Simone Verdi looks almost certain to move to Napoli in this transfer window. The Bologna forward has been impressing in Serie A for the last year and his move to a big team looks like happening now. With the signing of Verdi it would leave Napoli covered in their wide attacking options paving the way for Inter as a front runner in their pursuit of Barcelona forward Gerard Deulofeu.
With Inter looking to strengthen key areas of the team Deulofeu is one of the players they are interested in. Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo reports that Deulofeu was in fact only a backup plan to Verdi. Milan have also expressed an interest in bringing back the Spanish player top the club where he spent the second half of last season on loan. Mundo Deportivo reports that this is more down to the players wishes to return to the city more so than Milan actually being interested. The new owners are keen on the player and already see their attacking options as full.
Considering all these factors the only interested team remaining are Inter. With Mundo Deportivo being a Catalan based paper they are well informed with the movements of the club behind the scenes and they suggesting that there may be some optimism that a deal can be made between Barcelona and Inter to bring the player back to the city of Milan. It is thought that Barcelona will look to make a deal on the basis of a loan until the end of the season and then the obligation to buy at an agreed price which Barcelona will set. Inter on the other hand aren’t willing to deal on an obligation to buy and would prefer a right to buy price to be put in the contract instead.
All things considered it seems that this is a deal that will go on until the final hours of this transfer window. At the end of it all though there is optimism that lengthy game of push and pull eventually a deal that pleases all parties will be made.
Verdi if we have the money. But during the circumstances, Deelofeu is a good option
IMHO get Deulofeu fast. I hated him when he played for Milan because he was so damn fast and easily oursprinted the full backs. We really need speed on the wings because neither Candreva and Perisic are really challenging the full backs but only crosses or plays backwards..
I preferred Carrasco or Verdi, but after them, he’s the best we can get. Much better than likes of Politano, Correa or that overrated guy Gaitan.
Plus he wanted to go to Ac Milan first and they rejected him. he is one trick pony but I believe he can help Inter qualify for CL.
I think we will end up taking what we can get given that we need to self-finance and are basically relying on loans with options to redeem and potential loan exchanges.
Getting Deulofeu might be tough as Barcelona looking for an outright sale so unless we can sell one of Brozovic or Joao Mario, the interest from China for Kondogbia leads to a January transfer and/or Deulofeu puts his foot down that he will only move to Inter I don’t see this happening. If he does end up coming thing he would be a great addition to the team and will add another dimension to our attack as we could use a pacey winger with an eye for goal to give Perisic and Candreva some competition.
I think Correa and Gaitan are both realistic targets given they are both squad rotation players in their teams and could potentially come on loans without an obligation to buy. While they wouldn’t be my first picks getting them both would address two of the areas we need reinforcements i.e. another winger (Correa) and a player that can play in the hole behind Icardi as a trequartista (Gaitan). Carrasco would obviously be a great addition but I don’t see Atletico letting his go on loan unless there has been a huge falling out with Simeone behind the scenes.
On the other transfers in the mix I am a big fan of Rafinha although of course he is a bit of a risk due to his injury but hey don’t see him being in the shopping window in any other scenario as he is a special player. If we can get him on the right terms think he would be an upgrade to both Brozovic and Joao Mario. Similarly, Ramires is again someone who will add some steel at the back and also some bite upfront, so would be a welcome addition. I am not a big fan of Lisandro Lopez but given that Spalletti has been known to work magic with his defenders I remain cautiously optimistic that he would be a good addition.
I would also like to see if there is any possibility to leverage the Joao Mario – C Ronaldo Portuguese connection to launch an audacious exchange offer for our boy Kovacic who hasn’t played much after coming back from injury in November. I think he would be open to a move and his connection with Icardi down the middle had just started to blossom before we did a Branca and sold him to Real to make way for Kondogbia.
It seems that the December to forget has pushed our market-men to earn their living and hopefully the moves we make over the winter mercato will help improve the squad so we can make a realistic push to secure a CL spot come May 20th.