Fiorentina, Vanoli officially arrives as the new manager in place of Grosso. Here are his salary and the length of his contract

Paolo Vanoli is the new Fiorentina manager. It's now official, with Vanoli replacing the sacked Fabio Grosso. The statement reads: "ACF Fiorentina announce that the technical leadership of the Viola first team has been entrusted to manager Paolo Vanoli. The manager is warmly thanked for immediately accepting with enthusiasm the chance to return to lead the first team. Vanoli will take his first training session this afternoon"

Salary and contract length

According to Corriere dello Sport Vanoli has signed a two-year contract worth €1.2 million per season, with an option to extend the agreement with Fiorentina by one year (2029) if certain conditions are met.

How Vanoli play

Last season, after arriving in November 2025 as Pioli's replacement, Vanoli started with a 3-5-2 before switching to the 4-3-3 that Grosso has also used in these early stages of the season. Last season, though, Vanoli had virtually no natural wingers available for that 4-3-3 and said so publicly shortly after arriving in Florence: "This group does not have genuine wingers and that makes the situation complicated: in modern football their role is fundamental."

Now the wingers are there in abundance, with the pairings already defined: Mastantuono and Gnonto on the right, Pedro Gonçalves and Njie on the left.

Beyond the shape, the players will matter too. The first man likely to benefit from Vanoli's return is Nicolò Fagioli.

The former Juventus midfielder had been one of the players Vanoli got the most out of as a deep-lying playmaker in the 4-3-3, and he was one of Fiorentina's best performers in terms of output. Under Grosso, by contrast, the spark never ignited and other choices followed.

Speaking in his recent interview with CorSport, Vanoli had warm words for Fagioli: "He is a talented player. I discovered a boy who is intelligent from a footballing point of view and endowed with great technical personality. Everyone thought he could not play as the playmaker, but when someone is intelligent and makes himself available he can cover any role. With me he did it really well. At that moment he also felt the trust and, at times, trust allows you to give something extra."

That makes it fair to think Fagioli is heavily favoured over Oulai for the playmaker role, bringing balance and quality. Alongside him, Ndour could also enjoy a revival after showing good growth under Vanoli and now struggling instead.