page_title: 2011–12 U.S. Città di Palermo season
section_title: Review and events
hierarchical_section_title: 2011–12 U.S. Città di Palermo season / Review and events
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: L'attuale allenatore dell'Atalanta Bortolo (Lino) Mutti
context_page_description: U.S. Città di Palermo played the 2011–12 season in Serie A, the eighth consecutive season for the Sicilian club in the Italian top flight since their return to the league in 2004. The club ended the season in 16th place, the worst result in all of its last eight Serie A seasons.
  The Sicilian club took part in two cup competitions, the UEFA Europa League and the Coppa Italia, being eliminated immediately in both of them.
context_section_description: Following Palermo's last game of the 2010–11 season, a 3–1 loss to Internazionale in the Coppa Italia final, Chairman Maurizio Zamparini announced to have parted company with head coach Delio Rossi, and announced Stefano Pioli as new trainer the very next day. Pioli's own coaching staff will be composed by four members: assistant Giacomo Murelli, technical collaborator Davide Lucarelli, fitness coach Matteo Osti and Graziano Vinti (a past Palermo player in the 1990s) as goalkeeping coach. The club then announced to have hired Sean Sogliano as new director of football on 8 June, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Walter Sabatini in November 2010.
  As in previous seasons, Palermo also acquired a number of young international starts. Many of these acquisitions were announced before the end of the previous seasons: signings of defenders Carlos Labrín and Milan Milanović, as well as striker Pablo González, were made public already in January 2011. Later on in May, the club confirmed the acquisitions of Eros Pisano from Serie B club Varese, Israeli international Eran Zahavi from Hapoel Tel Aviv and Ádám Simon from Szombathelyi Haladás in Hungary.
  In June, the club also announced the free signing of defender Mauro Cetto from Toulouse in France.
  On 17 June, the club confirmed to have appointed Varese youth coach Devis Mangia at the helm of the Primavera under-19 squad, replacing Paolo Beruatto.
  On 2 July, the squad officially gathered together in Verona, and on the same day, Maurizio Zamparini personally introduced new head coach Stefano Pioli to the press; on the following day, the players and non-playing staff moved to Malles Venosta, South Tyrol, for the pre-season training camp that took place until 20 July.
  On 5 July, defender Andrea Mantovani joined the Palermo squad, after the Sicilian club managed to find an agreement with Chievo regarding his signing. The acquisition was formally confirmed by the club the following day, with the player signing a four-year deal with the Sicilians.
  On 9 July, Palermo confirmed the acquisition of Uruguayan youngster Ignacio Lores from Defensor Sporting in a five-year deal. On 25 July, the club announced to have sold Dorin Goian to Scottish champions Rangers and Pajtim Kasami to English Premier League Fulham.
  On 28 July, Palermo and Paris Saint-Germain completed the move of first-choice goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu from Sicily to France; the same day, the rosanero made their seasonal debut, playing at home the first leg of the UEFA Europa League third preliminary round against Swiss side Thun: the game ended in a disappointing 2–2 draw thanks to an injury time free kick equalizer from veteran striker Fabrizio Miccoli. Palermo were successively eliminated on the away goals rule after only achieving a 1–1 draw in the return leg in Thun.
  On 6 August, after weeks of speculation linking him to several top-ranked European clubs, Argentine playmaker Javier Pastore left Palermo in order to join Paris Saint-Germain, thus following teammate Salvatore Sirigu in France; the bid was speculated to be in the range of €43 million, a record for the rosanero. In an attempt to reply to dissatisfied supporters after the sales of top players Sirigu and Pastore and rumours of possible transfers involving other key elements, on 9 August the club published the list of all bid amounts spent in new signings during the summer transfer window, also implicitly confirming the acquisitions of Matías Silvestre from fellow islanders Catania, then formalized the very next day.
  By the end of August, Palermo also sold two long-time defenders, Cesare Bovo and Mattia Cassani, loaned out respectively to Genoa and Fiorentina.
  On 26 August, Palermo confirmed the acquisition of Greek international goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas from Panathinaikos.
  On 31 August, an eventful day saw Palermo selling Italy international midfielder Antonio Nocerino to Milan and acquire three midfielders: Edgar Álvarez from Bari, Francesco Della Rocca from Bologna and Édgar Barreto from Atalanta. Later on that day, Palermo announced to have sur
caption: Incumbent head coach Bortolo Mutti, appointed in December 2011 in place of Devis Mangia.
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