BatiGol Weekly 238: Time is on my side

Meanwhile, The first day of the transfer window is over. Juventus have finalized a contract with former PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot and swapped Leonardo Spinazzola to AS Roma for Luca Pellegrini. Inter Milan have officially announced moves for Diego Godín and Valentino Lazaro. Napoli have snapped up Roma’s Kostas Manolas, with Amadou Diawara going the other way. Sampdoria have snagged Fabio Deapoli from Chievo Verona. It’s been a big day.

Of course, if you’re a Fiorentina fan, nothing really happened. No deals for Ismaël Bennacer or Daniele de Rossi or Borja Valero or anyone else materialized. The only news from the club was an official presentation of Sporting Director Daniele Pradè, who’s been on the job for two and a half weeks already.

This isn’t how it was supposed to be. Rocco Commisso was going to give Pradè a massive pile of cash to buy a bunch of technical, exciting players who’d help propel Fiorentina back into continental relevance. Instead, the Viola have been silent all day, and now the fans are getting restless.

But. But. But but but but. Let’s cut Pradè and Commisso and Vincenzo Montella a little bit of slack here. Not only are they burdened with building this Viola squad out of the ashes, but everyone’s wondering just how deep the new owner’s pockets are. Every DS worth a cent is trying to squeeze Fiorentina for every euro right now in an effort to see how the new regime will handle transfers. The brass have to take a hard line for right now to ensure that other clubs don’t inflate prices down the line.

That might be suck for a little bit. With so many unknowns, it’ll take awhile for everyone to figure out where exactly in the hierarchy Fiorentina now sits. By sitting on their hands, the Viola are making a smart choice here that should pay dividends down the road; instead of paying too much for players who won’t really move the needle, they’re sitting back, letting the mercato go crazy, and leaving everyone else in the dark as to their intentions. When they decided to strike, their current inactivity should serve them well.

So when Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Matthijs de Ligt, and Sandro Tonali Tonali all end up in purple next year, don’t be surprised. Just remember these frustrating 24 hours and know that Fiorentina have spent all summer building up to this, with a smart and realistic transfer strategy, and then sit back and enjoy it.

Latest news

Fiorentina actually do want Bennacer, according to Empoli president Fabrizio Corsi. Get the full details here.

Lucas Biglia, on the other hand, isn’t as realistic a target, according to his agent.

We’ve heard whispers that Federico Chiesa wants out of Florence, but they seem rather out of character for the player based on our knowledge of him. Make of that what you will.

Au revoir, Alban Lafont. The young goalkeeper is heading back to France on loan, and we’re still not sure where it all went wrong.

Must read

We asked you what to do with Fiorentina’s hazy stadium situation next year and you told us.

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Comment of the week

Gianluca di Marzio wishes he had Johnny Bee’s cred.

That’s it for this week, folks. Floss more often.