BARI – The official announcement will probably arrive by tomorrow, but Bari has a new sporting director: Giuseppe Magalini. The agreement was reached late on Friday evening and finalized yesterday: the transfer man from Catanzaro will join the red and whites on a two-year basis, ready to develop the new project. Therefore, finished casting and talks (which continued until Friday also considering the profile of Carlo Osti): Ciro Polito’s successor has been identified and blocked. The arrival in the city is scheduled for the beginning of next week, accompanied by the presentation press conference in which the president Luigi De Laurentiis should speak first. Magalini’s work, however, has already begun: the Venetian manager had already presented a short list of eligible coaches to the Apulian general staff, in order to quickly complete the main figures appointed to lead the Galletti 2024-25 edition.
WORK, GAVETTA, SERIOUSNESS – In the “environment” Giuseppe Magalini enjoys wide esteem. From those who know him to those who have worked alongside him, there is the unanimous definition of a serious, rigorous, competent person. A man perhaps not of too many words, but of extreme substance. On the other hand, it is true that the 62-year-old from Veneto built himself through a long and very hard apprenticeship. After starting his career as a manager in Chievo’s youth sector, he arrived at Mantova in 2003-04 and immediately made the double leap from C2 to Serie B: in his first championship in the second division he reached the playoff final with the Lombard club, losing with Torino. So, he remained in the second national professional league for another three years, before being relegated with the Lombard club which went bankrupt in 2010. Brief experiences with Portosummaga, Cremonese and Grosseto followed and then opened another cycle in Alessandria: with the «greys» he repeatedly came close to promotion to Serie B (losing another playoff final), but above all he equaled Bari in the historic record of reaching a semi-final of the Italian Cup (the Galletti succeeded in 1983-84) with a C team, avoiding elimination at the hands of Milan. Another parenthesis with Reggiana and Viterbese and then arriving in Vicenza and gaining another promotion in the cadetteria, followed, however, by the immediate return to C. Finally, the last two years in Catanzaro, with a new leap into B with the sound of records (third promotion from the Lega Pro in the cadets, fourth championship won in total in their career) and the surprising championship just concluded in fifth place, reaching the semifinal of the playoffs lost against Cremonese.
At full maturity, Bari will represent the first real challenge in a large square. A gigantic job awaits him: very little can be preserved from the 24 players under contract, just as it will be necessary to re-establish the Under team and try to build a “patrimony” in a club which, having sold Caprile and Cheddira, does not find itself at home with the values of first floor. All this, without neglecting the main objective: avoiding false proclamations, it will be necessary to build a Bari capable of fighting as a protagonist in the positions that count, erasing once and for all the suffering of the last, tormented, season.
THE «WEIGHT» OF THE CAPTAIN – Valerio Di Cesare has not yet communicated the final decision on his future, although it now seems obvious that he will leave competitive activity at the age of 41. In the meantime, the Roman defender is already starting to “taste” life as a manager: in fact, his opinion proved to be decisive in the choice of Magalini who, moreover, was among his main discoverers, bringing him to Mantua when he had just 23 years old, in 2006: they lived side by side for two years and, despite the time that has passed, their mutual respect must evidently have remained intact. To the point that the new sporting director would even be willing to give up the true pillar of the defense in order to have him at his side as his closest collaborator. Di Cesare, therefore, will not only be a glue between management and team, but he will observe players and will be a real support on the transfer market. In short, the new Bari will start from a proven combination.
