After the controversies at the end of last season, Serie B returned, promising a sticky championship where balance will likely prevail. The only team that seems able to replicate Sassuolo’s dominance from last year is Palermo, who hired a promotion specialist in Inzaghi. Palermo’s start has met expectations, and joining them at the top are Frosinone, looking to recover after last year’s struggles, and Modena and Cesena, two teams surprising only to a certain extent due to economic stability and planning.
Beyond Palermo, it is still hard to know which teams will emerge as protagonists. The start for Empoli, Monza, and Venezia, relegated from Serie A, has not been smooth, and Sampdoria seems unable to escape the spiral of decline it has been trapped in for years.
Surprises are likely, and moving from teams to players, some of these novelties have already appeared. One example is Bohdan Popov, one of the breakout players at the start of this season. True, only three matchdays have passed and his consistency in the category remains to be seen, but should we really hesitate in front of an eighteen-year-old who has scored four goals in his first three professional appearances? And would he be a good prospect to sign for AC Milan?
Popov is a 2007-born Ukrainian striker. Local media have widely covered his story. He grew up at Dynamo Kiev, and at the time of the Russian invasion in 2022, he was in Poland for a youth tournament. The war forced him to stay away from his country, so he temporarily joined the youth team of a local club, Zabrze, in the town of the same name near Katowice in southern Poland.
His refugee status then allowed him to move to Italy, to Arcola in the province of La Spezia, where he began training with Spezia. However, the club was under a FIFA transfer ban, so they could not register him. Empoli took advantage and signed him for their Under-17 team, and coincidentally, Popov scored the equalizer last Saturday against Spezia. A first circle closed.
Less than two years later, Popov is already playing in the first team, and everything suggests he could be a valuable asset this season.
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Given his age and the competition, he did not start the season as a starter. Empoli’s attack includes a creative second striker like Ilie, a highly talented forward like Stiven Shpendi, and a category striker like Nasti; Pietro Pellegri is also expected to return soon. Popov, however, seized his opportunity immediately.
On matchday one, at home against Padova, Shpendi suffered a physical problem around mid-first half. With Nasti suspended for the first three matches and Pellegri still injured, Guido Pagliuca had no choice but to launch Popov. The Ukrainian repaid him with a brace: the first a scrappy goal, the second a spectacular diving header reminiscent of Aldo Baglio.
Goals like these might suggest a classic striker, a penalty-area finisher. Watching full matches, it becomes clear Popov is a very different type of forward.
Standing 1.93 meters and still slim, Popov loves dropping back to participate in the play. He still needs to grow physically and learn to handle duels, but what stands out is his quality on the first touch. In these three matches, his first touch has been almost always clean, which, combined with his lanky physique, gives him a certain elegance.
The most striking example was his goal against Reggiana: on a through ball, Popov anticipated the goalkeeper’s exit with a delicate first-touch, almost a tiptoe, grazing the ball into the net.
To aim for a return to Serie A, Empoli chose to restart with Guido Pagliuca, a true Tuscan, coach of the surprising Juve Stabia in the past two seasons. Pagliuca plays intense and direct football, often building vertically through the forwards. Popov has therefore spent most of his time with his back to goal, a situation that does not seem to intimidate him. He is not yet a physical forward, but he reads space well, drops back, and looks to create a useful first-touch play, whether it is a controlled touch or a pass.
His strong foot is the right, but he has shown comfort with his left as well. Against Reggiana, for example, he received a difficult pass with a defender on him and, keeping him at arm’s length, hooked the ball with his left foot in one movement, turning to escape the marker. A touch and spin similar to the one he used to beat a defender before scoring against Milan’s Primavera, which he also shared on Instagram.
These are moves that catch the eye, especially from an eighteen-year-old. We will see if Popov can impose himself among senior players this year, if he continues to show the same quality in support, or if defenders will figure him out. Likely, when fields get heavier and defenders rougher, he will need to learn to use contact, as he currently looks a bit light.
"Of course he has to grow and we need to make sure it happens at the right pace and in the right way. He needs to gain weight and muscle, but without losing his qualities," said Fabrizio Corsi, Empoli president, who summarized his traits well: "His height helps, but he also has excellent technique and is very coordinated in his movements."
Under his watch, Corsi has seen many players who later succeeded at high levels. Popov could be next, although patience will be needed. Now comes the hard part, especially in terms of scoring. As the season progresses, his average will likely normalize, also because a couple of his first goals were a bit fortunate: the spin against Spezia, probably with a slight deflection, how intentional was it?
According to FBRef, those four goals came from 1.3 npxG (4 goals from 6 shots in the first three matches), numbers unsustainable in the long term without exceptional talent.
At his age, numbers are not the most important aspect. Playing consistently and continuing to show technical quality would already be a strong achievement for an eighteen-year-old in his first professional season. For now, dreaming costs nothing. One thing is certain: Popov has a bright future ahead of him and Milan’s directors Geoffrey Moncada and Igli Tare should really keep an eye on him before the competition becomes too fierce for him in the next transfer window.
