BatiGol Weekly 49: Weird science

I can never look at the mercato as anything but a science fiction experiment, with club management taking on the role of mad scientist (the image of Pantaleo Corvino as Victor Frankenstein pleases me immensely for some reason) and the team as this disparate collection of spare parts, waiting to be assembled into something intelligent and sublime, in the case of Paulo Sousa and Vincenzo Montella, or into some sort of shambling monstrosity, as seen under the reign of Siniša Mihajlović.

The framework is in place to build a pretty excellent monster this year, too. The Viola have a strong spine right now, with one of the best centerback pairings in Serie A and a dynamic and complementary midfield. It's just up top and at the extremities that the squad is badly lacking. With some fullbacks for legs and some wingers for arms, this team would look absolutely lethal. Of course, when you're building your own monster, it's sort of like building your own motorcycle: you want to make sure you've got plenty of spare parts, which makes having some depth a necessity as well.

I don't want to get into the ethics of stitching together our own monstrous creature (that's what the comment section is for), but I think we can all agree that it's crucial to give this sucker a good, strong brain and a good, strong sense of purpose. So that is the narrative I'll be hoping for over the next couple of months. A story of calm, carefully planned acquisitions that are slowly sewn together and then brought to life with lightening, leading to an absolute juggernaut. Because when you're making a monster, that never turns out wrong.

via GIPHY

Latest news

Emanuele Giaccherini seems poised for a move to Florence. Details here.

Here is our Tuesday roundup of transfer rumors.

And here is our newest feature: a Friday roundup of transfer rumors.

Juventus defender Martín Cáceres is firmly in the Viola sights. Learn more here.

Here is our report on who Amadou Diawara is and why everyone wants to sign him for a lot of money.

Milan Badelj's agent Maksim Joksimovic is determined to make himself look terrible, and is doing a great job. Read more here.

And Fiorentina have their first acquisition of the summer. It's 18 year old Polish goalkeeper Bartłomiej Drągowski, about whom you can learn more here.

Comment of the week

The "news" has broken that Fiorentina have signed a contract with a sponsor, but nobody's saying who it is. wolfpackallday is supportive but confused, and made me snort-laugh when I read this.