Ex-Portsmouth coach and son of Juventus assistant boss reunites with former Fratton Park manager

A former Pompey coach has reunited with his ex-Blues manager in League Two.

Lorenzo Dolcetti spent 18 months at Fratton Park as first-team development coach under Danny Cowley.

Arriving in July 2021 following time coaching at Juventus’ Academy and Chichester City, he was part of a Pompey backroom which included Nicky Cowley and Simon Bassey.

Dolcetti was also on the caretaker team which oversaw the Blues for three matches following Cowley’s dismissal in January 2023, including the FA Cup trip to Spurs.

However, he left the south coast along with Bassey following John Mousinho’s arrival as head coach.

Now the son of Juventus assistant manager Aldo has returned to football after linking up with the Cowleys at Colchester United.

Dolcetti has been appointed first-team analyst, with the new management team having taken over the struggling side a month ago.

He told Col U TV: 'I'm very excited to be here - it's been a very busy first week.

‘It came about very quickly last week, I've worked with Danny and Nicky at Portsmouth so we have that connection.

‘There was a position available at the club and I didn't think twice and I'm happy to be here.

‘I'm lucky to have my Dad who played in Serie A when it was a good Serie A and now he's assistant manager at Juventus with Massimiliano Allegri.

‘It's very useful to have him to speak to, to listen to and to talk about football a lot.’

Born and bred in Italy, Dolcetti moved to England in 2016 to study football coaching and performance at the University of Chichester.

He later worked as Chichester City’s first-team coach, while also spent a season-long internship at Southampton as first-team performance analyst.

New club Colchester are presently 22nd in League Two, having lost 1-0 at Harrogate on Saturday.