South Tyrol's best striker has a new club

Manuel De Luca scored his first Serie A goal at the end of August – and, curiously, hasn't played a single minute since. Now the 27-year-old from South Tyrol is attempting a complete fresh start.

07 January 2026

From: fop

What happened at Cremonese in late summer was quite bizarre: De Luca, just a few months earlier a celebrated promotion hero, only played a total of 14 minutes in Serie A over the first two matchdays, but scored the winning goal in his team's home victory against Sassuolo. After that, he never played for Cremonese again – and the newly promoted side remained winless in the following six games.

Due to a late surge in the transfer market, De Luca was dropped from the squad, and a last-minute departure fell through. However, it was already clear at that time: the striker from Pfatten would leave Cremonese in the winter. And that's exactly what has happened.

Manuel De Luca scored his only Serie A goal to date on August 29th in the match between Cremonese and Sassuolo. © ANSA / FILIPPO VENEZIA

De Luca signed a contract with second-division club Modena on Tuesday. After completing his medical examination several days ago, the loan move (with an option to buy) has now been finalized.

Guest appearance in his homeland

This means De Luca will also face his hometown and youth club, FC Südtirol, in the second half of the season. He and his new club will visit the Drusus Stadium on April 11th. The mission of the man from the lowlands in the coming months is: to fire Modena into Serie A! The Canarini led the Serie B table for a long time in the autumn, but have since slipped to seventh place.

The hopes placed in De Luca are certainly not unfounded, as he has already scored an impressive 37 goals in 150 Serie B appearances for Virtus Entella, Chievo Verona, Sampdoria, and Cremonese. More goals are expected to follow in Modena, where he will play alongside former FC Südtirol striker Ettore Gliozzi.

Keywords Soccer Manuel DeLuca Cremonese Modena