An age old quote reads "If you're not moving forwards, you're moving backwards" and that was perhaps true of Vincenzo Montella's Fiorentina who finished in 4th place for the third consecutive season. It was a similar story for the Viola as they were once again plagued with injuries to their star strikers. Giuseppe Rossi seems destined to never have the career that his potential promised as his troublesome knees continued to bother him and he missed most of the campaign whilst Mario Gomez played more games but struggled to find rhythm. Montella was often forced to deploy Josip Ilicic or Mohamed Salah as makeshift strikers in the absence of Gomez and Rossi. Salah only arrived from Chelsea in January and the club must have wished he'd come earlier because he made a tremendous impact upon arrival in Florence and made the locals instantly forget about Juan Cuadrado who left in a swap deal with the Egyptian. Before that, the manager often had to place his trust in youngsters to lead the line such as Federico Bernardeschi and Khouma Babacar, both of whom were not quite ready for such responsibility. The midfield remained the key area for the Viola with the likes of Borja Valero and David Pizarro still able to control games with their graceful passing whilst Milan Badelj added some extra steel to the engine room. Despite their lack of options up-front, Fiorentina still managed a healthy amount of goals in Serie A but they also conceded their fair share and that may have been down to the uncertainty over their goalkeeping position. Neto, who has been courted by several clubs around Europe, refused to sign a contract extension and was subsequently dropped before getting back into the side towards the end of the campaign. The irony came immediately after the season finished as Montella himself refused to commit his future to the club and was given his marching orders by the board for a "lack of respect". No one can deny the fine job the former Italy striker has done in turning the club around from the doldrums to a team that consistently qualifies for Europe and he did get them to the semi-finals of both the Europa League and Coppa Italia this season. However, perhaps he felt he had taken them as far as he could and now seeks a new challenge. He has certainly left the club in good shape for his successor which is Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa.
