Purple Rain falls at Fiorentina – Media silence after home defeat to Lecce

Ten games played and so far Fiorentina are yet to win a match in this season’s Serie A.

A tumultuous 2025 for La Viola has seen a number of changes in personnel, both on and off the pitch. The end result? A dismal start to the campaign, with fans protesting long after the full-time whistle on Sunday as Stefano Pioli’s side latest defeat: 1-0 against Lecce on their own turf at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

More telling of the uncertainty at the club comes in the form of Fiorentina’s press silence since the defeat. No players and no staff spoke after the game – with not a peep since the atrocious performance on the pitch.

What exactly is going on at Fiorentina?

On Saturday, Fiorentina confirmed that they had terminated the contract of sporting director Daniele Pradé by mutual consent, bringing to an end seven years of service for the club.

At the end of last season, certain sections of the Viola fanbase had fallen out with Pradé and then-head coach Raffaele Palladino. At the close of the 2024-25 campaign, the Ultras were protesting for the duo to be removed from the club and Palladino departed at the end of the season.

Pradé lasted a little while longer but has been the subject of more intense protests in recent weeks, including one which involved stickers portraying the Italian’s head on the body of a pig. The sticker had just one word on it: ‘Leave’. And that he did.

After Palladino’s departure earlier this year, Fiorentina appointed Stefano Pioli for his second spell in charge of the club.

The Italian played over 150 times for La Viola as a player before coaching the team between 2017 and 2019. Since leaving the first time, Pioli had spells at Milan, where he lifted the Scudetto in 2021-22, and in the Saudi Pro-League with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr.

However, just four points from his opening ten league games has left Pioli in troubled waters. The pressure is mounting and if the coach does not face dismissal after this result, it feels a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if.’

The problem La Viola face with sacking Pioli is that with Pradé gone, they lose valuable insight into choosing a successor. It would be left down to the Fiorentina top brass, such as president Rocco Commisso, presumably.

Early reports have suggested that Fiorentina could move for Roma legend Daniele De Rossi, whilst the potential for Palladino to return is not excluded without the presence of Pradé.

One thing is for certain though: desperate times call for desperate measures. Fiorentina were expected to be battling for European places once again, after qualifying for the Conference League last season.

Now, ironically, it would seem that their only hope for continental qualification this time round would be to win Europe’s third competition.