After the home win against Pescara, Spezia’s Sports Director, Stefano Melissano, spoke to the media in the post-match interview: "We finish with a victory, which is definitely important for everyone. Clearly, the past few months haven’t gone the way we wanted, but we’ll do everything we can to strengthen our squad and give the players and the Coach more options for the second half of the season.
Esposito? We received an offer from Sampdoria, but it wasn’t suitable. Football has cycles that have a beginning and an end. However, we need to focus only on Spezia, which is what matters. At the moment, we are negotiating with players who are from higher-ranked teams than ours, but who have the hunger and desire to come here, and that’s what counts.
Wisniewski? He has never asked to leave. Of course, his name will circulate because he’s an important player and a starter for the Polish national team. Wisniewski is a very sensitive player; he cares about Spezia and has never asked to go elsewhere. But naturally, he may be affected by the many rumors linking him to other clubs.
The market operates on its own timeline, which we don’t control. Lapadula is an extremely important player for us, both on and off the pitch, and he’s not for sale. He’s been recovering from injury and adapting to the staff’s methods, and right now, with five forwards in the squad, the Coach is making specific choices. But he remains a key player.
We numerically need a goalkeeper, as we currently have only two, but Mascardi has been one of the most positive players in the squad so far. As for Verde, he is part of the group, and that goes for all the players in the squad. We will, of course, monitor the evolution of the market as well as players’ personal decisions because, again, we only want fully motivated players for the good of the team.
We are negotiating with players who are our first choices and who can bring personality and ease. I want to thank all the players we have because they give maximum effort, and today’s victory is very important—it can also help us achieve some of our market objectives. There are many clubs interested in some of the players we are targeting, so we need to be as determined as possible. In any case, I can say we expect around 4 or 5 new arrivals.
Vlahovic? We knew Vlahovic might face some challenges in his first year, just as Pio Esposito did in his first season. There was strong competition for Candela, but we’re happy to have secured him. Perhaps he felt too much pressure being part of this city; this responsibility may have held him back a bit. But when there are difficulties, it’s not down to individuals—it’s the team that faced challenges in the first months. Our hope is that results and the market will give a new boost.
In the first half of the season, we also analyzed the team technically, but I think the main challenges were mental, especially since most of the squad is the same as last year. Obviously, we know we need players who can give us tactical options during games. That’s probably been missing, and we want to fix it.
If Spezia play 4-3-3 in 2026? We are looking for players who can give us options, but the important thing is that whoever comes in must have desire and personality—players who understand what it means to play at this level."
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