Fiorentina ponder Stefan Savic - Mario Suarez swap deal with Atletico Madrid

This potential deal has been whispered for several days in Spain, and is now also being reported in Italy by more reputable sources such as Gianluca Di Marzio. Atletico Madrid are apparently interested in Fiorentina central defender Stefan Savic, and are willing to offer cash plus veteran midfield enforcer Mario Suarez to bring the Montenegrin to Madrid.

There are two main sticking points to this potential deal:

1. Fiorentina values Savic at around €18-€20 million. So even if Atleti include the now out-of-favor Suarez, they will have to include a sizable chunk of cash which they might be unwilling to spend for a good-to-great replacement for Miranda with a reasonable ceiling for improvement.
   
2. Mario Suarez - a long time Rojiblanco and Atleti youth product - is on sizable wages that Fiorentina are unwilling to pay in full.
   

Marca have in fact said that Mario Suarez has agreed to lower his wage demands in order to join Fiorentina, a development that has led to the Spanish paper already waving goodbye to the midfield enforcer. Once a key part of Diego Simeone's very combative Atletico Madrid side, this Mario (like all other Mario's, it seems) has fallen out of favor. He still boasts another one of these particularly entertaining not-at-all-Montella-Style WhoScored.com breakdowns:

If the deal were to go through, Suarez would add some experience and physicality to the Viola midfield, but the Fiorentina backline would likely miss Savic's solidity and ability in the air, despite his downturn in form at the end of last season. A hypothetical departure of the Montenegrin could mean opportunities for Ahmed Hegazi, Michele Camporese, and certainly a much bigger workload for Jose Maria Basanta.

Regardless, this story has only now moved from "total fantasy" to "maybe a thing," so I wouldn't wave goodbye to our mustachioed defensive super villain quite yet.