You might have seen bits and bobs earlier this month of Burnley FC taking an interest in Luzern’s Francesco Margiotta.
The striker, who scored 14 goals and picked up 12 assists in 43 games for the Swiss club last season, has reportedly become a target for Sean Dyche, and there are rumours circulating that a move could be on the cards.
At least, that’s what Zentral Plus would have you believe, publishing a couple of articles suggesting Margiotta is distracted by a transfer to Turf Moor.
We’ll rewind to September 25th, when the website explained the player could ‘soon be one of the departures’, as a ‘transfer to the Premier League club Burnley is buzzing through the head of the centre-forward’.
That’s why he missed the season opener against Lugano and also sat out the recent 2-2 draw against Lausanne-Sport.
The latest omission came after his manager, Fabio Celestini, said: “At the moment, Margiotta is out of the team. I only accept players in the squad who are with us and our goal 200%”.
Fast forward to late last night, and Zentral Plus had another article, this time looking at what Luzern were missing in the Lausanne game.
They state ‘the biggest problem was probably the repeated absence of Francesco Margiotta. Last season’s offensive life insurance is still dealing with a move to Burnley FC in the Premier League’.
As for what the player has to say about all this and his potential move to Turf Moor, the answer is not a lot.
Speaking to Luzerner Zeitung about his situation, he explained he sacrificed ‘a lot of money’ to make the move to his current club and added: “After my first season with good performances, I expected the club to make me a new [contract] in the style of ‘what a sacrifice you made to come here, we want to redesign the contract out of gratitude’. Instead, nothing happened”.
He also added he would ‘like to return to Italy’, and when asked about a potential move to either Burnley or to a new club in his home country, he said: “I have nothing specific”.
That means that while the Clarets might be interested, Margiotta has made it clear there’s no offer on the table just yet.
We’ll have to wait and see if Dyche and co. make their move, then.
