Willy Gnonto’s Fiorentina adventure is a week old and it has already been turned upside down. The former Leeds United winger came off the bench for his debut on Saturday; roughly 24 hours later, the head coach who put him on, Fabio Grosso, had been sacked.
It is the sort of start nobody plans for, and it matters at Elland Road too — because Leeds have a considerable financial stake in how the next few months go in Florence.
Gnonto Fiorentina debut ends in defeat and a sacking
Gnonto was introduced at half-time at home to Torino with La Viola in front. He struggled to make much of an impact and, as the Yorkshire Evening Post reported, Fiorentina then blew their lead inside the final 16 minutes to lose 2-1. That made it three straight defeats.
The response from the Serie A club was swift and stripped of sentiment. In a statement of just 22 words posted on the club’s official website, Fiorentina announced that Grosso had been “relieved of his duties as coach of the men’s first team”.
Grosso had only been appointed in June on the back of an impressive spell at Sassuolo, and it is hard to imagine a worse opening month. Fiorentina were thumped 4-0 by Roma on the opening weekend, beaten 3-0 at home by newly promoted Frosinone, and then undone by Torino. Three games, three defeats, nine goals conceded.
Why Leeds United are watching Florence closely
This is not idle gossip for the Whites. Gnonto’s move was structured as a season-long loan with an option to buy, and the YEP report that if that option is triggered and the add-ons are met, Leeds stand to bank in the region of £18million.
That is a meaningful number for a club that has just spent heavily across a seven-signing summer. It is also a number that depends entirely on Gnonto playing, scoring and convincing — and a squad in freefall, with a new coach who had no say in his arrival, is not the ideal environment for a wide forward trying to prove his worth.
The flip side is that chaos creates opportunity. A new manager means a clean slate, and a Fiorentina side desperate for goals and directness may end up leaning on the Italy international rather sooner than a settled one would have.
How the deadline-day exit came about
Leeds sanctioned the deal in the closing hours of the window once they had made progress on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Jean-Matteo Bahoya, who became the club’s seventh and final summer signing after the 11pm deadline. The Gnonto move was confirmed on 2 September, ending a four-year Elland Road stay that produced some of the most memorable individual moments of the Championship years.
For the full picture of who came and went, our guide to every Leeds United signing and departure this summer has the lot.
Leeds have moved on quickly
Daniel Farke’s side, for their part, have not looked like a team pining for a departed winger. Leeds are unbeaten in all competitions, with five points from their first three Premier League games and a 2-0 EFL Cup win at Nottingham Forest already banked. Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Brighton — a ground where they were beaten 3-0 last season — was the kind of away point that tends to look better in May than it does on the night.
Next up is a Carabao Cup third-round trip to Chelsea on Wednesday, with deadline-day arrivals Melvin Bard and Bahoya still waiting on their first minutes.
Gnonto, meanwhile, waits to find out who his next manager will be. Leeds supporters who wished him well on the way out will be hoping Fiorentina sort themselves out quickly — for his sake, and for the £18million.
