Fiorentina edge closer to Kalinić signing

According to reports from Sky Sports in Italy, Nikola Kalinić is on the cusp of joining Fiorentina. Currently playing as a striker for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, the two clubs have seemingly settled on a fee for the Croatian. If the reports are to be believed, then all that's left to establish is the nature of the payments and some assorted paperwork. Dotting the 'i's, crossing the 't's, figuring out whether the club shop can spare any 'ć's from the leftover Josip Iličić shirts. As suggested by earlier transfer mutterings, it is thought the fee will hover around the €7 million mark.

Aside from an unremarkable spell at English side Blackburn Rovers, Kalinić has made his name through performances for Ukrainian side, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Signing for them back in 2011, he has since made 86 appearances for the club, scoring 37 goals. While he might be familiar to those of us who follow the Ukrainian Premier League (There are dozens of us... DOZENS!),  Kalinić's performances in last year's Europa League may well have caught the eye. Helping knock out Napoli, Ajax, and Olympiacos, Kalinić even managed to score the opening goal in the final, before his side were overrun by eventual champions, Sevilla. In addition to this, the 6'2" striker has represented his country at every level, appearing at two major international tournaments with Croatia.

The speculation is that the signing of Kalinić will not dismiss Fiorentina's on-going interest in Liverpool outcast, Fabio Borini. Depending on the formations and tactical choices made by Paulo Sousa, the existence of Khouma Babacar, and the grilled cheese knees of Giuseppe Rossi, signing another striker might be seen as wanton excess or absolutely essential. Kalinić could be the back-up or the back-up to the back-up. But as every football fan knows, signing strikers is always much more fun than signing any other players. So in that respect, let's hope for Signing All The Strikers 2015™.