The search is over. After weeks of speculation that dragged the club through names like Filipe Luis, Carlos Vicens, and Razvan Lucescu, Beşiktaş finally have their man. Vincenzo Italiano is the 64th head coach in club history, signed through 2028, and the weight of expectation is already upon him. This was not just a managerial appointment. It was a declaration that the board intends to build something structured rather than lurch from one short-term fix to the next.
The clarity is overdue. Beşiktaş finished fourth, 60 points, a plus-19 goal differential. Respectable, but not where this club measures itself. The 2025–26 campaign felt transitional even before it ended. Now it has a face.
The Italiano bet
Italiano arrives from Bologna with a growing reputation. In Istanbul they are already calling him "The Italian Klopp," a nickname that says more about fan hunger than tactical accuracy (21). What it captures is the promise of intensity: Italiano's Bologna sides pressed high, attacked in waves, and refused to compromise their identity against bigger opponents.
He understands the stakes. "Beşiktaş is an ambitious project, exactly like me," he said after putting pen to paper (19). And earlier, in a remark that resonated deeply with supporters: "The fact that Beşiktaş came to me first is a source of pride for me" (6). These are not empty pleasantries. Italiano turned down other opportunities to take this job. The board backed that commitment with a reported €8.5 million package for the coach and his staff, a figure that demands returns (16).
The contract length tells its own story. A deal until 2028 means the club is not hiring a firefighter. It is hiring an architect.
Transfers with an Italian accent
It took approximately zero days for Italiano's influence to reshape the transfer agenda. His first request to the board: Riccardo Orsolini, his former winger at Bologna (14) (20). The logic is straightforward. Orsolini knows the system, understands the pressing triggers, and would accelerate the tactical installation immediately. Whether Bologna are willing sellers at a price Beşiktaş can stomach is the unresolved question.
The Pavlidis pursuit, by contrast, already looks dead. Beşiktaş tabled €20 million for the Greek striker. Benfica responded by demanding €50 million (7) (10) (12). The gap is unbridgeable. Sources close to the club describe the counter-demand as deeply surprising. For a fanbase that had begun to dream of Pavlidis leading the line, the news landed cold. But walking away from a €50 million valuation is the right call. Discipline in the market has not always been Beşiktaş's strength. Showing it now, with a new manager installed, sets a healthier precedent.
Elsewhere, the club is working the angles creatively. Leicester City's Abdul Fatawu has emerged as a target, partly driven by the need to comply with the 10+4 foreign player regulation (18). And the Calhanoglu whispers refuse to die, though Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio poured cold water on the idea this week, telling reporters bluntly: "Calhanoglu to Beşiktaş? There's a problem" (17). A diplomatic way of saying the door is not open.
A squad in motion
The squad Italiano inherits will not be the squad he manages come September. Önder Özen confirmed plans to sign seven players, six of them foreign and the majority under 23. That is a rebuild in plain language. Wingers Cengiz Ünder and Milot Rashica are heading toward the exit. Young striker Mustafa Hekimoglu may be loaned to the Netherlands, with both Utrecht and Vitesse circling (15).
The Hekimoglu situation ties into a broader question fans are already debating: what happens to Semih Kılıçsoy? Both are young, both are raw, both need minutes. Italiano's rotation patterns will be scrutinized from day one. Get this wrong and you stall the development of two of the club's most valuable assets.
What comes next
The signing ceremony has been broadcast, the scarves have been held aloft, the first quotes have been filed. Now the real work begins. Italiano must assemble his staff, integrate into a football culture he has never worked in before, and start shaping a squad that will look dramatically different by the time the competitive matches arrive.
The Pavlidis saga should serve as a lesson: ambition is welcome, but chasing players at prices Benfica dictates is a fool's errand. The Orsolini pursuit makes far more sense as a first move. It signals that recruitment will follow the coach's vision rather than the whims of agents or nostalgic sentiment.
Beşiktaş have their man. The project he described as ambitious must now become tangible. No more press conferences, no more unveilings. Just the long, hard work of making a fourth-place team into something more.