30 minutes when a recycled corner fell to Haissem Hassan, who curled a superb effort into the top corner. Christian Comotto doubled the lead on 64’, thundering in a cut-back, and the night was capped in stoppage time as Marco Turconi slipped a clever reverse pass into Jacopo Segre, who smashed his shot in off the underside of the bar on 90+4. A commanding 3–0 win and another statement performance from Huber’s side.

📊League Table Snapshot

After 26 games and an incredible run of form, Palermo sit 5th in Serie A. For a newly promoted side, it borders on surreal. With 44 points, they should already be comfortably clear of the relegation scrap; the conversation has shifted. Survival looks secure. Now the question being whispered around the Renzo Barbera is different:

Can Palermo really qualify for Europe?

🏋️Updates from Camp

• The long-awaited upgrades to both the first-team and youth training facilities have finally been completed, giving Huber and his staff the tools to push standards even higher.
• A recent bout of flu has swept through the camp, leaving seven or eight players unavailable at various points across the past month. Rotation has become less a choice and more a necessity.
• Rumours swirl around Filippo Ranocchia. His performances in a deeper role have not gone unnoticed, and with a €10.75m release clause in his contract, clubs are circling. Crystal Palace are said to be among those monitoring him closely. Palermo may soon have to decide whether he is the cornerstone of the project, or the sale that funds the next step.

👉 Next Up: The Pressure Grows. With safety all but secured and Europe suddenly in sight, the noise around Palermo is only getting louder. Expectations rise, agents call, rumours spread. From the media glare to the whispers in the streets and cafés of Sicily, the challenge for Huber now is not just to keep winning — it’s to keep the football clear in the middle of the storm.

🗞️ 34: The Pressure Grows

🗣️A Club Under Scrutiny

When Palermo were promoted last spring, the city fell in love with Jacques Huber’s energy. He was the young foreign manager who had revived the pink shirt and made the Barbera dream again.

Now, less than a year later, the mood is not darker so much as sharper. Palermo are flying higher than anyone expected, and with that comes a different kind of tension. Every result shifts European dreams, every selection is dissected intently, and every quote is replayed across national media.

Huber still prowls the touchline, still first to training and last to leave, but the quiet around him has gone. Success has turned Palermo from a curiosity into one of Serie A’s main stories, and stories attract scrutiny.

🎬The End of “Palermo’s Power Couple”

Just months ago, Sicilia Moda described designer Claudia Costa as “Palermo’s unofficial first lady,” a near-constant presence at matches and club events. Now, her usual seat in the directors’ box has been empty for weeks.

According to multiple outlets, Costa and Huber have quietly separated. One close friend of Costa told La Repubblica Palermo: “They had been together constantly since the summer, but things changed. He’s living at the training ground again. Football is the only thing he sees.”

Neighbours at the Trinacria Suite have reportedly seen movers collecting some of Costa’s belongings.

“It’s quieter now,” one said. “You used to hear two voices. Now it’s just him and sometimes the TV showing match replays.”

For the gossip pages, it’s the end of Palermo’s glamour chapter. For Huber, it looks more like a return to monastic focus just as the stakes are rising.

⚽ Cracks and Questions

On the pitch, results have been outstanding, but Huber’s obsession with standards has not softened. Injuries and a packed schedule have stretched the squad, and even in a season of overachievement, there have been reminders of how fine the margins are.

The most public example came with academy star Marco Turconi. The teenager found himself out of the squad for the Atalanta match after arriving late to training, with reports that he’d been seen out in the Politeama–Libertà district the previous night. Huber was said to be “furious.” Turconi apologised privately and returned to the bench a week later, eventually grabbing an assist against Genoa, but the incident sparked debate.

“He’s a good kid,” said one anonymous teammate, “but he’s young, and this city can eat you alive if you’re not careful.” Inside the camp, the staff insist the group remains united, if a little stretched.

“We’re working harder than ever,” said assistant coach Tobi Okori. “From outside people see pressure. Inside, it’s focus.”

The question isn’t whether Palermo are good enough for Serie A anymore. It’s whether a young squad and a demanding coach can maintain this level while the spotlight gets brighter.

🔊Media Storm

National talk shows have begun circling for different reasons now. Sky Calcio Notte recently ran a segment titled “Huber and the New European Dream,” while Corriere della Sera wondered whether his fiery touchline image hides a manager “on the brink of something bigger, or in the process of burning himself out trying.”

A columnist in La Stampa wrote: “Huber built Palermo on passion, and that same passion now drives them toward Europe. But passion is volatile and Serie A has a habit of testing how long dreamers can keep their balance.”

For every sceptic, however, there is a loyalist ready with an answer. “He made us believe again,” said one fan outside the Barbera. “If we miss Europe, we miss it fighting. That’s Huber’s Palermo.”

🏟️Where It Stands

With 26 games played, Palermo sit 5th, astonishingly close to the European places in their first year back in the top flight. Relegation talk has long since faded; now the tension comes from wondering whether they can really hold this position through March and April.

The football is still aggressive and fast on the break. The difference is that every point now feels like it counts double, whether that be for the table, for future transfers, for whether this project can keep its brightest pieces.

Whether the growing noise hardens or distracts Huber will shape not just this season’s finish, but his place in Palermo’s longer story.

👉 Next Up: The Turning Point. As the run-in approaches and Europe looms on the horizon, can Huber keep his team clear-headed amid the gossip, the rumours, and the rising expectations, or will the weight of success prove as heavy as the fear of relegation once was?

🏟️ 35: The Turning Point?

⚡ Momentum Stalls

Pressure has a sound. It’s not just boos, it’s the dip in noise when a pass goes astray, the sharp inhale when a chance is missed, the muttered curses as fans shuffle toward the exits. Against Lecce, chasing the same European spots as Palermo, that sound was everywhere.

Matchday 27 — Palermo 0–1 Lecce (H)

A top-six six-pointer that felt like it belonged to someone else. Lecce struck first and early: Amine El Ouazzani darting in front of Troilo to stab home a cross on 5 minutes. From there, the first half descended into chaos. Turconi rolled his man and clipped a gorgeous effort onto the bar on 25’, before Lecce rattled the post three minutes later at the other end. It was open, frantic, and on another day Palermo might have forced the game their way.

Instead, the second half tightened into a grind. Lecce sat in, Palermo pushed and pushed, but the spark was missing. Hassan blazed over their best chance and, as the minutes drained away, so did the authority that had carried Huber’s side into 5th. When the whistle went, Lecce had leapfrogged them into that spot, two points clear with a game in hand. Huber didn’t climb the barriers this time. He applauded, nodded once, and disappeared down the tunnel, expression unreadable. 

“These are the games you have to win if you want Europe,” he told Sky Sport Italia afterwards. “Tonight, we simply didn’t do enough.”

🔥The Reaction

The city didn’t explode in anger, but the mood shifted. Outside the Barbera there were no firecrackers, no impromptu celebrations on Via D’Amelio, just small clusters of fans arguing about missed chances and what might be slipping away.

“Palermo have earned the right to dream,” wrote Il Giornale di Sicilia. “But with dreams come new responsibilities. Matches like this cannot become a habit.”

La Repubblica Palermo was sharper: “Lecce looked like a team that knows what it wants. Palermo looked like a team caught between surviving and believing.”

The club’s media team posted a single photo from the dressing room: players sitting, heads bowed, boots half-untied. No captions. No slogans. Just a reminder that in the race for Europe, one bad night can suddenly feel like a turning point, and not the kind anyone was hoping for.

📉Form Stutters

Worryingly, the Lecce defeat didn’t stand alone. It was followed by a run that briefly threatened to drag Palermo back toward the pack:

Matchday 28 — Inter 1–0 Palermo (A)
Palermo put in a disciplined display at San Siro but left empty-handed after a tight contest. The first half was cagey, Huber’s side keeping their shape and limiting clear Inter chances. The breakthrough came on 61 minutes when a Nicolò Barella strike took a deflection and fell kindly for Lautaro Martínez, who reacted quickest to tuck the ball past Quetglás. Palermo pushed late on and almost snatched a point when Jacopo Segre’s header from a free-kick was cleared off the line on 80’, but it finished 1–0. Another narrow defeat, and another reminder of Serie A’s fine margins.

Matchday 29 — Udinese 1–0 Palermo (A)
The attacking struggles continued in Udine as Palermo slumped to a third consecutive 1–0 loss. Keinan Davis headed home the only goal on 25 minutes after Palermo failed to clear a cross. From there, Huber’s side saw plenty of the ball but created little of substance, their final pass and composure in the box repeatedly letting them down. Udinese managed the game professionally, and Palermo’s wait for a goal, and for a spark to reignite their push up the table, went on.

Matchday 30 — Palermo 1–1 Como (H)
At last, the goal drought ended, but the win still wouldn’t come. Stefanos Tzimas gave Palermo the perfect start after just 3 minutes, nodding in a Christian Comotto corner, and the game flowed back and forth with chances for both sides. The turning point came on 59 minutes when Filippo Ranocchia dragged down Nico Paz in the area, gifting Como a penalty that Álvaro Morata calmly converted. Despite late pressure, Palermo couldn’t force a winner and had to settle for a single point from a match that had promised more.

Then, suddenly, something clicked.

Matchday 31 — Palermo 5–0 Lazio (H)
Palermo roared back into life with a thunderous demolition of Lazio at the Barbera. Another well-worked set piece brought the opener on 12 minutes, Stefanos Tzimas heading in to settle nerves. On 34 minutes, chaos at the back for Lazio saw Ivan Provedel rush out to clear ahead of Tzimas, only for the ball to drop to Christian Comotto, who coolly lobbed him from 25 yards. Just after the break, Palumbo slid Haissem Hassan in behind to make it three on 47 minutes, and the floodgates stayed open: Jérémy Le Douaron squared for Tzimas to grab his second on 58’, before Le Douaron himself capped the rout with a composed finish on 70’. A 5–0 statement that Palermo were not done yet.

Matchday 32 — Fiorentina 1–3 Palermo (A)
Palermo followed it up with a superb away performance in Florence. Hassan slipped a brilliant ball through for Comotto to slot home on 10 minutes, then Le Douaron doubled the lead with a crisp strike from the edge of the area on 27’. Fiorentina hit back quickly as Lucas Beltrán turned in a low cross on 31’, and thought they’d equalised on 63 minutes when Moise Kean headed in, only for VAR to rule it out for offside. With the game finely poised, Palermo killed it late on: Le Douaron’s cross took a deflection and dropped perfectly for Comotto to tap in his second on 85’, sealing an impressive 3–1 victory.

📈The Table

8th — Palermo (51 points)

Back-to-back wins have steadied the ship, but only two victories in the last six have probably put continental qualification just out of reach. It isn’t impossible, but with teams around Palermo holding games in hand, Huber’s side will need something special in the final six matches to turn the dream into reality.

👉 Next Up: After Hours at the Academy. As Palermo’s form settles and the dust of the mini-crisis begins to clear, the real work continues long after the lights go out. In the quiet offices of the City Football Academy, Huber and his staff are already sketching the next steps — for the run-in, and for whatever this project is becoming.

🌙 36: After Hours at the Academy

The floodlights at the Palermo City Football Academy had long since blinked out, but in one corner office the lights still burned. Five figures sat around a whiteboard that looked more like a battlefield — magnets scattered, arrows half-rubbed away, and one phrase circled three times in red: transizioni rapide.

It was past midnight. The coffee machine in the corner spluttered uselessly, serving more as a stand for Samir Halimi’s notepad than a source of caffeine. Jacques Huber leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, eyes drifting between clips on the monitor and the mess of notes spread across the table.

“Marseille press high like this,” he said, gesturing at the screen. “But if we can pull them—”

“They’re not Marseille,” interrupted Roberto Secchi, the Sicilian coach, with a dry smile. “They’re Cagliari. You’ve been watching too much Champions League.”

That drew a low chuckle from Patrick Sullivan, the fitness coach, leaning in the doorway with a water bottle in hand. “To be fair,” he said, “if we keep working at this hour, we’ll need a sports science miracle just to get through the warm-up.”

Jacques smirked. “Then it’s a good thing we hired one.”

Tobi Okori laughed, tipping his chair back. “Miracle or not, half the lads are struggling. This past month has been tough.”

“Understatement of the year,” Patrick muttered.

The room filled with the tired laughter that only comes after months of pressure. It had been a long season, full of bruises and tight contests, but recent back-to-back wins had shifted the mood. The team had started to find rhythm again. Even the staff looked lighter, as though the worst of the storm had passed. 

On the screen, clips of Cagliari faded to black. Samir closed his notebook with a snap. “You realise this is what we did in Serie B?” he said. “Except now we’re older, slower, and still working till midnight.”

Roberto shrugged. “That’s progress.”

More laughter. Samir poured the last of the coffee into a paper cup and sat down.

“You know what’s funny?” Patrick said. “Every stat, every graph says we should’ve burned out by now. But the numbers don’t get what this place does to people.”

Jacques looked up from the table, a faint smile crossing his face. “The numbers never do.”

Among the notes and printouts lay a folder marked Summer Planning — Draft 1. A few new names were circled, potential reinforcements and academy prospects, but one current player was underlined in blue: Marco Turconi. The same kid who’d made headlines for all the wrong reasons a few weeks earlier.

Roberto tapped his name with a pen. “He’s a handful,” he said. “But maybe the kind we need.”

Patrick shrugged. “As long as he keeps working.”

Jacques leaned back. “He’s the future of this club,” he said quietly. “I won’t let him go to waste.”

Silence settled over the room. Beyond the glass, the countryside was still, it was just crickets and the faint glow of a farmhouse in the distance. The academy sat alone among low hills and open fields, a small island of floodlight poles and restless ambition.

Tobi finally stretched and stood. “Alright, geniuses. Same time tomorrow?”

Patrick grinned. “Sure. I’ll bring the defibrillator.”

Jacques gathered his notes. “And I’ll bring more coffee.”

They stepped out into the warm Sicilian night, gravel crunching underfoot. Behind them, the last office light clicked off. Only the moon kept watch over the pitches.

⭐ The New Scholars

After the breakthrough of Marco Turconi and the promise shown by Huber’s first cohort of scholars, this year’s intake is a more modest group. None look ready to trouble the first team yet, but a couple of names have caught the eye:

Gianluca Consonni (CM, 16, Favara) – A functional central midfielder with the attributes of a future winger. His dribbling and pace suggest a switch out wide as he develops in the U18s.

Alessandro Napolitano (RW, 16, Alcamo) – A tall but limited right-winger. Fairly well-rounded, but he’ll need time and patient coaching to grow into senior football.

📈 The Next Generation

In NXGN 2027, Palermo saw two of their loanees make the prestigious list: Christian Comotto placed 9th and Honest Ahanor 10th. Neither belongs to the club permanently yet, but their development this season has sparked real optimism within the hierarchy that at least one of those deals might be made permanent.

👉 Next Up: Eyes on the Finish Line. Momentum has returned, belief is growing, and Palermo edge closer to the end of their first top-flight season. As the final weeks of Serie A approach, the question shifts once again: can Huber’s side turn an overachieving campaign into something truly extraordinary,  a place in Europe?

👀 37: Eyes on the Finish Line

The plan for this season was simple: survive. With one game to go, Palermo are instead staring at something nobody dared speak aloud back in August, a European place. It’s still out of their hands, still hanging on favours and fine margins, but Huber’s side have dragged themselves to the brink of something historic.

The last few weeks have felt less like a run-in and more like a sprint.

📝 Match Reports

Matchday 33 — Palermo 4–0 Cagliari (H)

Back at the Renzo Barbera, Palermo delivered one of their most controlled performances of the season. Cagliari failed to register a single shot on target as Huber’s side smothered them from the first whistle. Haissem Hassan opened the scoring on 27 minutes, cutting inside and drilling low into the far corner, before Marco Turconi doubled the lead nine minutes later with a crisp half-volley. Palermo never let the tempo drop and added late gloss: Filippo Ranocchia stroked in the third on 85’, and hometown forward Giacomo Corona calmly slotted a fourth in stoppage time. A 4–0 scoreline and a statement of just how far this team has come.

Matchday 34 — Napoli 0–2 Palermo (A)

The Derby delle Due Sicilie brought a mature, ruthless Palermo to Naples. Having edged the first half but failed to convert, Huber’s men bided their time before landing two late punches. On 75 minutes, Christian Comotto squared for Stefanos Tzimas to tap home from close range. Eight minutes later, Tzimas timed his run to perfection, beating the offside trap and finishing coolly on 83’. A 2–0 win, a clean sheet, and another famous away performance in one of Italy’s fiercest southern derbies.

Matchday 35 — Palermo 4–1 Spezia (H)

Back in Sicily, Spezia were swept away by a Tzimas masterclass. Hassan’s cut-back was swept in by the Greek forward on 19 minutes, but Eduardo Solari briefly levelled with a header on 49’. The response was instant: from the restart, Jacopo Segre released Tzimas to make it 2–1 on 50’, and the striker then bullied his way through the defence on 71 minutes to complete his first Serie A hat-trick with a low finish into the corner. Deep into stoppage time Hassan cut inside and fired home a fourth on 90+4', rounding off a comprehensive 4–1 win and sending the Barbera into party mode.

Matchday 36 — Roma 1–1 Palermo (A)

Away to fourth-placed Roma, Palermo showed steel and character to take a point from the capital. Lorenzo Pellegrini put the hosts ahead on 32 minutes, finishing calmly after a clever pass from Tommaso Baldanzi. Palermo had a huge chance to equalise when Angeliño chopped down Hassan in the box on 40 minutes, only for Mile Svilar to save Tzimas’ penalty. Marco Turconi rattled the bar just before the break as the Rosanero pushed back. The reward came on 57 minutes: Turconi drove forward on a brilliant run and laid the ball off for an unlikely scorer, Niccolò Pierozzi, who smashed a low strike in from just outside the area. Roma pressed late, but Palermo held firm for a hard-fought 1–1 draw that keeps the European dream flickering.

Matchday 37 — Palermo 1–2 Torino (H)

Palermo’s European push took a dent as they fell to a frustrating home defeat against Torino despite dominating much of the game. The visitors struck first on 13 minutes when Zakaria Aboukhlal headed in a cross to make it 1–0, but Stefanos Tzimas levelled on 32’, firing home from a Jérémy Le Douaron delivery after sustained pressure. Huber’s side continued to control possession after the break, only to be caught out on 55 minutes when Torino won the ball and broke quickly, Aboukhlal arriving to slot home his second of the night on the counter. Palermo pushed hard for another equaliser but couldn’t find a way through, leaving the Barbera with a 2–1 defeat that felt like a big missed opportunity in the race for Europe.

🏆 Other News

Player of the Month: Christian Comotto’s form has not gone unnoticed — the versatile midfielder was named Serie A Player of the Month for April, a fitting reward for his goals, assists, and creative presence.

Champions Crowned: Juventus have wrapped up the league title with games to spare, confirming what many suspected during their relentless winter run.

Scouts in the Stands: The rumour mill keeps turning. Crystal Palace manager José Mourinho has been spotted at recent Palermo matches, reportedly keeping a close eye on Filippo Ranocchia. With a release clause in place, the summer could get interesting.

📊 League Table Snapshot

With one game left, the picture is brutally clear:

• 6th — Como, 59 points
• 7th — Palermo, 57 points
• 8th — Lazio, 57 points

Palermo sit in 7th, two points behind Como in 6th and level with Lazio, who trail only on goal difference. Given Inter’s recent win in the Coppa Italia, sixth place would mean Europa League football while seventh place would mean Europa Conference League football. But, given the stakes, can Huber’s side hold their nerve.

• Como travel to Bologna, currently 2nd and already secure in their position.
• Palermo head to Pisa, last in the table and already relegated.
• Lazio visit Fiorentina, sitting 9th and still with pride to play for.

It is doable, but far from simple. Palermo must win in Tuscany and then watch the scores roll in from Emilia-Romagna and Florence. One slip from Como or Lazio could open the door.

👉 Next Up: The Battle for Europe: One last game. Pisa away. If results fall their way, Palermo could complete one of the most remarkable first seasons back in Serie A in recent memory by securing European football. If not, this campaign will still be remembered as the year the Rosanero returned and announced that they intend to stay.

🌍 38: The Longest 90 Minutes — Palermo into Europe

⚔️ Final Day in Pisa — Hearts in Mouths

The away end at the Arena Garibaldi felt different. No flares, no easy songs, just that tight, nervous hum that comes when an entire season is balancing on one afternoon. Pisa were already relegated. Palermo, somehow, were one good result away from the European football. 

The permutations were simple on paper. Palermo started the day in 7th, level with Lazio and two points behind Como in 6th. To make Europe, Huber’s side needed to win or hope for a favour somewhere between Bologna–Como and Fiorentina–Lazio.

For the first twenty minutes, nothing much happened. Pisa dropped deep, happy to kill the tempo. Palermo shuffled the ball from side to side, struggling to find any incision. Then the first blow landed, not on the pitch, but through the murmurs in the away end. Como 1–0 Bologna. Heads turned. Phones came out. A few choice Sicilian curses drifted down the steps. Five minutes later came a ripple of relief: Bologna 1–1 Como.

On the grass, not much changed. Palermo still looked tight, passes overhit or undercooked. Haissem Hassan blazed over from the edge of the box on 40 minutes, the best chance of a lifeless half, and just before the whistle, more news filtered through. Como 2–1 Bologna. Palermo went into the break at 0–0, knowing Como were winning again and Fiorentina–Lazio was still goalless. Europe was still there but one Lazio goal would push them down to 8th.

Huber sent his players back out more aggressive. The line pushed higher, the risks were increased in possession. Yeremay, only just back from injury, was thrown on to try and crack open Pisa’s low block. The pattern, though, barely shifted. Palermo probed, but the final ball kept dying in a forest of Pisa shirts. On 81 minutes, the entire away section rose as one when Filippo Ranocchia finally found space on the edge of the box and curled a shot past the keeper—only to see it cannon back off the post and away. It felt like the moment.

Then came the worst kind of update: Lazio goal in Florence.

For a minute or two the away end sagged. Heads dropped. Some fans slumped back into their seats, staring at the pitch without really seeing it. Huber prowled his technical area, jabbing instructions forward with both hands, but the players looked like they were running in mud.

And then, salvation, not from Palermo, but from Tuscany’s other city. Fiorentina equaliser. 1–1.

Word spread like wildfire. A few fans began jumping again. Others shook their heads, muttering that it didn’t matter if Palermo couldn’t score themselves. On the pitch, Huber’s team kept pushing, but Pisa held firm. No late set piece, no scruffy rebound, no storybook winner.

The whistle went. Pisa 0–0 Palermo.

For a few seconds there was only confusion: half the away end booing, half checking the live table. Then the numbers appeared: Lazio held in Florence; Como winning but Inter’s Coppa Italia triumph had given an extra European place down the league.

Palermo, somehow, in 7th — and heading to Europe.

🎙️ Huber’s Verdict

If anyone expected a touchline sprint or a dive into the away end, they didn’t get it. Huber quickly clapped the away fans and then walked straight down the tunnel, face set. When he appeared for the post-match interviews, the mood was clear.

“We didn’t do our job today,” he said, jaw tight. “We wanted to win, we had to win, and we didn’t. I’m happy for the club, for the city, that we will play in Europe. But we can’t build something serious if we rely on other people to save us. This has to be a lesson.”

Pressed on whether the achievement still meant something, he relented just a little: “Of course it does. First season back, European football, that’s huge. But if we want to stay here, we must always demand more from ourselves than the table does.”

It was classic Huber: pride wrapped in frustration, already pushing the bar higher.

📰 Press & Fan Reaction

The headlines the next morning reflected that same tension — joy and criticism fused together.

• Giornale di Sicilia: “Palermo in Europa — ma che paura.”  (“Palermo in Europe — but what a scare.”)
• La Repubblica Palermo: “A historic qualification, achieved in the ugliest possible way. Huber’s team looked paralysed in Pisa but results elsewhere rescued them. The project breathes, but it still has growing up to do.”
• Corriere dello Sport: “From Serie B to Europe in two seasons: Palermo join the Conference League. The City Football Group will not ignore what Huber has built.”

On social media and in the bars around the city, the tone was softer. Supporters knew what mattered in the end.

“We were dead a few years ago,” one fan said outside the Barbera. “Now we’re going to Europe. Play badly all you want in Pisa — just get me that away day.”

🎉 More Joyous Nights in Palermo

By the time the team flight touched back down in Sicily, the calculations no longer mattered. Palermo, officially, would play European football next season. That alone was enough to turn a tense, scruffy final day into another night of celebration.

Cars once again circled the city centre, horns blaring, pink scarves hanging out of windows. In Piazza Politeama, a few hundred fans gathered with flags and banners, chanting “Siamo in Europa!” long into the night. It wasn’t the wild chaos of promotion, but something more surreal, a mix of disbelief and pride.

At the Palermo City Football Academy, a small crowd waited for the team coach. When Huber stepped off, they sang his name. He smiled for the first time all evening, raising a hand in acknowledgement. No barrier climbs in the Renzo Barbera this time, no flares at arm’s length, just a brief moment of connection between a demanding coach and a city that has already forgiven Pisa for the sake of European qualification.

Inside the training ground, the players shared photos from the dining hall: plastic cups, prosecco, a hastily drawn “Conference League” banner stuck to the wall. Tzimas and Turconi grinning into the camera; Corona wrapped in a flag; Hassan and Ranocchia squeezed into the frame.

Whatever the performance in Pisa, the bottom line is simple: Palermo are back on the continental stage.

📈 The Final Standings

👉 Next Up: End of Season Review & Checklist Progress. With Palermo remarkably back in Europe, we take a step back to look at Huber’s second season: the standout performers, the goals that shocked Serie A, and which long-term challenges have already been ticked off on the road to building Sicily’s club. 

Mate this is brilliant, incredibly engaging and an absolute joy to follow.

This is the most impressive career story I've ever seen. 

📋 39: End of Season Review & Checklist Progress

🎭 Behind the Curtain

After another successful season, I wanted to pause and reflect on the series again. The kind comments people have been leaving are really encouraging and I am glad that there are a few of you out there following along and enjoying this slightly different way of telling a save. Hopefully you like Huber, Palermo, and all the little stories around them.

If I am being honest though the save has gone way too smoothly for my liking. I told myself I would let the game write the story, and so far FM26 has decided that Huber is some kind of tactical savant. Whether it’s the tactic, the players, or this version of FM just being easier than previous years, I don’t know, but this is the first time I’ve ever taken a newly promoted team straight into Europe. Either way, I’m still having fun, and I do plan to keep going and writing. Season 3 is on the way, with Huber leading Palermo into their first European campaign.

🏆 End of Season Awards

Serie A Awards:

• Manager of the Year: Ivan Jurić (Atalanta)
• MVP / Player of the Year: Angeliño (Roma) – 1 goal, 17 assists from wing-back
• Best Italian Player: Rafael Leão (Milan) – awarded thanks to his Italian eligibility
• Young Player of the Year: Francisco Conceição (Juventus)
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Alex Meret (Napoli)
• Best Defender: Bremer (Juventus)
• Best Midfielder: Khéphren Thuram (Juventus)
• Best Striker: Marcus Thuram (Inter)
• Top Goalscorer: Rafael Leão (Milan) – 22 goals
• Golden Glove (Most Clean Sheets): Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus) - 15 clean aheets
• Goal of the Season: Khéphren Thuram (Juventus) – long-range strike vs Palermo
• Team of the Season:

Palermo Awards:

• Top Goalscorer: Stefanos Tzimas – 20 goals (all comps)
• Most Assists: Haissem Hassan – 12 assists (all comps)
• Signing of the Season: Haissem Hassan – €2.2m from Real Oviedo.
  His direct running and exceptional end product (12 goals, 12 assists) were absolutely crucial in dragging Palermo into Europe.

🌍 Notable Performers

• Stefanos Tzimas (7.05) – 20 goals, 3 assists
  After a shaky start to life in Serie A, the talisman proved he belongs at this level, scoring in big games and carrying the attack through rough patches.

• Haissem Hassan (7.05) – 12 goals, 12 assists
  A revelation on the right wing and outstanding value for €2.2m. Pace, dribbling, and decisive contributions in the final third.
• Marco Turconi (6.83) – 5 goals, 5 assists
  Only turned 17 in February and still produced double figures for goals + assists. Grew in influence as the season went on; the fanbase’s new golden boy.
• Christian Comotto (7.01) – 8 goals, 8 assists
  A creative cornerstone between midfield and attack. His loan from Milan looks likely to end, and replacing his profile will be a major challenge this summer.
• Filippo Ranocchia (6.97) – 2 goals, 7 assists
  Took over the number 6 role after Claudio Gomes departed and never looked back, dictating play from deep and quietly becoming one of the team’s most important players.
• Mariano Troilo (6.92) – 3 goals
  Played almost every game and was a rock at the back. Aggressive, brave, and increasingly vocal as a leader.
• Dimitris Nikolaou (6.95) – 1 goal, 1 assist
  Replaced Ceccaroni after a poor run of form and quickly made the left-sided centre-back spot his own.
• Honest Ahanor (6.80) – 0 goals, 1 assist
  Asked to do a lot tactically as an inverting left-back at a young age. Raw, but full of potential, and Palermo are desperate to make his loan permanent.
• Ferrán Quetglás (6.93) – 9 clean sheets
  Arrived in January to replace the underperforming Desplanches and helped solidify the backline immediately. Calm, modern, and excellent with his feet.

🌍 Winners Around the World

While Palermo were busy sneaking into Europe, the rest of the footballing world kept spinning:

• 🏆 Champions League – Barcelona 2–0 Manchester City
  Hansi Flick finally lifts the trophy after last year’s defeat to Liverpool. Lamine Yamal delivers a goal and an assist on the biggest stage.
• 🏆 Europa League – Juventus 4–1 Tottenham
  A Rodrigo Mora hat-trick powers Juve to emphatic European silverware.
• 🏆 Europa Conference League – Aston Villa 3–0 Lech Poznań
  After losing last year’s Europa League final, Villa respond by steamrolling their way to a trophy in the Conference League.
• 🇮🇹 Serie A – Juventus
  Juventus cruise to the Scudetto, finishing 13 points clear at the top.
• 🇮🇹 Coppa Italia – Inter 0–0 Atalanta (Inter win on pens)
  A drab final but Inter hold their nerve from the spot.
• 🇪🇸 La Liga – Real Madrid
  Real rack up a monstrous 101 points, finishing 18 clear of Barcelona and reclaiming Spain.
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League – Arsenal
  Mikel Arteta’s side go back-to-back, cementing themselves as England’s dominant force.
• 🇩🇪 Bundesliga – Bayern Munich
  Some things never change. Bayern win again.
• 🇫🇷 Ligue 1 – Paris Saint-Germain
  Business as usual in France as PSG stroll to another title.
• 🌎 UEFA Nations League – France 4-0 England
  France annihilate England to secure more international silverware.

✅ Checklist Progress

After Season 2, here’s where the long-term save goals stand:

• ✅ European Qualification
  A remarkable first campaign back in the top flight ends with Palermo qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
• ✅ Long-Term Stay
  Huber’s success — and interest from elsewhere — led to him signing a new four-year contract, committing his future to the project (for now…).
• ✅ Player Development
  Although both are currently on loan, Honest Ahanor (9th) and Christian Comotto (10th) both featured in NXGN, underlining Palermo’s growing reputation as a platform for young talent.

The boxes ticked are encouraging, but the clock is ticking on some of the harder save rules:

• ⏳ By Season 4: At least one Sicilian academy graduate must be a nailed-on starter in the first XI.
• ⏳ By the end of Season 4: All existing Northern Italian players and non-eligible foreigners already at the club must have been replaced.

The margin for error is shrinking, especially with Comotto and Anahor not permanent and Turconi still developing.

📷 The Full Checklist

Next Up: Sicilia Gossip: As Palermo break for the summer, the back pages fill with a new controversial love interest for Jacques Huber. When pre-season returns, it will be in the Austrian mountains. Higher altitude, harder running, and the small matter of preparing a young Sicilian side for their first taste of European football.

📰 40: Sicilia Gossip

👑 “The Princess of Palermo” and the Mister in Europe

Palermo are going to Europe. And not to the Conference League anymore.

Thanks to Juventus’ Europa League triumph and another strong year for Italian clubs on the continent, Serie A have edged ahead of La Liga in the UEFA coefficient rankings, earning an extra Champions League spot and nudging everyone else up a rung. The knock-on effect is simple: Palermo are now heading into the Europa League, not the Conference.

For most managers, that would be enough of a headline for one summer. But this is Jacques Huber, and this is Palermo. And while the Europa League awaits, it’s a different kind of Europa tour that has filled the gossip columns: a whirlwind of family visits, Sicilian sunsets… and a new companion whose surname carries more weight than any UEFA coefficient.

Her name is Francesca Lo Cascio. Around Palermo, they call her something else: “la Principessa di Palermo” – the Princess of Palermo. And this summer, the Princess has found herself very close to the Mister.

✈️ A Quiet Start — Family First

The first photos of Huber after that tense final day in Pisa weren’t from Mondello or Mykonos, but from much greyer skies.

Within days of confirming European football, the 34-year-old coach slipped out of Sicily for a brief, low-key trip to visit family in England and France. No branded content, no yacht decks, just camera-phone glimpses.

A grainy shot of him outside a terraced house in Yorkshire, arm around an older man, his father:

Another, supposedly from Brittany, with Huber in a café with his mother and a couple of relatives:

“One thing about him, he remembers where he came from,” said a family friend quoted in a small piece in a French regional paper. “He spoke more about his grandmother’s cooking than about Juventus.”

For two weeks, the story was simple: the wonder-coach returning home, Europe secured, feet on the ground. Then he came back to Sicily. And the tone shifted.

🏖️ Cefalù Nights, Mondello Mornings 

If last summer was about Mykonos and fashion designers, this one has been resolutely, almost defiantly Sicilian.

Huber has spent most of June and July on the island, slipping between work at the Palermo City Football Academy and evenings on the coast. Witnesses place him at:

• a charity gala at a villa above Cefalù, fairy lights strung above an infinity pool, the sea glittering below;
• an invitation-only party at a beach club in Mondello, where the dress code was linen, sunglasses, and the kind of confidence that doesn’t need an Instagram tag;
• a handful of smaller dinners in and around the marina, not far from his Trinacria Suite.

At first, the story felt familiar: the young foreign manager adapting to Palermo’s high society, a glass of Etna rosso in hand, smiling politely while local businessmen talk real estate and politics. But past midnight, in both Cefalù and Mondello, one detail kept repeating in those whispers from the piazza: He was no longer alone.

👠 Enter Francesca Lo Cascio

The first clear photograph came from a wedding reception on the outskirts of Cefalù. In the background, slightly out of focus, Jacques Huber stands at the bar in an open-collar white shirt. Next to him, leaning in to say something in his ear, is a woman in a pale pink silk dress, dark hair pinned up, a diamond bracelet catching the light.

The caption under the leaked image said it plainly: “Francesca Lo Cascio with Palermo’s European Mister.”

Francesca, 27, has long been a fixture in Palermo’s social pages. She floats between fashion events, gallery openings, and charity evenings, usually in the front row and always in the sharpest tailoring. Glossy magazines have dubbed her the “Princess of Palermo” – a mix of old money, new branding, and a surname that opens doors from Politeama to Paris.

Over the past month she has been seen:

• arriving with Huber at that Cefalù villa gala, the two stepping out of the same car, laughing with the ease of people who have been talking for weeks, not hours.
• sat with him on a cushioned sofa at a Mondello beach club, bare feet in the sand, her heels dangling from one hand as a DJ played the latest mixes for the sunset crowd.
• walking beside him along the marina near the Trinacria Suite, just after midnight, no security, no entourage – just two silhouettes in the sodium light, the sea black behind them.

“No one holds court like Francesca,” one long-time party regular told Sicilia Moda. “She’s charming, quick, and very aware of who’s watching. Seeing her with Huber, it feels… symbolic. Like Sicily’s new project is shaking hands with one of its old dynasties.”

Old dynasties, of course, come with history.

🕶️ The Lo Cascio Shadow

Because in Palermo, Lo Cascio is not just Francesca’s surname. It is her father’s.

Salvatore Lo Cascio is a prominent entrepreneur with interests in construction, hospitality, and logistics across the island. His family companies have played roles in port projects, hotel redevelopments, and real-estate ventures that quietly reshape parts of the city.

They have also, repeatedly, surfaced in Cosa Nostra investigations.

Salvatore himself has never been convicted of any offence. He has always denied wrongdoing and has been quick to remind reporters that “an inquiry is not a verdict.” In strictly legal terms, he is a successful businessman with a clean record.

But in Sicily, reputations are written in murmurs as much as in court documents. Newspaper archives still carry old photographs of police cars outside Lo Cascio-linked offices. Anti-mafia reports have mentioned companies in his orbit. The words “ambiente contaminato” – contaminated environment – appear enough times to make polite society lower its voice when his name is mentioned.

Now, his daughter is being photographed on the arm of the manager who has just dragged Palermo back onto the European stage.

“You don’t need convictions to understand what a surname means here,” one former magistrate told a local radio station this week. “Football is not a neutral space. When a symbol like Huber is seen with certain families, it sends signals.”

📺 From Curva Nord to High Society — Same Debate, New Setting

This is not the first time Huber has been accused of questionable company.

Last summer, it was dinners with figures from the Curva Nord ultras whose own histories included ticket scams and whispered connections to protection rackets. Huber’s response then became infamous: “When we celebrate together, I don’t check court records before I shake someone’s hand. These people live for the club.”

Now, some see the Lo Cascio storyline as the same film with a different cast: once more, the Mister standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people who exist in the grey areas of Palermo’s power map. “The optics are terrible,” wrote one columnist in La Repubblica Palermo. “Huber is no longer just a coach from Dinard. He is the architect of the Sicilian Project, the man leading Palermo into Europe. The company he keeps matters – especially in a city that has fought so hard to free football from old shadows.”

Others are more forgiving. A Curva Nord regular we spoke to outside the Barbera put it bluntly: “If he wins on Sunday, he can have dinner with the Pope or with Totò Riina’s ghost, I don’t care. We fought to get back to Europe. Let the man live.”

A young marketing executive, meanwhile, saw a different angle: “Francesca is not her father. She’s smart, she’s built her own profile, and she does real charity work. Maybe this is what a modern Palermo looks like – old names, new stories. The important thing is transparency, not pretending these worlds don’t mix.”

🏟️ Huber’s Silence

So far, the Mister himself has said almost nothing. Club sources insist Huber has spent more time at the training ground than anywhere else, already poring over scouting reports and pre-season conditioning plans ahead of the Austrian training camp. Those who work with him describe a man “more obsessed than ever,” desperate to prove that Palermo’s 7th-place finish was the start of something, not a beautiful fluke.

When asked directly about the Lo Cascio rumours at a brief media appearance for a youth tournament, he smiled thinly and offered only: “It’s summer. People talk. My focus is on Europe and on Palermo. The rest is private.”

Inside the club, there is awareness of the sensitivities. Palermo’s ownership has worked hard to present the Palermo Project as modern, clean, and outward-facing – youth development, community work, and relentless distance from the city’s darker past. For now, the official line is simple: “We do not comment on the private lives of staff.”

That may hold through July. Whether it survives the first bad result away in Europe is another matter.

👉 Next Up: Mapping Europe. Before the first away-day songs can ring out, Huber and his staff have work to do. A summer of decisions awaits. Contracts, transfers, tactics, as Palermo prepare for the biggest challenge yet: surviving Serie A and taking their pink shirts onto European nights.

🗺️ 41: Mapping Europe

🌏 Drawing Lines from Palermo to the Continent

The map changed.

When the final whistle blew in Pisa, Palermo thought they were heading for the Conference League: Thursdays in smaller stadiums, a gentle first taste of continental travel. Then Juventus went and won the Europa League, and other Italian clubs kept piling up coefficient points. Serie A slipped past La Liga, and the dominoes fell.

The knock-on effect is simple enough: Palermo are going into the Europa League, not the Conference.

With that, the whole summer tilted. Suddenly it wasn’t just about surviving another year of Serie A. It was about building a squad that can live with a more daunting Thursday–Sunday grind, the flights, the rotation, the pressure. So Huber did what he always does: he went all in.

🔄 Transfer Business: Stretching the Project

Qualification for the Europa League brought with it a sizeable transfer kitty – around €38m – and a clear message from above: make this season count. Palermo have therefore pushed themselves right to their financial limits, leaning heavily on instalments and add-ons that will restrict future flexibility. If this window is a gamble, it’s a calculated one. 

The hope from above is that Huber can keep up the momentum. The board feel like they have a special manager.

🧱 Arrivals — (€66.25m)

Chadi Riad (25, Morocco) — €25m from Crystal Palace
The headline deal. Palermo wanted a long-term solution on the left of their defence and were willing to pay for it. Riad arrives for a fee that could reach €25m, with €11.5m paid up front and the rest spread across instalments and achievable bonuses. Huber has been clear internally: Riad is not just a signing, he’s a pillar. Left-footed, aggressive, and comfortable building from the back. Huber's idea is simple: lock down that side of the defence for the next five to ten years.

Ferrán Quetglás (22, Mallorca, Spain) — €12m from Real Madrid
Sometimes a loanee makes the decision for you. After an impressive second half of the season, Quetglas had done enough that Huber didn’t just recommend, he insisted that the club activate the option to buy. For €12m, Palermo now have their goalkeeper for the European adventure and beyond. A young but calm presence behind a back line that is being rebuilt for the next level.

Honest Ahanor (19, Aversa, Campania) — €11.75m from Atalanta
Another loan that turned into something more permanent, and more expensive. Palermo ended up paying €1.25m above his release clause in order to structure the deal in friendlier instalments, spreading the hit over future seasons. It’s a risk Palermo were happy to run. Ahanor has just earned his first cap for Italy, and at left-back he offers a mix of physicality, intelligence and upside that fits perfectly with the club’s model: develop, improve, and see where the ceiling really is.

Aarón Anselmino (22, Argentina) — €10.5m from Chelsea
Listed by Chelsea and in danger of drifting, Anselmino has found a new home in pink. Palermo have agreed a deal worth €10.5m, but only €6m of that arrives up front, keeping cash free for other moves. On paper, he’s a promising young Argentinian centre-back. On Huber’s whiteboard, he’s something more specific: an inverted right-back, becoming another centre back in possession to help control games. There’s a small local twist too: Anselmino is a derivative of the old Sicilian surname Anselmo. The Curva has already noticed.

Cauan Baptistella (19, Benevento, Campania) — €7m from Cruzeiro
Another deal built on instalments and upside. Born in Benevento but raised in Brazil, Baptistella arrives from Cruzeiro for €7m, with only €3m paid up front and the rest spread over future seasons. An electric wide player with a taste for one-v-ones, he looks almost purpose-built for Huber’s idea of a winger: hug the touchline, receive under pressure, then drive inside at pace. Internally, the staff see him as someone who can rotate across both flanks as well as centrally, offering a different profile to Le Douaron and Yeremay. If the adaptation to Italy goes smoothly, this could be one of the versatile signings that defines Palermo’s first European campaign.

Fateh Adjaoud (17, Algeria and France) — €22k from Cavigal Football
At the other end of the scale sits the first true youth project of the summer. After months of scouting North African prospects in the 17–18 age bracket, Palermo pushed through a move for 17-year-old left-back Fateh Adjaoud for a mere €22,000 in compensation. Athletic but raw, he will likely train regularly with the first team, shadowing Ahanor and filling a backup role in case injuries stack up. The expectation is not minutes now, but a pathway.

Christian Comotto (19, Rome, Lazio) — Loan from Milan (fee €1.3m, option €35m)
They tried and failed to make his move permanent early in the summer, and as a result they almost pivoted fully, coming close to securing a loan deal for Roma’s Niccolò Pisilli instead. Then later on in the window, Milan quietly re-listed Comotto for loan. Huber pounced. Palermo will pay a €1.3m loan fee and cover almost all of Comotto’s €87k weekly wage, a major financial commitment for a player technically not theirs. But they have finally secured a €35m option to buy, giving themselves a transfer record-breaking option should he blossom again.

🚪 Departures — (€13.5m)

With new faces arriving, some familiar ones had to move on.

• Niccolò Pierozzi → Fulham, €7.25m
  Following in the footsteps of Kristoffer Lund, Pierozzi swaps Sicily for West London after a breakdown in contract talks. A significant fee, but also the loss of a useful, versatile full-back.
• Pietro Ceccaroni → Elche, €2.8m
  Last year’s leader at the back saw his minutes evaporate once Nikolaou emerged. With Riad’s arrival, the writing was on the wall. He leaves with respect intact and a promotion on his CV.
• Sebastiano Desplanches → Osasuna, €1.3m
  Once Quetglas was secured, Desplanches needed a fresh start. Spain will give him that, and Palermo recover a fee for a player who was never truly going to be number one.
• Davide Veroli → Al Ittihad, €1.2m
  A move to the Gulf for a defender who has consistently drifted around the edges of Huber’s plans.
• Emmanuel Gyasi → Venezia, €1m
  Perhaps the most celebrated “small” sale of the summer. After months of failed attempts to shift his wages, Palermo were delighted when Venezia offered €1m for the 33-year-old winger. Everyone shook hands fast.
• Francesco Di Bartolo → Rayo Vallecano, €57k
  A quiet exit, a modest fee, another piece of churn in a squad still finding its true long-term core.
• Salvatore Di Mitri → Free transfer
  A young Sicilian talent who grew frustrated with limited opportunities and refused a new deal. He leaves on a free, a reminder that not every local story has a fairy-tale arc.

🌱 From Primavera to Pink: Faedda’s Promotion

One name on the training pitch has stood out this summer: Leonardo Faedda.

A Sicilian forward who has mostly played as a striker at youth levels, Faedda has been promoted to the senior group with a twist. Huber sees him as more of a fourth or fifth option on the wing, a hard-working wide forward who can press, attack the far post and give late-game energy when legs are heavy from European travel.

He won’t define the season. But if Palermo want to manage workloads sensibly, these small promotions matter.

🧢 New Armband, New Hierarchy

With Pietro Ceccaroni gone, the leadership structure has shifted.

• Antonio Palumbo is now club captain, rewarded for his consistency and influence both on and off the pitch.
• Dimitris Nikolaou steps up as vice-captain, a natural progression after his breakout season as defensive anchor.

It is a subtle but symbolic change: the dressing room slowly becoming “Huber’s Palermo”, shaped by those who emerged during the climb rather than those who were there before it.

⛰️ Austria: Building for Two-Games-a-Week

The heart of pre-season has been spent in Austria, where the air is cool, the pitches are at higher altitudes, and Huber’s whiteboard has more arrows than ever. Mornings are for conditioning and repetition: pressing triggers, build-up patterns, the movements of the new full-back role for Anselmino, and the rotations that will allow Riad and Ahanor to step out without leaving gaps. Afternoons bring meetings and conversations about the calendar.

“How do we make this team play every three days without losing its identity?” Tobi Okori asked, half-joking, half-stressed, over coffee between sessions.

The answer has been drilled into everyone:

• micro-rotations rather than wholesale changes,
• strict load management for key players,
• a deeper core group of 16–18 who can all execute the same ideas.

Huber has been relentless in hammering home the new reality: “We don’t just need a starting XI for Serie A. We need a starting XI for Sunday, another for Thursday, and enough in reserve to survive when the injuries come.”

⚽ Pre-Season Results

The scorelines suggest a team learning quickly, and a certain Greek striker seemingly very keen on European football:

• Palermo 1–1 Rapid Wien – Stefanos Tzimas
• Palermo 4–1 US Monastir – Leonardo Faedda, Jérémy Le Douaron, Chadi Riad, Marco Turconi
• Palermo 3–1 Slavia Prague – Chadi Riad, Stefanos Tzimas, Yeremay
• Palermo 9–0 Al Hilal United –  Honest Ahanor, Alessio Buttaro x2, Samuel Giovane, Haissem Hassan, Jérémy Le Douaron, Antonio Palumbo, Jacopo Segre, Stefanos Tzimas
• Ferencvarosi TC 1–5 Palermo – Filippo Ranocchia, Marco Turconi, Stefanos Tzimas x2, Yeremay
• Grazer AK 1–4 Palermo – Marco Turconi, Stefanos Tzimas x2, Yeremay
• Admira/Wacker 2–4 Palermo – Giacomo Corona, Jérémy Le Douaron, Antonio Palumbo, Stefanos Tzimas
• Volos 2–4 Palermo – Honest Ahanor, Haissem Hassan, Antonio Palumbo, Stefanos Tzimas
• Alcorcón 0–6 Palermo – Antonio Palumbo, Chadi Riad, Stefanos Tzimas x3, Yeremay

Tzimas has treated the friendlies like competitive fixtures, scoring for fun. Riad has already chipped in with a number of goals from set pieces, while both Yeremay and Marco Turconi look sharp and confident.

The opponents and contexts vary, but the pattern is clear: Palermo are leaning more into their attacking identity this season rather than retreating into caution ahead of Europe.

🚢 What Does Success Look Like Now?

So where does all this leave the project?

Financially, Palermo have pushed harder than ever before, front-loading ambition and trusting that European revenue and future sales will balance the books. On the pitch, the squad is deeper, younger in key areas, and tactically more flexible, but also under greater strain, with Thursday nights now part of the weekly rhythm.

In private, Huber’s staff talk about three targets:

1. Stay in Serie A without drama.
2. Get out of the Europa League group stage.
3. Continue developing assets – Ahanor, Faedda, Riad, Turconi, Quetglás – who could define the next phase of Palermo’s rise.

It is ambitious. It is risky. It is the new Palermo.

👉 Next Up: The Draw. Soon, the names will come out of the bowls and the map will no longer be theoretical. Spain? Denmark? Serbia? Somewhere in between? Wherever the pins land, Palermo are readying themselves for something they’ve spent years without: nights under foreign floodlights, with pink shirts and Sicilian songs echoing far from home.

🍽️ 42: The Draw at Quattroventi

🍝 Ristorante Quattroventi, One Eye on Nyon

 There was no television at Ristorante Quattroventi. That was the point of the place: tiled floor, modern interior, and low relaxing music. On a normal night, Jacques Huber loved it. Tonight, it made him nervous.

“It’s better like this,” he said, as the waiter poured water. “We eat, we talk about training, and when it’s all over, we check the Europa League draw. No drama.”

On his right, Samir Halimi raised a glass of red. “To no drama,” he said. “And to whoever puts Betis in our draw.”

Huber smiled. “You and your Betis.”

On his left, Tobi Okori had already broken the restaurant’s no-screen atmosphere. His phone lay face-up beside the basket of bread, a UEFA stream quietly buffering in his browser. “Wi-Fi is drama,” Tobi replied. “We need to know in real time. Travel, rest days, flights… I’m not finding out from a push notification after dessert.”

The antipasti arrived: panelle, caponata, slices of smoked swordfish. Around them, couples talked, cutlery clinked, nobody gave a thought to the draw in Nyon. Everyone at their table did. 

 “Phase draw is starting,” Tobi said, glancing down shortly after they had finished their firat course. “Eight games. Names in bowls.”

Huber tried to ignore it, tearing a piece of bread, but his eyes kept drifting back to the glow of the screen. “Fine,” he sighed. “If we get Astana away, I’m walking out.”

“Relax,” Samir grinned. “The away trip would be fun. We would get to try some authentic Besbarmak.”

A buzz, then the first line appeared beside the pink crest.

PAOK – away.

“Greece,” Tobi announced. “That will be at the Toumba. It is very loud and hostile.”

Huber snorted. “So much for a gentle start.”

Another buzz. Rapid București – home.

“The Barbera’s first European night since 2011–12,” Samir said, mockingly placing his hand over his heart. “This one will feel like a confession. Everyone back in church.”

Then: Genk – home.

“Talent factory,” Huber nodded. “Shame Konstantinos Karetsas has made the move to Bayern already.”

The waiter set down plates of pasta. Nobody touched them. Tobi’s phone vibrated again. 

Real Betis – home.

Samir slapped the table, earning a look from the owner. “I told you,” he hissed. “Betis in pink Palermo. You can hear the guitar already.”

Huber couldn’t help smiling. “Big night,” he said. “They’ll come to play. So will we.”

The phone kept going as they started eating. Servette – away. St. Gallen – away. Basel – home.

“Three Swiss teams?” Huber stared. “All in the same phase?”

“Perfect,” Samir said. “Three chances to rewrite 2011–12.”

Tobi was already calculating the distances. “Geneva, eastern Switzerland, then Basel. We may as well get a rail card.” Another bottle of wine arrived with the final name. Tobi turned the screen so they could all see. AZ – away.

“Of course,” Jacques laughed. “Betis at home for the glamour, AZ away on the final game for the potential suffering.”

The three of them sat for a moment in the warm noise of the restaurant, the draw finished, most of their pasta still untouched. Eight games, eight trips, eight versions of what ‘Palermo in Europe’ might mean. 

“Okay,” Huber said finally, picking up his fork. “Now we start earning all those transfer instalments we spent.”

🗺️ Europa League Phase – Palermo’s 8 Games

1. PAOK (A) – Greece, a hostile first step back into Europe.
2. Rapid București (H) – first European home game at the Barbera since 2011–12.
3. Genk (H) – Belgian talent factory under the lights.
4. Real Betis (H) – the glamour tie; one of the toughest opponents in the phase.
5. Servette (A) – Geneva; tidy, disciplined Swiss football.
6. St. Gallen (A) – another Swiss trip, energy and running.
7. Basel (H) – the third Swiss opponent in a row, this time in Sicily.
8. AZ (A) – clever Dutch side; a serious final exam away from home.

👥 Staff Updates

There has been change off the pitch, as well as on the pitch, during pre-season:

• Alessio Scarchilli – joins the scouting department after leaving Roma, bringing top-flight and European experience to the recruitment team.
• Romain Decool – 36-year-old French recruitment specialist, with strong knowledge of the French and Belgian markets.
• Marco Rossi – Pescara-born physio, leaves his role as head physio at Pescara to join Palermo’s medical department for a small compensation fee.

👉 Next Up: Season 3 Begins. The numbered balls in Nyon have done their work, but Europe will have to wait. Before Toumba’s concrete roar and the Barbera under Europa League lights, Palermo have something more familiar and just as dangerous in front of them: three straight Serie A games to set the tone for the season. How Huber’s side handle that opening league run will say a lot about whether this squad is truly built for the Thursday–Sunday life… or if the continent might arrive too soon.

🇮🇹 43: Serie A Before Europe

🚦 Green Light Before the Anthem

The Europa League anthem is coming, but Serie A refused to move aside. Before Toumba’s noise and the Thursday–Sunday grind, Palermo had three domestic games to play. Three chances to find out whether all that summer spending had actually built a team capable of competing.

Matchday 1 —  Palermo 4–2 Como (H)

First day of the season, first pink and black rollercoaster. On 6 minutes, Álvaro Morata slid a pass in behind and Nico Paz calmly made it 0–1, the Barbera’s return to Serie A starting with a grimace. Two minutes later, it got worse: Honest Ahanor misjudged a nudge in the box, Paz went down, and Morata rolled in the penalty on 9’. 0–2 down inside ten minutes. Welcome back.

Palermo’s answer in the end was pure Huber-ball: short, quick passes through the lines and midfielders crashing the box. A slick move ended with Filippo Ranocchia cracking the post; Marco Turconi was quickest to the rebound, prodding home on 12’ to drag Palermo back into it. On 21’, the Barbera exhaled. A neat one-two between Yeremay and Christian Comotto freed the winger on the edge of the box, and Yeremay bent a right-footer into the far corner to make it 2–2. The turnaround was completed on 34’: a break from a Como corner, Aarón Anselmino clipping a gorgeous ball over the top, Stefanos Tzimas timing his run, one touch, finish, 3–2. 

The second half was about control and one more punch. On 68’, Jérémy Le Douaron found space in the area and slid home the fourth, giving Palermo breathing room at last. With Haissem Hassan suspended and the Baptistella deal not yet complete, 17-year-old Sicilian Leonardo Faedda made his senior debut late on, a boy from the Primavera thrown into a wild Serie A opener as the clock ticked down. From 0–2 to 4–2. A statement, and a warning: this team can score, but it can wobble too.

Matchday 2 — Genoa 0–2 Palermo (A)

At Marassi, Palermo controlled the tempo without ever fully dominating the ball, waiting for Genoa to overcommit. On 30 minutes, Marco Turconi stepped inside from the right and curled a vicious effort into the top corner from range. It was a goal that silenced the home end and had the away fans singing his name like a hymn. Just before the break, on 45’, Yeremay threaded a clever pass through the lines, and Tzimas did the rest, striding clear to roll in the second. The second half was professional. There was no chaos or drama, just 0–2, job done, and a clean sheet in a stadium where Palermo have seen all kinds of misery in the past.

Matchday 3 — Palermo 1–0 Torino (H)

If the Como game was an explosion and Genoa a clean incision, Torino at home was an arm wrestle. Palermo dominated the ball, boxed Torino into their own half, but couldn’t find the goals that would have let everyone breathe and make it comfortable. In the end, it didn’t matter, because Turconi decided to draw his own line under it. Midway through the first half, he picked up the ball wide, slalomed past one, two, three defenders and smashed his finish into the roof of the net. One of those goals where the stadium starts laughing before the ball hits the back of the net. Torino did not register a shot on target. Palermo, wasteful but relentless, took the narrow win and the perfect start.

📊 League Snapshot

Three games, three wins. Nine points, seven scored, two conceded. On the first international break, Palermo sit top of Serie A on goal difference, with Inter the only other side to have won every game.

For all the talk of Europe, it’s the domestic table that quietly sets the tone: this is not a team treating Serie A as a side quest.

🌟 Marco Turconi: Lo Zen’s Little Maradona?

No player has ridden the early-season wave quite like Marco Turconi.

Seventeen years old, from Lo Zen in Palermo, a neighbourhood more used to seeing police vans than talent scouts, Turconi plays like someone who grew up learning to keep the ball away from danger with one touch and a feint.

Two screamers in two games, plus a poacher’s finish against Como, have already given him a highlight reel most professionals would be proud of. There’s a touch of chaos in everything he does: he ignores instructions, appears where he shouldn’t, tries things no coach draws on a tactics board. Inside the club, the word maverick comes up a lot. So do the words off-field.

Nothing dramatic yet, a late arrival here, a questionable choice of friends there, but enough for staff to keep an eye on him, to remind him that Palermo have seen gifted kids flame out before. The comparisons to Maradona are still more joke than judgment, but you don’t need much imagination to see how a genius from Lo Zen could lose his way in a city like this.

For now, though, the story is simple: Turconi is 17, in pink, and playing like his boots don’t recognise fear. If Palermo are going to succeed in the season they’ve built for themselves, they might need every spark he can give.

👉 Next Up: Europe Begins. With nine points in the bank, Palermo finally turn their eyes to the continent. First stop: Thessaloniki, and a Europa League opener away to PAOK that will test whether this team’s noise can survive someone else’s cauldron.

🔥 44: Fire in Thessaloniki

☄️ Baptism at the Toumba — Europa League — PAOK 2–2 Palermo (A)

From the moment the bus turned the corner and the Toumba Stadium came into view, it felt like walking into a furnace. Orange flares lit the sky, smoke rolled across the stands, and the PAOK ultras bounced in time, a single mass of noise and hatred aimed squarely at the pink shirts stepping onto “their” pitch.

Thirteen years without Europe, and Palermo’s first step back was into this. Huber made one notable call: Cauan Baptistella came into the XI for his first start in place of Haissem Hassan, the Benevento-born winger thrown straight into a Balkan cauldron. If you want to see whether a player belongs at this level, you drop him in front of 25,000 shouting in a language he doesn’t understand.

⏱️ Early Punch – Turconi & Yeremay

On 4 minutes, the ball rolled to Marco Turconi in that half-space he’s starting to call home. He took one touch, glanced up, and hit a dipping, curling effort that seemed to hang in the air forever before crashing off the crossbar. For a second, the Toumba fell silent, the sound of metal ringing out over all that noise.

Six minutes later, it did go quiet.

On 10 minutes, Yeremay did what Yeremay does: driving in off the wing, riding one challenge, then another, before firing from a tight angle past the keeper at the near post. 0–1 Palermo, in their first European game since 2011–12, inside ten minutes in Thessaloniki.

For the rest of the half, Palermo played like a team that had learned something from last year. The tackles stayed hard but controlled, the defensive line was compact, Quetglás barely saw a serious shot. Baptistella tried a few dribbles, some came off, some didn’t, but he never hid in the atmosphere. At half-time, the smoke had cleared a little. The scoreboard hadn’t. PAOK 0–1 Palermo.

⚖️ Second Half – Toe-to-Toe

The second half was cagier, the chaos of the opening exchanges replaced by a nervous sort of control. Palermo’s passing dropped half a tempo, PAOK’s pressing lost a yard, and the game started to feel more open. Still, Huber’s side struggled to find clear chances on the break and PAOK struggled to pin them in. You could feel the home crowd getting restless, but on 76 minutes, it almost broke.

A simple ball in behind left Mehdi Taremi clean through on goal. For a heartbeat it felt like every old Palermo nightmare rolled into one: a single lapse, a striker in space, a stadium about to explode. Then Ferran Quetglás stood tall, waited, and threw out a strong right hand to block the finish. It was the kind of save that doesn’t make a highlight reel outside Sicily but lives in the muscle memory of a season.

However, the reprieve lasted two minutes. On 78’, Giannis Konstantelias finally found a path. A quick combination around the corner, a burst into the box, and from an angle almost as tight as Yeremay’s opener he bent the ball past Quetglás at the far post. The stadium erupted. Flares, flags, a wall of sound bouncing down the concrete. Palermo stood in the middle of it, 1–1, and had to decide whether to cling on or swing back.

🎯 Hassan, Hope… and a Late Punch

Huber chose to go for it. Fresh from the bench, Haissem Hassan gave Palermo new legs out wide, and on 84 minutes he combined with Stefanos Tzimas for what felt like the perfect European away goal. A quick one-two, Tzimas dropping off the front to bounce the ball back into space, Hassan bursting onto it and, without breaking stride, whipping a shot across the keeper into the top corner.

Silence from the home end, a knot of pink shirts dancing in the corner: 1–2 Palermo, six minutes from a dream start in Europe, with a kid from Lo Zen, a Spaniard from the Canary Islands, and an Egyptian-French winger writing the script.

But Europe rarely lets you walk away that easily. On 89 minutes, Konstantelias again found room between the lines and drove toward the box. This time he didn’t shoot. He cut the ball back to the edge, where Mady Camara arrived late and lashed a low drive through a crowd of bodies and beyond Quetglás’ reach. 2–2. The Toumba roared again. Palermo’s players stared at the turf, knowing exactly what they’d just let slip.

📉 Point Gained, Two Lost

On paper, it’s a good result: a 2–2 draw away at PAOK in the club’s first European match since 2011–12, with two goals scored, no collapse, and young players standing up in a hostile stadium.

• Yeremay scoring early.
• Turconi rattling the bar in the opening minutes.
• Baptiste­lla surviving his first start at this level.
• Hassan coming off the bench to score the sort of goal people remember.
• Quetglás with a huge one-on-one save.

From a distance, it looks like proof that Palermo belong here. Up close, however, in the away dressing room under the Toumba, it felt like something else: a missed chance. A lead twice taken, twice surrendered. Three points that would have given the whole phase a different shape, slipping away in the 89th minute under a shower of orange light and cigarette smoke.

Huber’s verdict, quietly, to his staff afterwards was simple: “If we want to do more than just visit Europe, we have to kill games like this.” The point goes on the board. The lesson goes in the notebook. And the map, with Bucharest, Genk, Betis, Geneva, St. Gallen, Basel and Alkmaar still to come, feels just a little more complicated.

👉 Next Up: Between Sundays and Thursdays The point in the season where everything starts to overlap. After the fire and flares of Thessaloniki, Palermo’s first European night back at the Barbera awaits against Rapid București, a chance to hear the anthem in pink, at home, for the first time since 2011–12. But Europe doesn’t arrive alone. Wedged around that tie are league games against Juventus, Inter and Bologna, the kind of run that will test not just Huber’s tactics but the depth of a squad already stretched by the calendar.

 🗓️ 45: Between Sundays and Thursdays

⏳ Living the Two-Game Week

This is the world Palermo have been chasing for over a decade: Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. No time to breathe, just meetings, flights, ice baths and recovery. The calendar has stopped being a list and started feeling like an endurance test. PAOK away was the warning. What followed was the first real stretch of life between Sundays and Thursdays, and it’s already stretching the squad to its limits.

🏟️Europa League Nights – Rapid & Genk

Europa League — Palermo 2–0 Rapid București (H)
The Barbera’s first European night since 2011–12 delivered what everyone needed: a win. On 19 minutes, Cauan Baptistella chose the perfect time for his first Palermo goal, taking a pass in the box, opening his body and sliding a tidy finish into the far corner. Huber’s side dominated the rest of the half and kept piling on chances after the break, but it wasn’t until the 78th minute that the nerves finally eased, Mariano Troilo rising highest from a corner to nod in the second. A clean sheet, three points, and a first proper Europa League home win in pink.

Europa League — Palermo 2–0 Genk (H)
With Stefanos Tzimas sidelined, Huber rolled Marco Turconi out as a false nine against a slick Genk side, and for most of a cagey first half it looked like the Belgians were coping. Turconi had the ball in the net on 13’ only for the flag to go up, but on 45+1 he timed his run perfectly, slipped in behind and finished coolly to make it 1–0 right on half-time. The game tilted decisively on 55’ when Noah Adedeji-Sternberg was sent off for a horrible two-footed lunge on Baptistella; from there Palermo took control, a lovely passing move on 67’ ending with Jacopo Segre tapping home the second. The only sour note came late on, when Filippo Ranocchia tore his groin and was ruled out for around 7–10 weeks. A brutal blow in the middle of a near-perfect European night.

Three games, seven points in the league phase so far, and the sense that Palermo genuinely belong on this stage. But Sundays haven’t gone anywhere.

⚽ Sundays Don’t Wait

Matchday 4 — Palermo 0–2 Juventus (H)
Reality check at the Barbera. Juventus took control early, with Nicolás González nodding in an Ez Abde cross on 12 minutes before Bremer volleyed home a loose ball from a free-kick on 29’, sending Palermo into half-time 0–2 down and looking shell-shocked. After the break Huber’s side huffed without ever really threatening, failing to create clear chances as Juve managed the game professionally and walked away with a comfortable win that briefly cut through the early-season optimism.

Matchday 5 — Inter 2–1 Palermo (A)
The grind was already starting to bite at San Siro, with a fatigued Tzimas rested and Giacomo Corona leading the line instead. A sloppy mix-up at the back on 30 minutes let Lucas Ocampos pounce for 1–0, but Haissem Hassan dragged Palermo level on 38’ with a sharp finish after a rare clean move forward. After the interval, new signing Cody Gakpo found space and tucked away a tidy effort on 60’ to restore the lead, and although Baptistella forced a fine save late on, Huber’s side couldn’t find an equaliser, slipping to a 2–1 defeat that felt like the bill for their early-season intensity.

Matchday 6 — Bologna 1–2 Palermo (A)
A badly needed response came in Bologna. Stefanos Tzimas set the tone by winning the ball high and finishing coolly on 20’, and just after the break Yeremay doubled the lead on 46’ with a crisp strike to cap another sharp counter. A loose miscontrol from Troilo on 74’ gifted Jonathan Rowe the chance to slip Giovanni Fabbian through to make it 1–2 and set up a nervy finish, but Palermo held on, grinding out three points that stopped the Juventus–Inter double blow turning into a full wobble.

Matchday 7 — Palermo 3–0 Fiorentina (H)
Even without Tzimas, the Fiorentina game was one of Palermo’s strongest performances of the season. A darting run from Turconi set the tone on 10 minutes as he weaved through the Viola back line and finished in off the post for 1–0, and things got even more outrageous on 24’ when Antonio Palumbo doubled the lead by converting a Yeremay rabona cut-back from the byline. Any hopes of a comeback were killed off on 55’, as Hassan added a third after another slick move, and from there Huber’s side cruised to a 3–0 win that looked every bit like a team starting to feel at home in the two-games-a-week world.

📊 League Table Snapshot

Seven games into Serie A, Palermo are very much in the thick of it. Huber’s side have 15 points from 7 matches (5 wins, 0 draws, 2 defeats), with 13 goals scored and 7 conceded. These results keep them firmly lodged in the European places and within sight of the top.

🏥 Updates from Camp

The biggest cloud over this run came away from the cameras. Stefanos Tzimas sprained his ankle ligaments in training, ruling him out for around two weeks and four matches in a period where Palermo are already pushing their luck with intensity and rotation. Genk and Fiorentina showed that Turconi can improvise as a false nine and that others can step up, but the absence of the main striker is a reminder of how thin the margins are.

Ranocchia’s groin tear against Genk is an even longer-term headache: 7–10 weeks without one of the key midfield controllers asks serious questions of depth, especially with the calendar only getting heavier.  Off the pitch, Samuel Giovane is also quietly unhappy about his limited minutes. Nothing dramatic yet, just a few frustrated conversations and a body language that’s a little stiffer than before. But he’s becoming one to watch as January approaches.

The positives are just as clear. Marco Turconi is growing game by game: goals from midfield, now goals as a false nine, and that mix of street football and fearlessness that makes him look more like a “project” than a prospect. Similarly, even in limited minutes, Cauan Baptistella keeps flashing why Huber pushed for him: a first Europa League goal, bravery on the ball in hostile stadiums, and the sense that once the rotations settle, he could become an important versatile attacker for this side.

🪟 Elsewhere in the Window

While Palermo were sweating over instalments and squad depth, the rest of Serie A wasn’t exactly shy come the end of the transfer window. Across the division there were 145 completed deals, around €449m spent and a net outlay of roughly €235m, proof that the league is still happy to gamble when the right name appears. The loudest splash came from Juventus, who dropped €82m on Ez Abde from Real Betis to give their attack another elite winger, while Roma pushed the boat out for Julio Enciso at €50m from Strasbourg.

Further down the peninsula, Lazio cashed in on Taty Castellanos to Al Ittihad (sold for €38m), Napoli quietly reshaped with Tom Bischof as their headline arrival, and Inter somehow added Kevin De Bruyne for just €9.5m as part of a nine-signing churn. In that context, Palermo’s own spending spree doesn’t look quite so wild; they’re no longer a provincial outlier, but one more ambitious club trying to keep pace in a league where everyone suddenly seems determined to bet big before the music stops.

👉 Next Up: Real Betis and the Next Stretch. Seven points from three Europa League games, a mixed bag in Serie A but still firmly in the top pack, and a squad already feeling the strain. Next on the horizon: a mid-week trip to Naples, a Spanish giant coming to town, and the relentless rhythm of a first season in Europe.

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🟢⚪ 46: Real Betis and the Next Stretch

🌊 Riding the Wave

If “Between Sundays and Thursdays” was about learning the rhythm, this next stretch of games has been about trying to embrace the new schedule. Napoli away, Betis at home, the league grind, the Geneva rain, the Coppa Italia, all these fixtures layered on top of a squad beginning to feel the miles in its legs.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, however, a 17-year-old from Lo Zen turned a Europa League night into his own personal mural.

Matchday 8 — Napoli 0–3 Palermo (A)

Derby delle Due Sicilie, another statement win. Palermo executed Huber’s counter-attacking plan to perfection at the Maradona, striking first on 26 minutes when Antonio Palumbo arrived on the edge of the box to fire home the opener after a rapid break. Three minutes later it was two, Yeremay cutting inside and smashing a rising shot into the roof of the net to silence the home crowd. 

Napoli pushed after the interval but left themselves open, and on 81’ Mariano Troilo was shoved over at a set piece, the referee pointing straight to the spot; Palumbo stepped up on 83’ and calmly sent the keeper the wrong way for his second of the night. A 3–0 win, a clean sheet, and maybe Palermo’s clearest demonstration yet of how dangerous they can be.

 Matchday 9 — Palermo 1–1 Sassuolo (H)

Palermo started like they meant to blow Sassuolo away, with Haissem Hassan bending a gorgeous effort into the top corner after just 2 minutes to put the Barbera on its feet. Huber’s side dominated the ball and territory for long stretches, but couldn’t turn control into a second goal, and were punished on 67’ when Cristian Shpendi broke free and slotted the equaliser. Despite late pressure and half-chances, Palermo couldn’t find a way back in front, and a game that had looked like a comfortable home win from the very start fizzled into a frustrating 1–1 draw.

💭 A Night to Remember 

Europa League — Palermo 5–3 Real Betis (H)

The Barbera had been waiting for this one from the moment the draw was made. A proper European name, green-and-white shirts, football meant to be played on the floor. Under the lights, with the Europa League anthem echoing around the old bowl, it felt like the kind of night Palermo haven’t had in a generation.

There was one more reason for noise: Stefanos Tzimas was back in the starting XI, ankle taped but leading the line, with Marco Turconi just behind him. If PAOK away had been a lesson and Genk a tricky test, Betis would turn into Turconi’s first real European masterpiece.

It took him five minutes. Picking the ball up in that right half-space, Turconi dipped inside onto his left, looked up once and ripped a shot from distance that swerved away from the keeper and into the corner. As the Barbera exploded, he wheeled away towards the corner flag and carved that now-familiar “Z” into the air with his fingers. Coming from a Sicilian kid born and developed in Palermo, it felt less like a celebration and more like a symbol of Huber’s progress.

The lead didn’t last long. Betis, being Betis, refused to panic. On 11 minutes, a neat move down Palermo’s right ended with Pablo Fornals arriving at the edge of the box to guide a low shot past Quetglás for 1–1. However, Palermo’s response was instant and vicious. Straight from kick-off, Turconi dropped deep, turned in one touch and threaded a pass between the Betis centre-backs for Cauan Baptistella. The Benevento-Brazilian took it in stride and slid a tidy finish past the keeper on 12 minutes. The away fans were still celebrating the equaliser when they realised Palermo were ahead again. 2-1.

From there the game became a kind of beautiful chaos that suited Huber’s side more than it did Betis. On 28 minutes, Christian Comotto rattled the crossbar with a thumping effort; as the ball dropped, Turconi reacted fastest, cushioning the rebound into the net for 3–1 and sending the bench wild. The fourth was then pure arrogance. On 43 minutes, Comotto combined with Yeremay down the right and clipped a clever ball into the box. Turconi ghosted between the centre-backs and finished first time to complete his hat-trick before half-time, the Barbera briefly turning into a street party at the sight of one of their own scoring a hattrick in Europe. Betis still had time to sting back, though, when on 44’ Pablo García darted in behind to pull one back, making it 4–2 at the break.

Early in the second half Palermo made it five. On 56 minutes a deflected shot looped awkwardly back to the edge of the box where, inevitably, it was Turconi that was waiting to place another strike into the corner for his fourth of the night. Still, Betis refused to die quietly. On 70 minutes, another sweeping move ended with García again arriving to finish from a cut-back and make it 5–3, a scoreline that felt more like basketball than Serie A’s usual grind. There were more half-chances at both ends, but no more goals. By the end, there were just tired legs, stunned faces, and a stadium that had watched its 17-year-old playmaker tear apart a seasoned European side.

When the whistle went, the numbers were absurd: four goals and one assist for Turconi in Palermo’s biggest European statement yet. A wild, flawed, but brilliant performance, and the night when the kid from Lo Zen stopped being a curiosity and started looking like the centrepiece of the whole project.

⏩ The Grind Continues

Matchday 10 — Parma 1–1 Palermo (A)

A tired Palermo turned up in Parma and played like it in the first half, struggling to string passes together before Mateo Pellegrino punished them on 36 minutes, his shot kissing the post on the way in. After the break Huber’s side finally woke up, and Haissem Hassan dragged them level on 54’ with a well-taken equaliser after sustained pressure. However, any hopes of a late winner vanished when Honest Ahanor picked up a second yellow for a clumsy trip on 86’, and in the end Palermo had to settle for a 1–1 draw that felt like a decent point on heavy legs but another reminder of how unforgiving the schedule is.

Matchday 11 — Palermo 6–3 Atalanta (H)

Chaos at the Barbera in the best possible way. Palermo flew out of the blocks as Hassan squeezed in the opener from a tight angle on 10 minutes, only for Gianluca Scamacca to turn in a cross almost immediately on 11’ to level it. Hassan drifted inside to curl home his second on 21’, but Atalanta hit back again just before the break, Lazar Samardžić volleying in an Oscar Bobb cross on 43’ to make it 2–2.

After half-time Palermo simply blew the opposition away: on 51’ a Yeremay cross was turned in by Tzimas, Jérémy Le Douaron then fired across the keeper for 4–2 on 65’, and Comotto made it five three minutes later. Hassan then completed his hat-trick with a looping effort on 73’, and although Venturino pulled one back in stoppage time, Atalanta walked away from a 6–3 thriller having been torn apart by a Palermo side that looked terrifying every time they went forward.

The next day, Dejan Stanković was sacked. Sometimes a result doesn’t just move a table; it moves people out of jobs.

Europa League — Servette 0–1 Palermo (A)

In Geneva, Palermo produced a dominant but strangely quiet first half, controlling the ball and territory without ever really hurting Servette. The breakthrough finally came on 61 minutes, when Baptistella whipped in a teasing cross from the left and Tzimas darted between the centre-backs to tap it home. From there Huber’s side managed the game calmly, seeing out a professional 1–0 win that felt less like a spectacle and more like a grown-up European away performance. It was exactly the kind of result that matters in a league-phase marathon, and the type Huber has been trying to coach after the recent chaotic results.

Coppa Italia — Palermo 3–1 Atalanta (H)

Still managerless and wounded, Atalanta came back to the Barbera for the cup and managed to make Palermo work for it. The visitors struck first on 40 minutes when El Bilal Touré broke free to slide in the opener, and the stadium grumbled its way into half-time. Whatever Huber said in the dressing room worked: just 46 seconds after the restart Tzimas levelled with a calm, placed finish, and on 65’ Comotto latched onto a loose ball in the area to smash home the second. As Atalanta opened up in search of an equaliser, Tzimas killed the tie on 80 minutes with Palermo’s third, sealing a 3–1 win and safe passage in the cup on a night that started flat but ended with another home crowd singing.

📰 Elsewhere in the World

Outside Sicily, the football universe keeps turning. Kylian Mbappé finally lifted the Ballon d’Or, having finished second the year before to Mohamed Salah. A reminder of the levels at the very top of the game, compared to Palermo’s more handcrafted project.

The chaos isn’t confined to players: alongside Stanković’s exit at Atalanta, Cesc Fàbregas was also sacked by Como, leaving another hole on the Serie A bench. Palermo, for once, are not the unstable club in the story of Italian football.

Huber, for his part, had the chance to join the carousel. Both Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen offered interviews; both were politely declined. The message, internally and externally, is the same: he’s happy where he is. The Sicilian Project is not a stepping stone, at least not yet anyway.

👉 Next Up: Lo Zen, Letter Z. After Betis and a good stretch in Serie A, it would be easy to talk only about tactics, tables, and coefficients. But the story of this stretch belongs as much to a postcode as to a scoreboard. The kid who put four past Real Betis isn’t just a line on a heatmap. He’s Marco from Lo Zen, the boy whose celebration came from a wall full of chalked Zs and who is hopefully about to sign a new contract…

💤 47: Lo Zen and the Letter Z

🏚️ The Neighbourhood Behind the Celebration

On the TV, he’s tiny. Marco Turconi is halfway through carving the “Z” in the air when the image freezes, the stream buffering on a cracked flatscreen nailed above a fridge that hums like a generator. For a second the whole bar holds its breath: the ball is in the net, the Barbera is mid-eruption, and here, in Lo Zen, the picture has stopped.

“Ma che cazzo…” Someone bangs the side of the TV. Another person curses the internet provider. A kid in a faded Palermo shirt, the old sponsor peeling off, keeps his arms raised as if the goal is still happening, statue-still among the cigarette smoke. Then the signal snaps back and the replay starts. Turconi, running to the corner flag. Turconi, drawing the “Z”. Turconi, grinning like he’s done this a thousand times before.

The bar explodes. This is Siris Bar, which has never been anywhere near a stadium. It sits on a corner in Lo Zen, shutters tagged, red plastic tables outside, a cigarette machine in the back that never seems to be working. On the night of Betis, it is full to the door and overspilling in the street: uncles, cousins, neighbours, kids in counterfeit shirts and kids in no shirts at all.

To most of Palermo, Turconi is becoming “Turconi”, the wonderkid and the project. Here, he’s still mostly just Marco.  “Look at him,” says an older man in a worn Palermo cap, slapping the table as the replays loop. “Whose kid is that? From where? From here. Don’t forget it.”

He doesn’t mean the bar. He means the estate outside: concrete blocks, washing lines, streets strewn with litter and burnt-out cars, the sort of place people in nicer parts of the city talk about with a lowered voice.

At half-time, the bar empties into the street. A ball appears from nowhere. Someone drags two red plastic chairs from the bar into a rough goal. Within seconds there are ten kids playing 5v5 under the orange streetlights, ignoring shouted instructions from every adult present. Every time someone scores, they run towards the wall and draw a Z with a grubby finger on the bricks. By the break’s end, the wall is full of them, crooked, overlapping, a little army of signatures.

One boy, maybe eight years old, wearing shorts and flip-flops, stops to catch his breath. “When I score on Sunday, I’ll do it too,” he says, to no one in particular. “The Z. Like Marco.”

“First you learn to pass,” his father replies. “Then you can sign things.” But he’s smiling when he says it.

🌃 After Betis

Two nights after Betis, Marco went back to Lo Zen. No cameras, no official visit. Just a late evening, a loose hoodie, a hat pulled low, and a quiet agreement with Huber that when you go, you go early and you sleep at home afterwards. 

The kids from the estate mob him as soon as he appears, tugging at his sleeves, shoving phones in his face for photos. One of them pulls up his T-shirt to show a drawn-on Z across his chest, thick black marker.

“Stays until we win the Europa League,” he declares.

Marco laughs, ruffles the boy’s hair, poses for the picture and a few more after. For a moment he looks exactly like what he is: a local kid who got out by being better at football than everyone around him. Then a car slows at the end of the street, windows down, music loud, and his gaze flicks over with the kind of muscle-memory caution that doesn’t go away just because you’ve scored four against Real Betis.

“Come on,” he says, turning back to the kids. “Ten minutes. First to three. I’m on the losing team.”

🌗 Huber’s Balance

The next morning, at the training ground, Huber watches Turconi jog out with the rest of the squad. He looks for heavy legs, red eyes, any sign that last night got away from them. There’s nothing obvious, just a teenager bouncing a ball off both feet, still talking about one of his goals like it happened yesterday.

“Did you go home?” Huber asks him quietly, as they walk towards the rondo.

“Midnight,” Turconi answers. “My mother texted you, no?”

“She did,” Huber says. “She said you left the dishes.” 

Marco laughs, dives into the circle, nutmegs Palumbo and sprints away.

For now, the balance holds: Lo Zen and the Barbera, the bar and the Europa League, the Z on the wall and the Z on the contract. How long that balance lasts is a question for another day, or when the first transfer offer lands on Huber’s desk. Today, there’s training. Tomorrow, there’s St. Gallen. All we do know for now is that a neighbourhood in Palermo has a new saint, and he signs his name with a crooked letter in the air.

🕶️ Agents, Friends, and Baggage

Later in the week, in the smoother air of the Trinacria Suite, Huber admits in private at a dinner party the thing everyone around the club is thinking.

“We’re proud he’s from there,” he says. “It matters for the city. But Lo Zen is… Lo Zen. You don’t just get the talent. You get everything that comes with it.”

Behind the goals and the celebrations, there have been difficult moments. A late arrival to recovery sessions here, a training on Monday that felt like it still has Sunday night in its veins, photos of Marco out with older “friends” who dress more like mafioso than classmates. Nothing heavy enough to throw the book at him. Just enough to make staff look at each other after meetings and say: we should keep an eye on this.

“He’s 17,” chimes in Samir. “If I had that much talent at that age, I’d have been much more unbearable. Our job is to make sure he wakes up in ten years with medals, not stories.”

✍️ A Contract and a Clause

The club did what clubs do when one of their own explodes on the European stage: they gave him a contract that says he’s ours.

Three years, €15k a week, an option for two more, and an eyewatering €250m release clause. The number isn’t meant to be real. It’s meant to tell the world, and the player, that if you want a different story, you’ll have to pay what Marco’s worth to us, not just take advantage of a club only recently back in the spotlight.

When the deal was announced, social media filled with graphics: Turconi holding the pen, Turconi with the president, Turconi’s stats against Betis in neon fonts. In Lo Zen, the reaction was simpler. “They gave him the money,” says the barman at Siris Bar, stacking glasses between games. “Now we see if he remembers who bought him his first panino.”

👉 Next Up: Bruised, Busy, and Broken. After the highs of Atalanta, Betis, and the first taste of real European nights, reality bites hard. The coming winter is challenging to say the least: Turconi’s knee goes, Quetglás breaks his arm, AFCON takes Riad and Hassan, Yeremay breaks down in the gym, and a shaky backup goalkeeper is thrown into a relentless schedule. 

🤕 48: Bruised, Busy, and Broken

🥵 Winter, and the Wall

Every season has a point where the schedule stops being romantic and starts being cruel. For Palermo, it arrived all at once: injuries, AFCON call-ups, a stand-in keeper out of his depth, and three games in one hellish week that turned a promising campaign into a struggle.

This one isn’t about glory. It’s about what it looks like when the project hits the wall.

📉 Starting to Wobble

Matchday 12 — Palermo 4–1 Udinese (H)

It actually started well. Udinese took the lead through Iker Bravo on 17’, but Palermo hit back instantly through Stefanos Tzimas, before Haissem Hassan took over: a gorgeous curler on 45+1, then another wicked cross on 48’ turned into his own net by Oumar Solet, and Mariano Troilo’s 61’ header from a corner made it 4–1. Big win, big noise, everything fine. Except it wasn’t.

In the aftermath of the game, scans confirmed Marco Turconi had sprained knee ligaments. Out for 4–7 weeks. The kid who’d ripped Betis to pieces was suddenly gone until the new year.

Europa League — St. Gallen 1–1 Palermo (A)

In Switzerland, Palermo dominated the first half in terms of territory and possession but couldn’t turn it into anything dangerous, with neither side managing a shot on target before the break. The punishment came on 51 minutes when Jordan Lotomba burst in behind the defence and coolly slotted past Ferran Quetglás to put St. Gallen ahead. Palermo pushed harder after falling behind: Jacopo Segre went close on 71’, and three minutes later Antonio Palumbo finally dragged them level, arriving on the edge of the box to guide a well-placed half-volley into the corner.

A solid away point on paper, but the real damage came later. Quetglás finished the match with a fractured arm, ruled out for 7–8 weeks. Enter, Naples-born, Michele Avella. Over the next six games in all competitions, Avella would concede 16 goals, average a 6.25 rating, and make everyone at the club realise that a good backup goalkeeper is not just a box to tick, it’s a necessity.

Matchday 13 — Lecce 4–1 Palermo (A)

First sign of the storm. Lecce, 17th at kick-off, tore Palermo apart. Alexandr Sobolev scored on 10’, nodded in a second on 45’, and completed his hat-trick on 83’ on the break after Palermo threw bodies forward. Abdoul Ouattara made it 4–0 before Giacomo Corona’s late chip added the thinnest of consolations.

The morning after brought more bad news. In the weights room, Yeremay felt something tear; scans showed a hernia, out 3–4 weeks.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the AFCON call-up letters also landed:

• Chadi Riad off with Morocco
• Haissem Hassan with Egypt

Both gone just as the defence was wobbling and the attack relied more and more on Hassan’s pace down the right-hand side.

🗓️ A Week from Hell: Lazio, Roma, and Cremonese

Three games in seven days: Lazio (Mon) – Roma (Thu) – Cremonese (Sun), all with a patched XI and a nervous backup keeper.

Matchday 14 — Palermo 3–1 Lazio (H)

The response and the first game of three in 7 days, bizarrely, was brilliant. No Riad, no Hassan, no Turconi, no Quetglás, no Yeremay, but somehow Palermo found a performance. Mattia Zaccagni put Lazio ahead on 27’, but after the break Tzimas took over: equaliser on 55’, second on 56’, the turnaround complete in two minutes. As Lazio chased, Cauan Baptistella headed in a Leonardo Faedda cross on 82’ to make it 3–1. A Monday night statement win but one that led straight into more trouble.

Matchday 15 — Roma 4–1 Palermo (A)
On 34 minutes Filippo Ranocchia shoved Evan Ferguson at a corner, and Roma’s striker buried the penalty. Julio Enciso then doubled it on 48’, Tzimas briefly revived hope on 53’, but Gianluca Mancini’s 71’ header and a stoppage-time strike from Wesley turned it into a cruel 4–1 beating. Avella never looked settled in goal and Roma smelled it.

Matchday 16 — Cremonese 5–2 Palermo (A)
Then came Cremona. Tzimas opened the scoring on 14’ but the rest was a horror montage. Aaron Molinas equalised instantly, Adama Traoré scored either side of the break (43’, 45+1) to make it 3–1, Sanabria hammered in a fourth on 55’, and Traoré completed his hat-trick on 74’. Corona’s 85’ header made it 5–2 on the night, but the damage to confidence was done. This was undoubtedly one of the worst performances of the Huber era, and a low point in what had promised to be an exceptional season.

🛏️ No Rest for the Wicked

Matchday 17 — Palermo 1–1 Verona (H)
Palermo spent most of the first half camped in Verona’s half, carving out chances without finding the finish until Cauan Baptistella finally broke through on 42’, curling a lovely left-footed effort into the far corner. After the break, though, Huber’s side visibly tired and the control slipped away, Verona growing into the game and threatening more regularly on the break. The punishment came late: on 88’ William Bøving was slipped through and coolly slotted past Avella to make it 1–1. A draw that felt like two points dropped, and another reminder of how heavy the Thursday–Sunday rhythm was on Palermo’s legs.

Matchday 18 — Spezia 1–1 Palermo (A)
Despite his terrible form, Michele Avella kept his place and spent most of the first half under siege as Spezia dominated, finally breaking through on 28 minutes when Valerio Crespi nodded in the opener. After the interval Palermo improved, pushing higher and coming close when Jacopo Segre rattled the crossbar, but it looked like another limp defeat was on the way until 86’, when Christian Comotto rose at the far post to head in an equaliser from a floated free-kick. It finished 1–1: not pretty, but given the circumstances and first-half performance, an away point Palermo were in no position to sneer at.

In the training following the game, Christian Comotto strained his abdominal muscles ruling him out for 2-3 weeks.

Across those six matches without Quetglás, Avella’s tally read: Lecce 4, Lazio 1, Roma 4, Cremonese 5, Verona 1, Spezia 1. Sixteen shipped and not one clean sheet. Suddenly, the January transfer window couldn’t come fast enough.

 📷 League Table Snapshot

Despite a terrible run of form, Palermo find themselves still 5th at nearly the midway point. Although on paper, it is still a good position, if the form fails to turn around they will very quickly drop, with only 3 points separating them and 9th place. 

🧒 Youth Intake: A Little Light

Amid the bruises, one email in the inbox actually lifted the mood: the youth intake preview. Early reports describe it as an excellent crop, headlined by a very promising goalkeeper. Given what the last month has looked like between the posts, the idea of a homegrown long-term solution has everyone in the academy complex walking a bit quicker. Nobody’s names are being shouted from rooftops yet, but for the first time in weeks, the future didn’t look entirely like a medical report.

💰 January Storm Clouds: Tzimas & the Market

Of course, when one problem eases, another appears. With the January window approaching, the list of clubs sniffing around Stefanos Tzimas has grown stupidly long: Milan, Juventus, Arsenal, Leipzig, Leverkusen and others all asking polite questions.

Internally, the line is firm: Huber doesn’t want to lose his talisman. Externally, everyone knows Palermo have been stretching their finances with ambitious instalments and clauses. If a monster bid arrives in January, the project will face its first real test of faith.

In quiet moments, the staff talk about two things:

1. How many goals does Tzimas bring you between now and May?
2. How many problems could one big sale solve?

No answers yet. Just nervous glances whenever an agent’s number flashes up.

🧤 Goalkeepers, Clauses and Planning

If this run has proved anything, it’s that Palermo cannot go into the business end of the season with Avella as the only alternative to Quetglás. The numbers are brutal but honest. To create a bit of room in the budget, the club therefore quietly negotiated a buy-out of the sell-on clause in Niccolò Pierozzi’s move to Fulham, banking €1.2m up front. It’s not a fortune, but it’s enough to tip a goalkeeper deal from fantasy into plausible. Somewhere out there, a second-choice stopper is about to get a call he doesn’t see coming.

🌍 Manager of the Year and Perspective

On the continent, Patrick Vieira won French Manager of the Year with Strasbourg. Jacques Huber finished runner-up. It was a nice reminder that, beyond this grim winter patch, people are still paying attention to what Palermo are doing.

👉 Next Up: Knocks on the Door. As the injuries pile up and the table tightens, the story moves from the pitch to the corridor outside Huber’s office. With recent developments it is about to be a tense January: Arsenal and Brentford bid for Tzimas and force a long conversation in the manager’s room, Atlético and Stuttgart are sniffing around Troilo and Yeremay, a 6'5" keeper arrives on loan to stop the bleeding, and crucially, Palermo draw a hard €83m line in the sand to keep their project together, at least for now…

✊ 49: January — Knocks on the Door

🧊 Winter at the Palermo City Football Academy

The January window at Palermo is not a carousel of arrivals and departures. It’s a nervous period for a young team on the rise. Phones ring behind closed doors, agents pace, and players walk past trying not to look at the offices for too long.

For most of the month, Huber’s door at the end of the staff corridor stayed shut. Then, one afternoon, it opened and Stefanos Tzimas stepped through.

🚪The Knock

Huber was half-way through rewatching the Spezia first half disaster when he heard the knock.

“Entra.”

Tzimas slipped inside, hands in his hoodie pockets, that mixture of shyness and inevitability you see on every striker about to talk about money or a move. “I heard,” he said. No small talk. “About Arsenal.”

The bids had come in that morning. One from Arsenal, one from Brentford. Both at the same time, both similarly structured, both just under €40m up front with the rest in instalments. Both were rejected out of hand by the Palermo hierarchy.

Huber nodded. “You also heard they were not enough.”

Tzimas shifted his weight. “Mister… they just won back-to-back Premier Leagues. Last season, they did the domestic treble. They play Champions League every year. I have to at least listen.”

There was no anger in his voice. Just the sensible ambition of a 20-year-old who has scored goals for fun since joining Palermo. Huber leaned back. He’d known this conversation was coming the moment the email with the Arsenal header had hit his inbox. 

“I understand,” he said. “If I were your agent, I’d be pushing you through the door already.” That got a small smile. “But I’m your coach,” he went on, “and this club is not finished yet. We’re in Europe. We’re fighting in the league. We’ve just shown we can beat teams like Betis. Palermo is going up, not down. You know this.”

Tzimas looked at the floor, then back up. “And if Arsenal come in again?” 

Huber didn’t dodge it. “The club has a valuation,” he said. “€83 million. Up front or in very achievable add-ons. If someone pays that, I will shake your hand, thank you for everything you have done here, and tell you to go and score at the Emirates. Until then, you are our No.9.”

There was a long pause.

“So if they meet it,” Tzimas said slowly, “you won’t block it?”

“No,” Huber replied, more softly now. “But I won’t sell you cheap so someone else can put a ribbon on all of our hard work together.”

Tzimas nodded. “Okay. Then… I stay. For now.”

They shook hands. By the time he left the office, the rumours were already leaking out into the corridor and the media.

📉The Bids that Blinked

After that meeting, the market did what markets do and for once, the market was kind to the smaller club.

• First, Brentford came back first with a slightly improved offer. More add-ons and lucrative clauses, but still well short of the €83m line. Palermo rejected it out of hand. There is no scenario where you sell your main striker to a West London mid-table club for a compromised fee.
• More importantly, however, Arsenal, for all their charm, never pushed again. There was great interest and there were calls between agents… but there was also a new headline. Pivoting from Tzimas, Arteta and Arsenal agreed an €81m deal for Nick Woltemade from Newcastle instead. Fortunately for Huber and Palermo’s season, Tzimas stayed where he was and the train left the station without him.

In the dressing room, someone showed him the news on their phone. “You could be wearing that red shirt,” Dimitrios Nikolaou joked.

He shrugged. “There’s pink on it already,” he said, pointing at his own. No one is entirely sure if he was joking.

🧱 Other Doors, Other Answers

The rest of the squad had their own brushes with the market.

• Atlético Madrid tested the water with an €8.25m bid for Mariano Troilo. Troilo, ever the diplomat, told the club he was “neutral”. He was happy to stay, but also happy to go if it helped Palermo. In the end, the answer was simple: the offer wasn’t close and it was rejected. Troilo stays, slightly flattered and slightly relieved.
• Stuttgart also dropped €18.75m on the table for Yeremay. It went nowhere. The player himself had no interest in swapping Sicilian sun and European nights for Swabian drizzle and a relegation fight. “Tell them grazie,” he reportedly said, “but no.”

By deadline day, the summary was clear. There were many tempting phone calls, but no formal exits. Palermo had kept all of their key players. Whether that holds through the summer is a very different question.

🧤 Nunziante: The Giant on Loan

Despite no exits, there was still one winter arrival.

With Avella’s numbers making everyone nervous and Quetglás still recovering, Palermo turned to Alessandro Nunziante, a 6'5" goalkeeper born in Foggia in Puglia and on Udinese’s books. Initially, Huber had pushed for a permanent deal, but Udinese wanted €4–5m up front, which was too much for a club that had pushed itself to its financial limits in the summer.

The compromise ended up as a loan for the rest of the season. Palermo pays all of his €5.5k weekly wages and a €17.5k monthly loan fee. If it works, they may revisit a transfer in the summer. If it doesn’t, at least they’re not tied to a long-term contract.

Nunziante arrived, shook hands with everyone, and immediately found himself behind a defence that had not that long ago conceded five in Cremona. Welcome to Sicily. 

📈 Holding the Line (For Now)

When the window finally closed, there was no big goodbye, no club-record sale, no drama at Falcone–Borsellino airport.

• Tzimas is still here, having looked Huber in the eye and accepted the €83m line.
• Turconi is still here, contract signed, release clause set at “don’t even bother calling.”
• Yeremay, Troilo, Ranocchia, Riad, Hassan – all still here, but also all slightly more aware that their names are on lists in other sporting directors’ offices.

January at Palermo didn’t change the squad, but it made the club aware that the rest of the market was finally paying attention to the Rosanero. Everyone now knows what their numbers could look like. Everyone now knows there is a version of the future where Tzimas scores in North London instead of under Monte Pellegrino.

For at least six more months, though, the project remains intact. The pink shirts still have their star striker, their Lo Zen playmaker, and their electrifying wingers. The staff corridor is quiet again but no doubt this summer it will be louder.

👉 Next Up: Star Boy, Reset Button. With the corridor quiet and Tzimas still in pink, attention flips back to the pitch. As the season teeters on a knife-edge, Huber eventually gambles on a half-fit Turconi. Will the Lo Zen playmaker drag Palermo out of their first real crisis?

🌟 50: Star Boy, Reset Button

😵 From Crisis to a Pulse

For a while, it has felt like the season was sliding out of Huber’s hands. Six games without a win, soft goals, and a new keeper thrown in mid-crisis, and it seemed to continue in the same fashion until Inter arrived at the Barbera and everything went technicolour again.

This stretch is the story of how Palermo hit what looked like the bottom, then bounced. Not all the way back, but far enough to remember who they are.

📉 The Struggles Continue

Matchday 19 — Palermo 2–4 Milan (H)

A big night at the Barbera brought a new loanee in goal, Alessandro Nunziante, and the return of Yeremay, along with a switch back to a more counter-attacking plan. For 12 minutes it looked perfect, Yeremay driving down the flank and crossing for Cauan Baptistella to tap in at the back post. Milan hit back quickly, though: Adrien Rabiot levelled on 16’, then a slick move on 21’ saw Christian Pulisic slide home a Francesco Camarda through ball for 1–2. Pulisic grabbed his second on 40’ to put Palermo in a hole at the break, and Alexis Saelemaekers made it 4–1 on 50’ with a spectacular long-range effort. Baptistella pulled another one back on 64’ after more good wide play, but the game was long gone by then. A 4–2 defeat that showcased Milan’s ruthlessness and gave Nunziante a brutal introduction to life in pink.

Matchday 20 — Torino 2–1 Palermo (A)

The wheels continued to wobble in Turin. Palermo’s horror start saw Nikola Vlašić curl a lovely strike in from outside the box after just 2 minutes, and 36-year-old Duván Zapata made it 2–0 on 18’ with a classic poacher’s finish. Things got worse on 45+3 when captain Antonio Palumbo lunged in with a reckless two-footed tackle and was shown a straight red, leaving Huber raging on the touchline. Ten-man Palermo did at least find a sliver of pride on 60’, when two young Sicilians combined, Leonardo Faedda slipping in Giacomo Corona to pull one back. However, a second goal never came as Torino calmly saw out the game. 

Another grim result, and confirmation that Huber is now firmly in the middle of his first real crisis in Palermo.

🔥 Redemption at Last?

Matchday 21 — Palermo 5–3 Inter (H)

Huber rolled the dice and, for once in this grim run, every gamble came off. With Palumbo suspended and half the squad exhausted, Marco Turconi was rushed back into the XI ahead of schedule, with Giacomo Corona and Leonardo Faedda also rewarded for their desire in Turin and a fatigued Tzimas dropped to the bench. Even far from full fitness, Turconi lit the fuse on 7 minutes, curling an exquisite effort in from the edge of the box, only for Lucas Torreira’s deflected strike on 10’ and a Kevin De Bruyne finish on 36’ to flip the score. 

Straight from kick-off, though, Filippo Ranocchia thundered in a leveller on 37’, and on 66’, Palermo broke from nowhere, Tzimas (on by then) driving at the defence and seeing his shot rebound perfectly for Turconi to stab home his second. The star boy sprinted straight to the away end to shush the Inter fans before Huber immediately hooked him. It was part load management and part discipline, most likely.

Instead of sagging, Palermo surged. Brimming with confidence, Yeremay rifled in a fourth on 71’, Jérémy Le Douaron added a fifth on 84’, and although Lautaro Martínez grabbed a consolation on 87’, the damage was done. A wild 5–3 win, the winless run snapped, and Turconi’s slightly premature return transformed from a medical risk into hopefully the emotional turning point of Palermo’s season.

🎙️ Post-Match – Huber on Turconi, the Kids, and Killing the Run

Simona Damone (La Gazzetta dello Sport): Jacques, let’s start with Turconi. Two goals, man of the match, first start back from injury… how risky was it to throw him in like that?
Huber: Risky enough that our medical team are probably still angry with me. We had a long conversation this morning. But sometimes football is not a lab. We were missing Palumbo, we were tired, we needed personality. Marco gives you personality in capital letters. We managed his minutes and we got him off when we could. Now we hope we don’t pay for it.

Simona Damone (La Gazzetta dello Sport): And the celebration? He scores against Inter, runs straight to their fans and shushes them. Did you like that?
Huber: As a supporter, you love it. As a coach, you reach for the paracetamol. He’s 17, full of emotion and adrenaline, and sometimes it all spills over. We’ll talk about it inside, about respect and about not giving opponents extra motivation. But I’d rather calm down a kid with too much fire than try to light a candle every week.

Jacopo Vezzosi (Sky Sport Italia): Was that why you substituted him a minute later? Was it punishment?
Huber: No, his load was always planned. Maybe I took the decision five seconds faster after the goal, let’s say. But the idea was always 60–70 minutes. He’s just back from injury. We need him for more than one night.

Alessandro Redaelli (La Repubblica Palermo): Three young Sicilians started: Turconi, Corona, Faedda. Was that a deliberate statement or just necessity?
Huber: Both. The schedule and suspensions forced our hand a bit, yes. But if you don’t trust your own kids in moments like this, you may as well close the academy. They earned it. With their attitude in training and with what they did even in the bad games against Lecce and Cremona. Tonight, they gave us energy the older players maybe didn’t have in their legs anymore. For a club like Palermo, that’s the whole point. We must always see the city on the pitch.

Chiara Fracaros (Corriere dello Sport): You’ve spoken a lot recently about the team being in its first real crisis. Does tonight end that?
Huber: One win doesn’t make a crisis disappear, but it does change the air a little bit. Six games without a win is a heavy burden, especially with the goals we were conceding. Tonight, we scored five against one of the strongest squads in the league and looked like ourselves again. It’s a step towards the edge of the hole, but we are not out of it yet.

🔎 Finding Form

Europa League — Palermo 3–1 Basel (H)

With the fixture list squeezed to breaking point, Huber finally swung the rotation hammer, fielding a heavily changed XI but boosted by the returns of Chadi Riad and Haissem Hassan from AFCON duty. The backups wasted no time: Jérémy Le Douaron finished smartly on 7 minutes to open the scoring, and Antonio Palumbo doubled the lead on 15’ with a low strike after a neat move through midfield. In the second half, two homegrown faces combined for the third, Giacomo Corona nodding in on 60’ to effectively kill the contest. Benie Traoré pulled one back for Basel on 76’, but Palermo saw it out comfortably for a 3–1 win. An important result for the Europa League phase and, just as crucially, a rare night where several key starters got to rest their legs.

Matchday 22 — Palermo 0–0 Genoa (H)

For the first time in weeks, Huber had something close to a proper squad available with only Ranocchia and Quetglás still out, and even both of them nearing a return. As a result, Palermo played like a team relieved to be back at something like full strength. They dominated the first half, pinning Genoa deep without finding the final touch, and the pattern repeated after the break: wave after wave of pressure, a host of half-chances, but no finish. In the context of the recent chaos, the clean sheet felt like a small but vital step forward; in the context of the table, a 0–0 at home was a frustrating reminder that control without ruthlessness only gets you so far.

Europa League — AZ 1–3 Palermo (A)

Palermo finished the league phase in style in Alkmaar. Cauan Baptistella struck early, lashing a clearance from a corner in off the bar on 8 minutes, then ghosted in at the back post to tap home a second on 11’ after another sharp move down the flank. AZ grew into the game and pulled one back on 57’ through Ro-Zangelo Daal, finishing from close range after Nunziante could only parry the initial effort, but Huber’s side held their nerve and picked them off late on. Fresh back from injury and coming off the bench, Christian Comotto capped a perfect counter from an AZ corner on 86’, racing clear to slot in the third and seal a superb 3–1 away win that underlined Palermo’s credentials going into the knockout rounds.

📊 League Snapshot

A brief resurgence in form has kept Palermo firmly in the continental conversation. After 22 games they sit 6th on 35 points, but it’s tight: Bologna and Napoli are level on points in 7th and 8th, while Lazio lurk just one point behind in 9th. One good week or one bad one could swing the whole picture, but after the seismic Inter win, at least Huber’s side are now looking up the table rather than over their shoulder.

🏆 Europa League Phase Recap

Palermo’s consistency in the league phase has been enough to secure something special: they finish 3rd overall, with 6 wins and 2 draws, and qualify directly for the round of 16. Como, the other Italian side in the competition, finish 7th and also skip the play-off round. For a club that spent a decade watching Europe on TV, this is already uncharted territory, now it becomes a knockout story.

🌍 AFCON Returnees

While Palermo were fighting their way through the winter, two key pieces were chasing a different kind of glory. Chadi Riad with Morocco and Haissem Hassan with Egypt both reached the AFCON semi-finals, only to be knocked out in extra time – Morocco falling 2–1 to Mali, Egypt 2–1 to Nigeria. Mali went on to beat Nigeria 1–0 in the final, and secure a historic win for the nation.

For Huber, the silver lining is simple: both players return sharper, battle-tested, and with something to prove. They arrive just in time as Palermo’s season looks to move from survival back towards ambition.

👉 Next Up: The Mister at the Lo Cascio Table. The crisis has eased, Inter have been shredded, AZ beaten in Alkmaar and Palermo are looking up the table again. Away from the touchline, however, another kind of pressure is building. With Tzimas rumours swirling and the city obsessing over la Principessa di Palermo, Jacques Huber is invited to a quiet, nameless restaurant off Via Libertà to meet Francesca Lo Cascio’s father, Salvatore. He is a businessman with bodyguards at the door and a surname that makes half of Sicily tense. One dinner, a few careful questions, and the Mister is forced to clarify not just where Palermo are going, but where he intends to stand when the big clubs finally come calling…