Enough is enough with the Gabbiadini rumors

By now we all know that Nikola Kalinic may leave Fiorentina for a comically large pile of Chinese money. If that transpires—which still isn’t a sure thing—then yes, the Viola will probably look for another quality striker to share time with Khouma Babacar and Mauro Zarate. What this doesn’t mean is that any striker is now “linked to” a move to Florence. Guh. Just stop it.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, Sky Sport Italia claim that Manolo Gabbiadini is Corvino’s top choice to replace Kalinic, should he depart. On the very surface, it makes sense: he’s rounding into form after a dreadful spell to start the season, and Arkadiusz Milik is nearly ready to roll for Napoli again, which will render Gabbiadini surplus to requirements.

But it’s not happening for so many more reasons. The first is that Maurizio Sarri, Napoli officials, and Gabbiadini himself have all said that he’s going to either the Premier League or the Bundesliga on loan; Fiorentina, in fact, plays in neither of those leagues and is looking for a full-time replacement, not a 6-month stopgap. Second, he’s not the type to lead the line. Rather, he’s a support striker or wide forward, and tends to get swallowed up whole when asked to battle centerbacks, which really wouldn’t work in Paulo Sousa‘s system.

Look, we like Gabbiadini. He was great at Sampdoria and in the right environment, he’ll probably be a star. But Florence isn’t that environment right now, particularly taking into account how much he’d cost—Napoli want to at least recoup the €13 million they paid for him. We wish him nothing but the best. Now if the Viola could sign his older sister Melania, AGSM Verona winger and 4-time Italian Footballer of the Year, that’d be a different story.