Viola linked to Atalanta striker Paloschi

Another day another link. This time it’s the turn of Alberto Paloschi. The misfiring Atalanta striker has been strongly linked with a move to the Artemio Franchi, in a reported 2 year loan with an option to buy.

Florence’s own Mr. Fiorentina Nicola Kalinić is fresh off rejecting an offer to ply his trade in the Chinese Super League for a reported €45 million fee. As admirable as Nicola’s act of loyalty was, I can't think of many a Fiorentina fan who wouldn't have personally escorted him to Tianjin Quanjian for that kind of sum. Nonetheless Kalinić’s resolve in the face of untold riches is quite refreshing, or completely Idiotic, depending which way you see it... (Yeah, completely idiotic).

The mercurial Kalinić is a man of many talents, the fancy flick here, the fantastic finish there, but his inability to find a strong vein of consistency is a crictism that has been levelled at him so far in his career in Florence. Despite his flaws, he is a clear favourite of manager Paulo Sousa, and thus his decision to reject the multi-million euro carrot dangled in-front of his face is sure to please the Portuguese overseer.

Khouma Babacar has made 8 appearances in the Serie A this year, netting a not too shabby 4 goals. If his appearance-to-goal ratio is anything to go by, he’s comfortably Sousa’s second choice, which makes the Paloschi links all the more interesting...

Paloschi’s 8 goalless appearances this year leaves a lot to be desired. However in 2015/16 he managed a more impressive 10 goals in 32 appearances whilst making the move from the charismatic ambience of Verona’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ worthy medieval town and its jaw-dropping 1st century Roman Amphitheater for pie and chips on a rainy beach in Swansea; but hey, whatever floats your boat Alberto...

Nonetheless, despite the signs that Paloschi may be heading south to Florence, it still seems hard to see where he fits in within the current set up. Having drawn comparisons from the media to Inzaghi during his career (Yeah, I didn’t say this), Paloschi is a real goal poacher, someone who plays off the last defender. With Kalinić owning the No.9 spot for now, and Babacar proving readily capable of taking up the berth in the Croatian’s absence, it’s hard to see where Paloschi would fit. Maybe he's the next cog in Corvino’s Italian-ification of the squad, which so far has seen him snap up both Riccardo Saponara and Marco Sportiello.

But hey-ho, assuming the deal is on a 2 year loan basis its hard to find reasons why Corvino shouldn’t take a gamble on him, it’s a possible low risk high reward situation. His Chievo Verona days have shown there is clear talent there, and if Paloschi provides another source of goals then so be it.