Marin Pongračić: Shining the Spotlight on Fiorentina’s New Defender
The Serie A season is just a week away, and Fiorentina have acted quickly in losing Serbian defender Nikola Milenković by replacing him in spending €15 million on German-born Croatian international Marin Pongračić from Lecce.
After spending his youth career at Bayern Munich and FC Ingolstadt, Pongračić move to Bayern Munich city rivals 1860 Munich for game time. Just a handful appearances for 1860 Munich got him the move to Austria and to Red Bull Salzburg for €1m.
Following an injury-plagued three seasons with 56 appearances for Red Bull Salzburg, Marin Pongračić went back to Germany and was transferred to VFL Wolfsburg for €10 million. However, his final season in Austria in the first half of 2019/20 season was curtailed by injury with seven appearances.
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In Germany for VFL Wolfsburg, it was sporadic appearances over the 18 months at the club with 23 appearances before at being shipped off on loan to Borussia Dortmund. Where in the 2021/22 season he just made twenty-three appearances on loan in all competitions. His final appearances for Borussia Dortmund were an eight-minute cameo at home to Hertha Berlin on the final day of the Bundesliga season.
A chance to play in Italy came in the summer of 2022 and it proved to be pivotal for Marin Pongračić. After a disappointing time in Germany after returning from Austria, it was time for a change of scenery in Leece. Lecce had just been promoted from Serie B after winning the second division two points ahead of Cremonese who took the last automatic promotion spot, whilst he third and last was taken by Monza.
Marco Baroni added Pongračić to the Lecce backline to add a partnership with the strongly built Federico Baschirotto at the heart of the Lecce defence. But for Pongračić, it would be a bitter pill as injury curtailed his first year in Italy with an ankle injury which was picked up in a friendly before the start of 2023. That ankle injury would require surgery and that he would miss the entirety of the second half of the season.
Marin Pongračić’s place in the defence was taken up by Samuel Umtiti. The ankle injury and surgery meant that Pongracic featured in just nine appearances for Lecce. But they did avoid relegation thanks to a 1-0 away win at Monza with an injury time penalty by Lorenzo Colombo in the eleventh minute of stoppage time.
Lecce and VFL Wolfsburg made the loan permanent for a fee of €1.6m and it turned out to be a shrewd piece of business by Lecce. Marin Pongračić played the whole season without any injuries and came back successfully after his ankle surgery and made 36 appearances in Serie A. He missed two games to suspension, one for an accumulation of yellow cards and missed the Inter Milan game in February after picking up two yellows in a 2-0 away defeat to Torino.
The Salentini finished in 14th position in the Serie A standings last season, not under Marco Baroni who left to take over at Hellas Verona. Roberto D’Aversa took charge and remained at the helm until the March international break when he was sacked after Lecce’s 1-0 defeat to Hellas Verona after an on-the-pitch incident after the final whistle with Hellas Verona’s French striker Thomas Henry. Luca Gotti came in and steered Lecce to safety, with the team managing 38 points from 38 games.
Pongračić was part of a Lecce defence that conceded 54 goals last season and kept seven clean sheets. A ball playing centre half which helped Lecce a lot last season when Lecce played on the counterattack, he boasted an average ball passing completion of 84.8%. Discipline was a big issue last season for Pongračić at Lecce with nine yellows and one red card and it’s something he will need to work on when at Fiorentina for the up-and-coming season.
He also averaged 5.1 ball recoveries per game last season along with 3.6 clearances per game. What is Lecce’s loss will be Fiorentina gain — La Viola had to act quickly after losing Nikola Milenković for a reported €12m to Nottingham Forest. They acted quickly in a smart shrewd signing in Marin Pongračić who Lecce made a massive profit of over €13m. Buying for €1.6m and selling for €15m plus bonuses is a smart piece of business.
Raffaele Palladino, who excelled at Monza in the last two years, is now the Fiorentina head coach after Vincenzo Italiano left for Bologna and that started a managerial merry go around. Palladino at Monza liked to play with a back three in a 3-4-2-1 set up. It will be interesting to see Marin Pongračić adapts to playing in a back three as he has all the attributes to play the role well. Time will only tell, the only downside is the discipline, it may come back to haunt him.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Dan Mullan / Getty Images