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AC Milan defender Philippe Mexès has been no stranger to controversy in his career, most recently by grabbing the throat of Lazio's Stefano Mauri in January. It was always going to cause a stir then, when yesterday; Italian journalist Alfredo Pedullà tweeted the following:
La Fiorentina su Mexes!
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) August 27, 2015
It is an indication of the power of social media in matters surrounding the transfer market when this one tweet caused an avalanche of opinion among Fiorentina fans as to whether this controversial figure would be welcome (or even needed) within the viola squad this season.
Within minutes of the rumour being launched into the twittersphere - reports of Mexès being in a Florence hotel with his pen ready to sign the contract were spreading like wildfire.
But wait...whats this? Apparently the deal was off, because Silvio Berlusconi himself had blocked the deal. In the space of an hour this deal had been gone from nothing to nearly done to absolutely off.
Berlusconi blocca Mexes
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) August 27, 2015
In such a crazy environment, how are fans supposed to distinguish fact from fiction? How did the people reporting the news know that Berlusconi had blocked the deal? Some or even all the details may have been true, but call me cynical - sometimes news like this seems like a fabrication designed to keep us all interested. Every child ends their early attempts at story writing with "and they woke up and it was all a dream". Those kind of endings seem pretty appropriate for this Mexès story.