Federico Chiesa to Tottenham Hotspur claims really got into the swings of things last week, with reports of a deal being close seemingly way off the mark.
There’s every chance the links to Spurs are being encouraged by the player’s agent Fali Ramadani, and he reportedly travelled to London in recent days for talks with Premier League clubs.
Ramadani has been tasked with finding Chiesa a new club given his Juventus contract has less than a year left to run. There’s no prospect of a renewal at this moment in time and things are starting to get a little bitter.
Last week we explained claims Tottenham could pay €30-35m felt wide of the mark because previous reports had put Juventus’ asking price at €20-25m.
Now Italian journalist Sandro Sabatini has laid into the player and suggested Chiesa could hold out and then move as a free agent next year.
CalcioNapoli24 report him as saying: “For years it has been said that Chiesa’s performance was linked to those who didn’t let him play in his position. We spent time saying that he should play on the right or left, even Spalletti spoke of the right position. Then in the national team he played everywhere and ended up on the bench.
“If you look at Chiesa’s numbers, even before the injury, they are not numbers for such a high valuation. It’s a market dynamic, Chiesa has always been told that he wasn’t playing well because of the coach. The player is not at all grateful towards the club that paid €50m for him and waited for a year and now he has got it into his head to leave on a free transfer because on his wedding day Marotta sent him a message.”
The last part will be related to Chiesa’s recent wedding and presumably Inter Milan CEO Giuseppe Marotta sending him congratulations and doing some groundwork on a transfer.
That would of course be hugely controversial and Juventus would prefer to sell to anyone this summer than lose their player to Inter for free. Such a situation gives Tottenham quite some strength in any negotiations.
