Orel Mangala has only played one club match so far this season, although he did get half an hour in Belgium’s 2-0 defeat to France during the international break.
Moving from Lyon to Everton during the summer window, the midfielder hasn’t had club minutes since August 18th, and may take a little while to get settled in with the Merseyside club.
He could easily have been in Florence instead, enjoying all the delights Tuscany’s capital has to offer whilst playing for La Viola.
Indeed, when Everton were working on the transfer there were reports of Fiorentina trying for a deal themselves, and even claims the player himself was pushing for a move to the Serie A side.
Fiorentina director Daniel Prade has now spoken to the Italian media about various events which happened during La Viola’s transfer window.
Mangala got a mention, and FiorentinaNews quote him as saying: “Goretti (the club’s technical director) wanted Mangala, ever since he arrived. The thing is that he had cost Lyon a lot and at the beginning there was no opening from the French. When they told us they were sending him to play we tried, we reached an agreement with the boy, but there was this Lyon-Everton agreement with more advantageous conditions for Lyon and he went to England.”
The big factor here is likely to be John Textor, who is of course in charge at Lyon and would like to have the same role at Everton.
