Bari, the puzzle is still incomplete

Bari's summer training camp is in full swing. The technical and tactical structure of a team that has undergone a major overhaul in terms of both personnel and substance is taking shape. This strategy has been made necessary by the changeover from Longo to Fabio Caserta, the new coach chosen to lead the Biancorossi into the 2025/26 Serie B season, with the minimum objective of reaching the playoffs, which they so miserably missed out on last May.

In the general cleanup, many of the players in charge last season have left, severing long-standing and well-established relationships (Maita and Maiello) or less solid ones (Matino). With their loans concluded, a long list includes those who returned to their respective clubs, only to later—some—be released elsewhere. Among these, the names of Favilli, Favasuli, Oliveri, Falletti, Radunovic, Mantovani, Obaretin, and Novakovich stand out. A dozen departing players were replaced in due time by directors Magalini and Di Cesare to allow the new coach and his staff to operate smoothly from the very beginning in Abruzzo. Currently, 29 players are training at the Roccaraso headquarters, including the latest arrivals Rao and Nikolaou. The squad is divided between the veterans, new signings, returning loanees, and young players from the youth academy. A diverse group, offering interesting insights into the club's ambitions.

Of the core squad, which is not without its share of uncertainties related to potential transfer scenarios, nine players have been retained from last season. Among these, the most high-profile name—and also the most popular among the departures—is Mehdi Dorval. A dynamic winger, he has brought 37 appearances, four goals, and six assists to Serie B 24/25. Between the Coppa Italia and the regular season , two defensive pillars, Francesco Vicari and Raffaele Pucino, have also made more than 25 appearances this season. Benali, Bellomo, Tripaldelli, Pereiro, and Pissardo round out the historic group.

The number nine also underscores the number of new faces brought in to bring quality and experience to the locker room. There's no shortage of impressive resumes. Last year at Palermo (one goal in 30 games), defender Dimitrios Nikolaou has 110 appearances in Serie A and B between Empoli, Spezia, and Palermo. A frequent captain, he also played at Camp Nou in the Conference League and won the Greek championship with Olympiacos in 2017. After playing for various Greek youth teams, he also made his debut for the senior national team on May 15, 2018, against Saudi Arabia.

Christian Gytkjær is no exception. The Danish center forward—who scored just two goals in 736 minutes in the last Serie A tournament with Venezia—won the Serie B title with Monza in 2022, proving decisive in the playoffs. He's been in Italy since 2020, enjoying his most prolific seasons in the second division, scoring 21 goals between the Coppa Italia and Serie B with Monza and 14 goals in the same competitions in his two-year stint with Monza.

Former Frosinone goalkeeper Michele Cerofolini brought two appearances to the 2020 European Championship qualifiers for the Italian Under-21 national team, winning silver at the 2018 European Under-19 Championship and progressing through the ranks with the Azzurrini from the Under-18s onwards (for a total of 16 appearances for the youth national teams). Last year, the Arezzo-born goalkeeper made 36 Serie B appearances for the Ciociari (43 goals conceded) and kept eight clean sheets , missing two games due to a meniscus injury (one on September 22, against Bari).

Significant numbers for former Brescia players Lorenzo Dickmann and Matthias Verreth despite the bitter end of the season for the Lombardy Rondinelle. Over the course of the last season, the former Spal full-back – used both as a right-back and a centre-back – played 36 games and also provided two decisive assists. The Belgian winger proved to be a technically unpredictable profile, putting together four goals and two assists in 32 matches, none of which against the Galletti. The two reunite in Bari with striker Gabriele Moncini who, after 13 goals from 2019 to 2022 with Benevento, experienced a slight decline last year in Brescia, scoring just 5 goals in 24 appearances in a season heavily affected by physical problems (pubalgia), non-call-ups (5), benching (three) and suspensions (2). The offensive department has recently seen the return of 19-year-old midfielder Francesco Rao, on loan from Napoli, who has scored four goals in the Primavera 1 championship. The Neapolitans hope to capitalize on this profile by taking advantage of his strong performances in Puglia.

The green line also includes profiles already tested in the second division, such as Riccardo Pagano (midfielder, born in 2004, on loan from Roma, who last year played just 966 minutes for Catanzaro, where he was benched nine times and accumulated as many non-call-ups), and some prospects such as the 20-year-old defender Sheriff Kassama: a physical centre-back on loan from Trento, coming off around twenty games in Group A of Serie C, missing the last ten due to physical problems that have always been a constant for him.

The eleven players returning from loans or promoted from the Primavera team are worth considering. A prominent name is Giuseppe Sibilli. He began the season with Bari (20 total appearances, 1 goal, and 3 assists until January), then moved to Sampdoria, where he made 15 appearances, scored 3 goals, and assisted 2 times, being a key player in the play-offs against Salernitana. In total, the Neapolitan striker played 35 games in the 2024/25 season, scoring 4 goals and providing 5 assists. Paolo De Lucci (18-year-old goalkeeper, a regular for the Primavera team with 30 appearances, 44 goals conceded, and 10 clean sheets), Mavraj, Sassarini, Mane, and Spadavecchia are all yet to be discovered. These are central defenders and full-backs with mixed experience in Serie C and the Primavera. Aside from Lulic (four goals in 26 games against Sarajevo last year), Onofrietti (one goal against Messina in just seven games against Team Altamura), Faggi (coming off ten injury-related layoffs and several spells with Gubbio), and Colangiuli (formerly at Sorrento) are promising midfielders, seeking recognition after a few appearances in recent Serie C and Serie D. These are lower leagues where Hemsley Akpa-Chukwu excelled. The Belgian-born striker, born in 2005, returns to Bari, recalling his debut goal for the Biancorossi against Pisa on September 16, 2023, and with recent highlights including a goal against Novara and two in the Coppa Primavera against Empoli.