Chapter 309: A near-perfect transfer operation
The current Torino team can be said to be in the spotlight of other teams, following the tradition of previous emerging teams, and being treated as a supermarket of players by other teams, with a different number of followers behind each of the team's main players, waiting for the time to swarm and dismember the red bull.
In early June, Paris sent an offer of 60 million euros to buy Belotti, which was rejected by the club. However, on the third day after the incident, the opponent's new sports director Antro Enrique arrived in Italy, and the purpose of his trip was not only to contact Juventus and Inter Milan to discuss the transfer of Di Maria, but also to launch an offensive against Milan goalkeeper Donnarumma. However, after meeting with Donnarumma's agent Raiola, Enrique made a special trip to the Turin club residence, nominally to discuss the deal of goalkeeper Sirigu, but in fact to inquire about the price of the red babe, but unfortunately in the end he could not get a satisfactory answer.
On the afternoon of the 13th, the Rossoneri temporarily postponed their meeting with the top management of Fiorentina, apparently hoping to make a final attempt at the number one center forward of the Italian national team before buying Kalinic. A €20 million one-year loan with a €60 million mandatory buy-out clause, in addition to the possibility of putting striker Lapadula, who joined Milan from Pescara last summer, into a deal for $9 million, is the final offer made by Milan general manager Fasoone.
The transfer fee of almost 80 million and the personal friendship with AC Milan in the past still failed to impress the heart of the Torino president, and his refusal officially announced that Red Babe would not have the opportunity to join the team he loved since childhood this season, and Kalinic's transfer will also enter the countdown.
However, even with the loss of these two big buyers, there is still no shortage of suitors for Torino's number one star, Manchester United, who are trying to bring in Alvaro Morata, and Chelsea, who want to buy Lukaku, both regard Belotti as a second target, and if they fail to win their respective first-choice strikers, the two Premier League giants will make an offer for Torino No.9.
For the top scorer of Serie A last season, Li Mudi was not too obsessed, and it was naturally good to stay, but it is not a bad thing to leave in exchange for a lot of money. He won't be paying attention to people who are no longer in his team, but he needs to get the right transfer fee and not delay the team in finding a replacement. On the 15th, he will go to Belotti's wedding, and the Turin coach will ask the other party what he thinks, and no matter what the outcome is, he must firmly control the initiative in his own hands.
As for the midfield duo who played well last season, they are naturally also remembered by others, with Napoli and Roma behind Barcelona keeping an eye on him, while Benassi has become the number one target for the Purple Lilies to strengthen their midfield. Although he is very optimistic about these two new generation of organizational midfielders, once there is a price code that meets his own psychology, Li Mudi will not carry it and will not let go, 25 million euros, who can take out this number and persuade the player to leave the team with an iron heart, the person is his. However, at the moment, no team will come up with the funds to buy the two young people who are just starting to rise, so it is unrealistic to rely on them to raise enough funds.
At the back, Zampacosta and teenager Bareka also have their own fans. The former has been listed as a potential target by the Blues and Chelsea, but it is unknown why Conte has not made an inquiry after so long; The latter is mainly from within Italy, with Inter and Roma both interested in acquiring the 22-year-old.
However, it is unlikely that these two will leave, because they have sold Brazilian wingback Bruno Perez "cheaply", so in Zampa, the new Italian international, the Torino club will not make similar mistakes again, and the price tag of at least 30 million euros can scare off almost all interested buyers. The value of the left fullback Bareka is not so exaggerated, about 12 million is enough to satisfy the appetite of the senior management, and he can be the only youth player in the team at present, and Li Mudi will not let him go. For the league and Europa League registration requirements, even if a team bids 100 million - it will have to be sold, as long as it is not far beyond its own estimate, it will not make the team manager nod.
After all, the only person who is likely to sell in a short period of time without affecting the strength of the team too much is Ghanaian defender Akwa. At the end of the season, this "black and hard" assigned his agent to ask Li Mudi for the position of the main force, but he couldn't, so he moved the idea of leaving the team. It's just that the final decision hasn't been made yet, after all, according to the current situation of the Torino team, the results of next season will not be bad, which is a great benefit for the players to improve their own value, and they are still hesitant to leave the team this summer.
However, after Akwa's agency secretly released the news that he was interested in switching to a new environment, it attracted the attention of a group of teams, with Udinese and Sassuolo, two mid-table teams in Serie A, taking a keen interest in him. However, unless it is a last resort, the Torino coach will not sell the defensive stalwart who has just started his prime to his domestic team, which will undoubtedly strengthen the opponent's strength and add unnecessary problems to himself. So after crossing these two affordable clubs off the list of buyers, he turned his attention to two other foreign suitors.
Ligue 1's Lyon and Nice both have thoughts on the Ghanaian, the former because the team's two midfielders Geizal and Gonaronse have already left the team and urgently need new signings to fill the places they have left; The latter is because in the new season to play in the Champions League play-offs, reinforcement is imperative. However, according to the reality of the FM system, it is likely that these two French clubs will not make any moves in the near future, and are likely to be looking for the best candidates on multiple fronts.
Anyone who has played FM games knows that the display of player suitors is divided into two categories: the team that is very interested and the team that is slightly interested, when the player intends to sell the player, the team that is very interested will send an offer almost immediately, and most of them are still premium, and the slightly interested are often not so active, and they need to constantly recommend or even lower the price code to be able to lure the other party to make a move, and at this time Lyon and Nice are in the latter state.
In order to solve the financial problem as soon as possible, the Torino boss decided to sell Acwa to two French teams, and the transfer fee is the current valuation of Transfermarkt: 7.5 million euros, although Torino will need to set up an additional clause that will give the player 30% of the profit generated by the next transfer. After the test of the FM system in his brain, this bid was very likely to be accepted by the other party, so Li Mudi hurriedly dialed the mobile phones of Valentino Cairo and Genes and explained the relevant operations.
At 16 o'clock in the evening of the 13th local time in Spain, a generation of legendary goalkeeper Casillas held a press conference in Madrid, officially announcing that he would not renew his contract with Porto, and his new club will be the Serie A team Torino, which caused a lot of shock. Although many media questioned that it was an extremely bad decision for him to go to an unfamiliar environment at the age of 36, many friends in the circle still sent their blessings in time, and Real Madrid celebrities or current stars such as Raul, Zizou, Ramos and Ronaldo have left messages on online social platforms to cheer for Cassie. The Torino coach also retweeted Marca's report on the press conference on Instagram and Twitter, and also liked it, and although it was quickly deleted, it still set off a wave of controversy, making the hashtag of Cassie's switch to Torino a hot topic in the past two days.
The confirmation of the former Real Madrid goalkeeper also announced that Sirigu would not be able to participate in Turin City, even if Li Mudi thought that he would be a perfect second goalkeeper, but this was obviously whimsical. Fortunately, there are many teams interested in the former Italian national team member, and his willingness to return to his home football will not be changed by the Red Bulls' no-show, Sampdoria, Bologna, Chievo and other six or seven clubs are his targets, but it is difficult to say whether Sirigu will break out when he faces Torino in the league.
On the 14th, there was good news from the club's marketing department that Crotone had sent an offer for defender Ajeti: 1.2 million euros, which was quickly approved by director Longo. Due to the player's own desire to have the ball to play, and his low annual salary, Crotone quickly negotiated a contract with the player's agent. At noon on the 16th, the two clubs announced on their official websites at the same time that the deal was officially reached, and the transfer funds of the Torino team increased by a small amount.
On the 15th, Li Mudi took a direct Ryanair flight, after a 100-minute flight, to Palermo, the capital of the autonomous region of Sicily in southern Italy, where his number one star Belotti will hold his wedding with his bride Giorgia Duro. To the surprise of many, not many active Torino players were present. In addition to Moretti, Baseli and Barreca, the rest of the men's circle of friends is composed of Pazzini and other people from other clubs, and even Darmian, who once completely tore his face with the Red Bulls in order to join Inter, has also come, making the outside world speculate whether this means that the new league goalscorer may be about to leave the place where he has made a name for himself.
However, at the banquet after the wedding, the Torino coach found an opportunity to speak alone with the groom for two minutes, and then chatted privately with his agent Sergio Ranchi, who is rumored to be replaced by his new wife, and learned that if he could not switch to AC Milan, Belotti had no intention of leaving the club this summer, unless the club agreed to let him go because of the high offer received. After getting the information he needed, Li Mudi returned to Turin City overnight, and since the team's main scorer was almost certain to stay, the following operation could be carried out.
On the 16th, the French newspaper "Team" issued a news: Lyon and Nice have made a formal offer to the Red Bulls for Ghanaian midfielder Akwa, who hopes to join a team that can give him a main position. With the two buyers' offers similarly similar, the midfielder, who was an eye-catcher last season, will need to weigh the pros and cons of both sides, but it is believed that the final choice will be given soon, and the date of the agreement is expected to be within a week or two.
The confident Torino coach asked the marketing department to urge the Ghanaians to make a decision as soon as possible, and to receive the transfer fee early (Ligue 1's summer transfer window opened on June 11), while entrusting his agent and the club's top management to release the false news that had been laid out for a long time.
On the morning of the 17th, when he was on his way to the Celestial Empire, the "Turin Sports Newspaper" published an article breaking the news: The Red Bulls are currently interested in joining the battle for Genoa striker Simeone Jr. It was previously reported that Fiorentina would make an offer to the son of the Atletico Madrid manager after selling Kalinic to AC Milan for a high price. However, with the Croatian international in the real stage, Torino's strong involvement will add a lot of uncertainty to Simeone Jr's future.
At 10 p.m. that day, the authoritative German sports media "Kicker" claimed that the Torino team had been in contact with Bayer Leverkusen to try to ask Swiss international Admir Mohammadi for a price. Born in 1991, the striker played for Zurich, Dynamo Kyiv and Freiburg, but has been mediocre since joining the Bundesliga in 2013, scoring just 20 goals in 110 appearances. However, his tenacious fighting spirit and ability to play in multiple positions up front have been welcomed by successive managers, with the Serie A side planning to bring in the versatile player for no more than €7 million.
If these two pieces of news are just a small wind and waves and cannot get too many people's attention, then at noon on the 18th, an unconfirmed news in the Italian newspaper caused a lot of turmoil in the Apennine football world. The journalist wrote an article claiming that Napoli had just rejected an offer from Torino for Colombian striker Duvan Zapata. According to the report, although he has performed well during his loan spell at Udinese in the past two seasons, the buyout fee offered by the Zebras cannot satisfy the appetite of the White Dolphins, so they can only send the high-school striker with speed back to the original team. However, Maurizio Sarri has made it clear that there is no place for this player in the squad, so the Red Bulls want to take the opportunity to recruit him.
However, the reason why the transfer request was rejected was not that the price was too low, but that Napoli did not want to strengthen the strength of its rivals. Yes, you read that right, under the pen of the journalist of the Italian newspaper, the Torino team has grown to the point where they can threaten the top three in Serie A, which greatly reduces the trust of readers in the article. However, people in the circle got the news from other sources, Torino director Pantario Longo did ask the White Dolphin about Zapata's transfer possibility, but did not propose a specific price, and the reason why the deal was not reached should not be true as the reporter said, it is likely that the two sides have a big difference in transfer fees.
However, the Red Bulls' successive "striker" news still hit the soft underbelly of a certain club like a perfect combination of punches, forcing them to make certain concessions in a player transfer negotiation. When Li Mudi had just signed several endorsement contracts with the Celestial Empire with a total value of more than 50 million soft girls and was about to leave for the Kimchi Country, the transaction he was most concerned about had made great progress, which made the Turin coach feel extremely happy.