There’s been a lot of talk about the incredible title race currently taking shape in Italy’s Serie A – and rightly so; it is proving to be quite the spectacle.
However, there are a number of interesting teams outside of that title race.
One of them is Parma Calcio 1913.
I Crociati have a place in Serie A folklore despite never winning the league title—their history of iconic individuals plays a huge part in that.
Past players for Parma include Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram, Fabio Cannavaro, Juan Sebastian Veron, Gianfranco Zola, Adriano, and Hernan Crespo—some truly legendary football icons.
Parma returned to Serie A after finishing top of Serie B in the 2023/24 season, and they’re making quite the impression in Italy’s top flight.
Despite having the league’s youngest side, they are currently 13th after 15 games.
According to our data, Parma's average matchday squad age this season is 23.6, with the majority of their lineup often being younger than 26.
Their transfer activity in the 2024/25 pre-season window, under sporting director Mauro Pederzoli, was geared towards youth—their average squad age last season was 26.2, which was the fourth-youngest in Serie B, so it appears the club wishes to continue in a similar youthful direction.
This can be a smart plan when executed well.
Not only can these young players provide fresh qualities to the playing squad, but they can also be developed to be sold on for a bigger fee in the future – Parma are currently executing that plan well.
This recruitment analysis will provide an analysis of Parma’s pre-season window signings as we assess their impact on Parma and their tactics.
Parma Transfer Activity Overview
In preparation for life back in Serie A, Parma made eight new signings, ranging from 17 to 26 years old.
Of those eight, two were immediately loaned back to their former clubs, and of the six remaining signings, one is a loan player with an option to buy, should Parma wish to trigger that clause.
So that makes for five permanent signings who are playing for Parma right now—the club paid a fee for four of those five, with one being a free transfer.
Interestingly, following their 2023/24 success, Parma saw a number of departures, with seven players aged 26+ leaving the club (excluding end-of-loan departures), signifying a clear focus on youth development at the club.
The recruitment drive itself was clearly geared towards shoring up the defence, as they signed one goalkeeper, a centre-back, a full-back, and a defensive midfielder.
They also seemingly placed a secondary focus on strengthening the wide areas, signing three wingers and the aforementioned full-back.
This scout report will provide a short profile of each of the six signings contributing to Parma’s 2024/25 season, excluding the two out on loan.
We will provide a short profile of the players and analyse some data to understand their early impact on Parma’s tactics this season.
Zion Suzuki – Goalkeeper
Zion Suzuki Radar Map
Japanese international Zion Suzuki impressed during his spell at Belgian club Sint-Truiden, turning the heads of several clubs across Europe’s big leagues, and Parma were the ones to land his signature.
The 6’2” keeper has instantly inserted himself as the number one GK at his new club following his £6.2m move to Italy and brings a range of qualities, as you can see in his percentile wheel above.
He is extremely engaging when it comes to challenging for aerial balls and is currently one of Serie A’s top performers when it comes to dealing with aerial balls as a goalkeeper.
As the data tells us, he is also an important part of Parma’s in-possession tactics, as evidenced by his high percentile ranks for metrics such as progressive passes—he makes 8.46 per 90 (third-highest vs Serie A GKs) and has an accuracy rate of 78.57% (11th-highest vs Serie A GKs).
He isn’t bad at shot-stopping, either!
As you can see from the graph above, Suzuki ranks comfortably average compared to Serie A GKs in save rate % and prevented goals per 90—an indication that he is able to provide consistent quality between the sticks for Parma.
Parma’s attacking record is better than several top-half sides—it’s their defensive record (25 goals conceded in 15 games) that is a cause for concern, but Suzuki seems not to be a contributing factor to that problem.
Giovanni Leoni – Centre-Back
Giovanni Leoni, a former Sampdoria defender, is just 17 years old and was the youngest new recruit for Parma in the most recent window.
Costing £4.1m following impressing in his 13 Serie B appearances last season, Leoni has only featured three times for Parma this season, so statistically speaking, there is not much to analyse in terms of his contribution across the season.
He has, however, given us a glimpse of his potential in those three games, and as you can see in Figure 3, he could be a defensive rock in years to come if he can continue being successful in defensive duels.
It will be interesting to see how much of a role he plays in Fabio Pecchia’s side this season – a loan move shouldn’t be ruled out, but expect to see the name Giovanni Leoni as a Serie A regular in a few years’ time!
Emanuele Valeri – Left-Back
Emanuele Valeri Radar Map
Left-back Emanuele Valeri was the only free signing made by Parma in the recent window, but his contribution has been priceless. He adds some real attacking threat down that left flank.
As you can see, he isn’t a huge defensive presence (more on that later in the analysis) but has an important role in possession in terms of carrying the ball forward.
He is also proving to be crucial in the latter stages of attack—scoring once and assisting twice in 12 appearances.
Emanuele Valeri Ball Progression Map
Interestingly, most of Valeri’s ball carries occur higher up the pitch – perhaps an insight into Parma’s tactics as far as the full-backs are concerned.
With an average of 2.69 dribbles per 90, it appears that he attempts to execute that action with caution—while it is one of the higher engagement rates for full-backs in Serie A, less than three dribbles a game suggests an element of caution in his game.
Mandela Keita – Defensive Midfielder
Mandela Keita Radar Map
Former Belgium under-21 captain Mandela Keita has been quick to impress as a defensive midfielder, thanks to his range of abilities in both defence and attack.
Keita’s journey to Serie A has an interesting story: he spent last season on loan at Royal Antwerp before making that move permanent in July 2024 for £4.1m—he moved to Parma less than two months later for £9.9m!
Keita earned his first senior international cap last year, and with this move to one of Europe’s top leagues, his stock will surely only increase.
As Figure 6 shows, Keita is very involved defensively in midfield in terms of his engagement and success with defensive duels – he’s also effective in the air, it seems.
Additionally, he possesses the ability to carry the ball forward, which can be a vital trait for a midfielder in terms of contributing to a team’s build-up phase.
His defensive ability in Parma’s midfield is a real asset, as evidenced by the data above.
His rate of 8.45 defensive duels per 90 is higher than any Serie A right defensive midfielder, and he is the fourth-highest among Serie A defensive midfielders, so you can expect him to constantly apply himself defensively in midfield.
His success rate is also way above the average for his position, suggesting that he is a force to be reckoned with in the engine room.
Matteo Cancellieri – Left Winger
Matteo Cancellieri Radar Map
Matteo Cancellieri’s arrival at Parma came in the form of a loan move from fellow Serie A club Lazio, with Parmigiani having the option to make it a permanent deal at the end of the season if they feel the loan spell was successful.
22-year-old Cancellieri has one senior cap to his name for Italy following a promising loan spell at Hellas Verona in Serie A while also impressing for Italy’s U21s at the time – he will be looking to build on last season’s loan spell at Empoli.
So far, he is doing just that.
Sure, there is room for improvement, but he has provided moments of attacking quality while also being effective out-of-possession for his team.
As you can see above, he has a high percentile rank for defensive duels, suggesting that he is important to Parma’s tactics.
Earlier, when discussing Valeri, we mentioned his low engagement with defensive duels.
It appears that Parma tasks their wingers with more defensive duty than the average winger in terms of defensive duels, a box that Cancellieri is ticking.
The graph above shows that Cancellieri is doing just what Pecchia asks of his wingers when the opposition has the ball.
5.99 defensive duels per 90, with a success rate of 59.6%, is far above the average left-winger in Serie A.
As we will uncover later in this analysis, Cancellieri isn’t the only Parma winger with impressive defensive statistics—he’ll just hope to improve his attacking consistency in the near future.
Pontus Almqvist – Right Winger
Pontus Almqvist Radar Map
We mentioned Cancellieri’s defensive acumen in midfield and that there’s another winger with defensive exploits – that someone is Pontus Almqvist, the Swedish winger who signed from Russian club Rostov following a loan spell in Serie A last season with Lecce.
While his engagement with defensive duels is lower than that of the left winger, Almqvist has shown an ability to compete in aerial duels consistently.
This may seem irrelevant for a winger, but it means he can win vital aerial duels in midfield areas that could lead to promising attacking transitions.
He also ranks high for positioning metrics such as interceptions – another important midfield trait.
Like Cancellieri, Almqvist will want to improve his goal contributions – one goal and one assist to date, but he has been contributing in attack.
Almqvist’s attacking presence in the final third has shown glimpses of quality so far.
His ability to get into positions to collect the ball and even take a shot on goal is promising for his development over the course of the season.
As he continues to adjust to life in Serie A, he could become more dangerous when those moments come around.
As you can see above, compared to Serie A right-wingers, Almqvist ranks third for touches in the box per 90 minutes and fifth for shots per 90 minutes—indications that he is doing the right things in certain areas; he just needs to continue to do that.
Conclusion
It’s always fascinating to look under the hood of a team that’s had a clear recruitment strategy pay off, and it looks as though Parma’s youth focus in the most recent transfer window is paying dividends.
While it is possible that not every player discussed in this analysis could be able to achieve such success, Parma comes to the end of the season.
They’ve all started with promise on some level, and most are already important first-team members.
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