Parma to Hire Gilardino After Parting Ways with Cuesta | OneFootball

About a week after the last Serie A round, Parma and Carlos Cuesta have decided to cut ties, and the team has lined up Alberto Gilardino as his successor, who will be formally introduced soon, Sky reports.

The Spaniard was considered at risk before the Genoa tilt, when the Ducali nabbed their first win after three losses and one draw. The result convinced the brass not to fire the boss. However, after further meetings, the parties decided the conditions weren’t right to stick together.

Parma avoided relegation with five games last season. Their gamble on a 30-year-old with no head-coaching experience worked out, all things considered. Though his brand of football wasn’t innovative or bubbly. Cuesta previously worked at Juventus and Arsenal.

Gilardino is returning to Emilia, where he had some of his best campaigns as a player. Pisa axed him after 23 games last season, during which they won once and shared the spoils 11 times. The Nerazzurri were relegated anyway. He led Genoa to an 11th-place finish in 2023/2024. He lasted only 12 matches the following year.

Our Take on Parma, Cuesta, and Gilardino

If the trust was so tenuous, they probably should have parted ways over the summer, when both would have had more options. The delay makes it seem like the impetus came more from the gaffer than the side. Perhaps he wanted to see what they did in the transfer window, where they lost a lot without properly replenishing their squad. The new hire is pretty underwhelming, as he’s done better in Serie B than in the top flight, but he didn’t have much to work with at Pisa. They surely won’t improve much stylistically.