Today, Modena Volley officially announced the termination of its contract with the Argentinian setter Luciano De Cecco. The brief announcement from the club stated that the decision was made by mutual consent. Overall, this was his 15th season in the Italian Serie A. Previously, the setter played for Cucine Lube Civitanova, Sir Safety Conad Perugia, and Copra Elior Piacenza. He has three gold medals from the Italian Championship, four Italian Cups, and two Italian Supercups, a bronze and a silver medal from the Champions League, as well as the CEV Challenge Cup. With the Argentinian national team, De Cecco won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

This development comes amidst some health difficulties that plagued De Cecco at the end of the 2024-2025 season, including recurrent kidney stones. Even then, Modena took preventive measures by bringing in another Argentinian setter – Nicolas Uriarte. Meanwhile, Matias Giraudo also briefly joined the team.

Young French setter Amir Tizi-Oualou arrives in Modena

To replace De Cecco, the Italian club signed one of the most promising names in French volleyball – Amir Tizi-Oualou. At only 20 years old, he already has a gold medal from the Nations League with the senior French national team, as well as MVP awards from the European Youth and U22 Championships, and a Cadets World Championship.

Last season, he played for Saems Tourcoing VB Lille Métropole, with whom he won the French Cup and reached the quarterfinals of Liga A, finishing in fourth place. Prior to that, he also played for Montpellier Volley.

Conflicting transfer: From Poland to Italy... with solid compensation

The original plan was for Tizi-Oualou to play for the Polish team Steam Hemarpol Norwid Częstochowa, with whom he already had a signed contract. This means that Modena Volley was forced to pay compensation to the Polish club for the premature "buyout" of the setter. The amount, according to Polish media, totals 170,000 euros – significantly higher than the initially mentioned 80,000 euros.

The Italians initially hoped to achieve a player-for-player transfer (De Cecco to Częstochowa, Tizi-Oualou to Modena), but the Argentinian showed no interest in such an exchange. This put the Poles in a situation where they urgently needed to find a replacement for the young Frenchman, but the received sum will help with that.

Amir Tizi-Oualou signs long-term

Modena Volley has signed a four-year contract with Tizi-Oualou, with an expected annual salary of around 75,000 euros. The investment in such a young, but already proven athlete, speaks to a search for long-term stability in the setter position.