The appointment of Francesco Farioli, the transfer window, the creation of an elite squad: these were the words of Florent Ghisolfi in front of the press on the day the first team squad returned for pre-season.

THE CHOICE OF Farioli

I think that Francesco fits what we want to build. He's a young, dynamic, modern coach: that's exactly what we were looking for. I think that in terms of his DNA, he matches who I am, who we are and what we want to build, both in terms of personality and in terms of our game plan. What we were looking for was a coach capable of creating attractive, attacking football based on possession and control. That's what he has managed to do in the past and that's what he wants to do in the future. It's a good fit in terms of personality and coaching skills.

ANY EARLY ARRIVALS IN THE SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW?

The President said it: we have a clear roadmap, which I've accepted. We're not going to make any announcements and we'll take stock at the end of the transfer window. Francesco and I are working around the clock on these issues. We have targets. We've highlighted certain positions. I was also waiting for the coach to be in place to validate these profiles, even though the club has been working on this for the past 7 months since I arrived. Now it's time to move forward, piece by piece, to put the jigsaw together in the best way possible. I'm not going to comment on those coming back from loan or departures. We've got some fairly clear opinions on certain profiles, but I'd also like us to be able to see other players that I myself haven't necessarily had the chance to get to know too well and that Francesco will have to get to know over the summer.

THE CREATION OF AN ELITE SQUAD

Two things came together. The first was the desire that we had last season. We had thought about the option of creating an elite group. The advantage of this group is that we can choose when they play. It will not be involved in a league, so we can choose to play on a Monday, for example.

This will allow us to develop the young players who are in the first team squad and who aren't playing in the match, with a view to continuing their individual development. The second factor is that our reserve team has dropped down to Regionale 1. These two factors mean that it's an obvious choice, but a good one for the club and for the development of our young players. It's also an opportunity and a strength to have a coach like Didier (Digard) for this elite team. As Francesco said, Didier did an excellent job during his 6-month stint in charge of the first team. Didier and all the staff with him. We've done very well in what we've built up. We want to continue this work with him, for his development. That's what I told him the day after the Lyon match. He was positive, very positive. He's going to take the BEPF exam, which will take up a lot of his time and energy, but he'll also be able to make a huge contribution to our young players' development. The idea is that he can work with Francesco. I know the questions you may have in mind: I don't tend to pit people against each other, I tend to bring them together and ensure that they can work together. The more skills we have in our club, the greater the chance of achieving success.

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