In the transfer rumour world, a month and a half is a very long time, which is the amount of time that has gone by since Manchester City and Manchester United were mentioned next to Federico Chiesa’s name in one of the main Italian newspapers.
Corriere dello Sport were the ones reporting the interest back in early February, and they return towards the end of March, explaining they expect a fierce battle for the Fiorentina winger’s services in the summer.
As well as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Pep Guardiola, managers including Zinedine Zidane, Max Allegri and Niko Kovac are all expect to battle it out for the 21-year-old come the end of the season in what could be a very expensive transfer.
Manchester United’s need for a right-winger (preferably a left footed one) is well documented, and Chiesa fits the bill, but it remains to be seen if he would be worth the €100m quoted by Corriere in Thursday’s article (which seems rather excessive).
Regarding Manchester City’s interest, Riyad Mahrez’s struggles for continuous game time suggest Chiesa would face similar issues.Either that or Pep Guardiola decides to get rid of the Algeria international in favour of the young Italian, but that would seem rather drastic after less than a year since the Leicester star’s arrival.
Manchester United seems a likelier destination, but our gut feeling is he’ll stay in Italy for now.
If he moves, it will probably be within Serie A.
