The more the hours pass, the more the candidates are filtered, the more a solitary profile advances, as if it were a cyclist in a breakaway in the Tour de France that has just started in Florence. Catanzaro is about to conclude its race by identifying the new coach: the name that is gaining traction is that of Paolo Bianco. There is no total agreement, nor can the possibility that president Floriano Noto and the sporting director be ruled out yet Ciro Polito find someone to place the winning sprint, but since Aquilani definitively refused the move to the Giallorossi, Bianco has become the most accredited man to take on the role.
The agreement can be reached on the basis of an annual contract with an option for the following season, but all the details will be ironed out by Tuesday, the deadline for the announcement set by the owner that must be respected at all costs given that the absence of a coach is delaying not only the incoming market, but also the organization of the retreat in Valle d’Aosta, where the group will stay from July 21st to August 4ththe working week in the city, between medical visits and athletic tests, to be scheduled between 10 and 15 July, and obviously the return of the players to the office, who are finishing their holidays and waiting to know how to organize themselves to reach the Three Hills. In short, choosing and making the coach official is an absolutely priority issue after the resolution with Vivarini, which should be announced by Frosinone tomorrow. Bianco has therefore become the probable, next occupant of the bench at the “Ceravolo”, more than the Corini idea, more than the Caserta hypothesis or other much more complicated objectives (and in fact only dreamed of by the fans).
Forty-six years old from Foggia, with a long career as a central defender between Serie A and Serie B (during which he was teammate of Polito), Bianco began coaching in the youth teams of Sassuolo (he was assistant of the Primavera) before two experiences in C at Siracusa (2017-18 season) and at Sicula Leonzio (from July to December 2018). He then worked in the staff of Roberto De Zerbi, in whose shadow he spent two seasons at Sassuolo and another at Shakhtar Donetsk, an adventure that ended due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Back in Italy, Bianco joined the working group of Maximilian Allegri at Juventus in the 2022-23 season, the last as a collaborator before walking on his own two feet again by accepting the challenge of Modena: he remained in Emilia for thirty-three games, from the first day until his dismissal caused by the defeat suffered at home (1-3)… by Vivarini’s Catanzaro.
Twists of fate aside, a firm yes from him is missing, as is the equally firm green light from the Giallorossi club. However, the path seems set.
From that moment, Catanzaro will be able to complete a revolution that only a month ago was a hypothesis that the public did not want to imagine and the club did not think it should consider. In thirty days everything has changed and now we just need to close ranks and start again with the conviction of having made the right choice: the moment is very complicated, the environment is starting to seriously grumble, but there is a new season in Serie B to prepare with the aim of staying there, possibly without all the shocks suffered in these very long four weeks.
