The Hellas Verona project

As a relative Serie A newbie (I started in 2022/23), Hellas Verona didn't initially interest me that much as they dont carry the same flashy name appeal that either of the Milanese clubs or Juventus carry.  That said, since the turn of the calendar year, I've actually found the club's project to be quite interesting, as they're very willing to flip players after a short stint with the club.  Over the past decade or so they have also played a part in the development of plenty of top level players such as Jorginho, Destiny Udogie, Sofyan Amrabat and Mattia Zaccagni.

The main player that inspired me to write this is Isak Hien (25).  In August 2022 Verona signed Hien from Sweden's Djurgårdens IF for a reported €4m and just 18 months later he was signed by Atalanta for roughly €8m.  For Atalanta, Hien has looked like a truly top level CB, whose tenacity in aerial and ground duels has helped him bed in perfectly into the centre of Gianpiero Gasperini's 3 man defence.

Hien was sold in the same window as Belgian winger, Cyril Ngonge (24), who had a very encouraging start to the 23/24 campaign for Hellas scoring 6 goals and getting 2 assists in the first half of the season.  This impressive start saw Napoli pay €18m to secure the creative Belgian wide man, although he has struggled to make the same sort of impact for Napoli as he's mostly featured off the bench.  Ngonge was also brought in during the 22/23 season for a mere €500k from FC Groningen, which represents excellent business and is probably the ideal scenario for the club to buy the player cheaply in their early to mid 20's to then flip them to a richer club for a profit in quick fashion.

The other two players that left in 2024 that I wanted to talk about are, Juan Cabal (23) and Tijjani Noslin (25). The Colombian Cabal made quite a high profile move to Juventus for €13m before the start of the 24/25 season despite also being linked to fierce rivals Inter.  Cabal was signed in August 2022 for €3m from Colombian side Atletico Nacional.  He's already become a fixture of new coach Thiago Motta's back 4 as the starting LB.  Noslin made the move to Lazio off the back of scoring 5 times and assisting a further 4 goals in just 17 Serie A games for the Gialloblu.  The Belgian only arrived in Verona in January of 2024 after moving from Dutch side Fortuna Sittard for €3m which meant that when he moved to the Roman giants of Lazio for €8m, Verona made a very quick €5m profit.

In terms of players currently in the squad, Jackson Tchatchoua (22) is arguably the most hyped prospect already reportedly attracting interest from Napoli.  The Cameroonian wing-back/full-back has shown great dribbling qualities whether that's cutting inside from the wing to attack the box or going down the line.  He's also a very competent 1v1 defender winning 3.2 tackles and interceptions per 90 in the 23/24 season.  Tchatchoua was signed permanently in 2024 after initially being on loan from RC Sporting Charleroi in Belgium for what looks to be a bargain €3m. 

Another young prospect in the squad is central-midfielder, Reda Belahyane (20), who arrived from OGC Nice in January 2024 for €500k.  While initially he found game time hard to come by in his first season, he has been given his opportunity by coach, Paolo Zanetti, in the first two games of the Serie A season after an injury to Suat Serdar against Napoli on the opening day.  Early signs are that the young Frenchman has very good ball retention qualities and uses his body very well to win fouls in duels.  He gives off a calm air on the ball and is very willing to drop in deep when in possession to help Verona build in the first phase. 

Verona also saw 3 players (that are still with the club) get minutes at Euro 2024 in Slovakian, Ondrej Duda (29) and Tomas Suslov (22), as well as the Polish defender, Pawel Dawidowicz (29).  

Veteran midfielder Duda has Premier League experience with Norwich City and also had two stints in the German Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin and FC Köln.  Duda's role with Verona is as a more creative number 8 despite how he use to be used as more of an attacking midfield outlet earlier in his career. Duda arrived for €3m from Köln.

His Slovakian international teammate Suslov has inherited the right sided number 10/wing slot vacated by the previously mentioned Cyril Ngonge, who has also has a very promising left foot and an eye for a cutting pass.  Suslov posted an impressive 51% take on success rate last season while attempting just over 3 take ons per 90.  Suslov was signed for €1m from Groningen in January 2024 and has already attracted interest from AS Roma and city rivals S.S Lazio.

Dawidowicz has been operating as the right-sided CB for Zanetti's 3 man back line and cuts a tall figure at 6'2.  Interestingly, the Pole is comfortable moving the ball on with the either foot in the buildup and at first glance it's difficult to tell which is his favoured foot. In the 23/24 season he put up an impressive 2.8 successful 2.8 aerial duels per 90 at a success rate of 69% which was good enough to rank him in the 89th percentile among CB's in Europe's top 5 leagues.  Dawidowicz was signed permanently for €3m from Benfica in 2019.

One other player that's worth mentioning is 20 year-old CB academy graduate, Diego Coppola.  The young Italian defender has lined up as the middle CB in the back 3 in the opening two games, stands at 6'3 and has made 4 appearances for Italy's U-21 side as of writing.  Coppola was actually in the 99th percentile of aerials won per 90 with 4.5 among CB's and is seen as one of Italy's next up and coming defenders.

Overall, Hellas is a really intriguing club with how they operate in terms of picking up young players and giving them the platform to develop and then sell them on to other clubs for efficient profit.