Emergency attack for Cagliari, Pisacane waits and hopes

Cagliari coach Fabio Pisacane had recently recovered much of the squad, but is already facing new physical problems. Gennaro Borrelli and Paul Mendy, among the protagonists of the victory against Atalanta, left the field injured and will be monitored in the coming days. Should both fail to recover, and also considering the prolonged absence of Leonardo Pavoletti, the coach would find himself with an offensive department in full emergency. Ahead of Sunday’s match against Bologna, the options up front could therefore be reduced to Semih Kılıçsoy and Andrea Belotti, with the latter, however, not yet ready to play the entire match.

The Kılıçsoy case remains one of the most intricate knots to unravel. The young Turkish striker born in 2005, who arrived on an onerous loan from Besiktas with the right of redemption, has experienced a chiaroscuro second half of the season: after the heavy goals he scored between December and January, his minutes were drastically reduced, so much so that Pisacane publicly admitted that he did not receive the necessary physical guarantees from him. Further complicating the picture, Besiktas president Serdal Adali has already stated that he excludes any discount on the redemption price, which is set at 12 million euros, making the operation hardly viable for the Sardinian club’s coffers.

Belotti’s situation, on the other hand, is that of a player who is trying to regain his best condition after a long stop. The center forward ruptured his cruciate ligament last Sept. 27 in the home loss against Inter and has only resumed training with the group in recent weeks. However, his return represents a breath of fresh air for Pisacane, although expecting him to give a full performance from the start against Bologna would be a difficult risk to justify.

In this context of emergency, Mendy’s brace against Atalanta takes on a significance that goes far beyond the three points won. The 19-year-old Senegalese, who was bought for only 15,000 euros from ASC Bambey in January 2025 on the recommendation of youth technical coordinator Roberto Muzzi, recently signed a contract until 2031 with the Rossoblù club-a forward-looking move that could prove to be an extraordinary investment. With 14 goals and 3 assists in 28 games with the Primavera team, Mendy had already shown an impressive performance before the jump to the first team.