You wait six years for a retirement and, of course, two come along at the same time. Hot on the heels of Dmitry Kalinin’s retirement this summer comes the sad departure of Nicola Wettstein. For the past sixteen years, the Cremonese goal has been filled by the six-foot-five-inch frame of the Swiss keeper but come the beginning of next season there will be a rather noticeable absence of the big number thirteen from the Cremonese line-up.

2023: Wettstein joins Cremonese 2030: Peak Wettstein 2039: Final season

Given the current stature of the club and the financial might wielded, it seems strange to think back to a time when young players slipped through the grasp of Cremonese because the club simply could not afford to purchase them. The pursuit of Nicola Wettstein, however, perfectly embodies this very problem. Initially, Cremonese scouts came across the young keeper sometime around the summer of 2018 but despite his impressive potential we were simply unable to meet the transfer demands set by his club Basel. It had very nearly broken the bank to acquire the legendary Kurt Zouma in a move that hurt the club financially for many years.

Time moved on, and we were eventually able to afford Wettstein but by that time he was twenty-three-years-old and very much out of my ideal age range for new signings. However, Wettstein was such a cut above our best keeper at the time, the rather disappointing Pavel Larkin, that it seemed worth the rather large outlay of £11 million to bring him to the club. The upside of acquiring potential shouldn’t be understated either with Wettstein already capped thirty-four times by Switzerland and with a victory at Euro 2020 under his belt. It was an expensive summer all round with Cremonese acquiring a group of players that would eventually go on to form the backbone of multiple Serie A and Champions League winning sides with James Nwokolo, Alexandru Pop, and Dan Roden all signing alongside Wettstein.

I first came across this guy around four or five years back when looking for a keeper and immediately wanted him but back then we simply couldn’t afford to sign him. Now normally I don’t like to sign players who have reached their potential unless it’s to add some experience on the cheap so Wettstein here is something of an outlier really, however he’s a huge improvement on what we already have and as far as my scouts can find there just aren’t any great looking young keeper about at the moment. – (Icarus Abides, 2023)

Despite suffering from a few problems with injuries early doors, Wettstein had a very good first season with Cremonese. He quickly outfought Pavel Larkin for the starting spot in goal before going on to lead the club to a record high finish of second-place in Serie A, losing just four games in the process. He was also an integral part of Cremonese making it to a first ever appearance at the Champions League Quarter Final stage before suffering a narrow defeat to Barcelona (2-3 agg).

Solid debut season from the new keeper and one that showed a fair bit of a promise for the future. He should be a decent long term option for us should we fail to secure any other targets in the coming years. – (Icarus Abides, 2024)

He may have joined the club at twenty-three-years-old but that didn’t stop Nicola Wettstein from providing sixteen years of service to Cremonese. During the course of which appeared in a club record 515 league games and a monstrous 756 games in all competitions. Something dwarfed further still by his combined club and country total of 1,118 games. Incredible longevity and consistency really which always leaves me thinking of what might have been had he signed for Cremonese a few years earlier.

Right up until his retirement at nearly forty-years-old Nicola Wettstein was still the best Swiss keeper, something underlined by him leading them at the 2038 World Cup just twelve months ago. He made a collected 180 caps for the national team and saw a good degree of success as Switzerland emerged victorious at the 2020 Euros and 2032 Olympics. It was club football, however, where he made the greatest impact winning the Club World Cup, Supercoppa Italia, TIM Cup, and Serie A competitions eleven times each. He claimed the European Super Cup ten times, and most impressive of all he went on to lift the Champions League on twelve occasions.

The playing side of Unione Sportiva Cremonese won’t be the same without Nicola Wettstein occupying the number thirteen shirt but the club didn’t allow the legend to simply disappear with the news that Wettstein will now take up his first non-playing role as Cremonese Director of Football. It’s a huge undertaking for a first job but it’s great to see such an experienced player being retained by the club and I certainly wouldn’t bet against him making a success of it.

Next Time: Summer 2039