Fiorentina closing on Politano

The last Fiorentina fans saw of Matteo Politano, he was engineering a second half comeback to draw Sassuolo level with their hosts from 2-0 down in yet another trademarked Paulo Sousa meltdown. If this report is to be believed, it was the best kind of audition for what could wind up being his new club.

TuttoMercatoWeb believes that the Viola are close to finalizing a move for the 23-year-old that will wind up being somewhere around €18 million and a salary of €1.2 million annually; the plan is a year-long loan with a mandatory option to buy. It’d be a tidy profit for the Neroverdi, who bought him from AS Roma last year for a paltry €3.5 million, but they’d also lose a very talented young player who made 42 appearances for them this season, scoring 8 goals and assisting 8 more, mostly in relief of the injured Domenico Berardi. Politano impressed Giampiero Ventura enough to earn an Azzurri call, although he’s yet to debut for the international side.

Considering how well he did replacing an Italian U21 star on the wing, it makes sense that Fiorentina would be interested in having him reprise that role, especially if Federico Bernardeschi leaves. Politano’s style is more about pure pace and off-the-ball running than Fede, but he’s the sort of player who seems to do well under the watchful eye of Stefano Pioli, who’s had success with similar young wingers like Felipe Anderson and Keita Diao.

It seems like a lot of money for such a young player, but he’s already spent two years as a starter in Serie A and, in this modern age of mega-transfers, probably isn’t too crazy. Such an expenditure would probably go a long way to reassure the tifosi, too, in the midst of what sure looks like a fire sale. Hopefully it goes through soon and he turns into a star international, but it’s hard to know what exactly is going on with this one.