"In recent years he has given me a big hand and it is right to give him some well-deserved recognition, so from today he will be the new general manager of Fiorentina and will join the board of directors."
If football is anxious about Joe Barone, currently hospitalized in intensive care at San Raffaele, it is also because a few months after the purchase of the club from Della Valle, Rocco Commisso announced his appointment as his right-hand man in the Viola club, thus strengthening a bond and collaboration that took off a few years earlier.
Born in Pozzallo, Sicily, on March 20, 1966, Barone moved with his family to the United States, to Brooklyn, at the age of 8.
After completing his studies he began a career in the banking-financial sector which was interrupted after meeting the Italian-American tycoon of Calabrian origin who included him in his telecommunications company Mediacom and subsequently appointed him vice president of the New York Cosmos in 2017, immediately after acquired the majority share saving them from bankruptcy.
The Sicilian manager, married to Mrs. Camilla who bore him four children (Pietro who made him a grandfather a year ago, Salvatore, Giuseppe, former footballer from Ascoli, Perugia and Salernitana, and Gabriella) is, in short, Commisso's man in every way for everything in the world of football.
In fact, the entrepreneur, after having sent him to Florence in his stead while waiting to close the negotiation with the Della Valles, then entrusted him with the management and management of Fiorentina from the very beginning, demonstrating complete trust and esteem.
It is Barone who represents the Viola club in the Lega councils, he is always the one who deals personally with the transfer market but also with the Viola Park projects and the stadium affair.
In some cases his decisions and statements have sparked criticism and controversy but Commisso has always taken his side: ''The more my managers are criticized, the closer Rocco will stay to them, this is my method'' he has always responded the purple patron.
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