 Nevertheless, Paponi struggled to find space in the first team in the following 2007–08 season, and in January 2008 he accepted a loan move to Serie B's Cesena, where he scored two goals in 21 games.For the 2008–09 season he returned to Parma, then in Serie B, playing seven games and scoring twice, but in January 2009 he was loaned out again, this time to Rimini as part of the deal that brought then-Serie B topscorer Daniele Vantaggiato to join the "gialloblu".On 10 June 2010 Parma exchanged the 22-year-old striker with Gabriele Paonessa of Bologna in co-ownership deal.