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When I woke up this morning, the first thing I thought was, “You know what’d be great? If I didn’t recognize a single Fiorentina player next year. That’d be exactly what I want.” Well, that sentiment has moved another step closer to reality, because Football Italia claims that Inter Milan are on the verge of triggering the €24 million release clause in Matías Vecino’s contract.
New Nerazzuri boss Luciano Spaletti has long been an admirer of the Uruguayan midfielder and made a couple of attempts to bring him to AS Roma last season. With the Chinese riches now at his disposal, it seems that he’s decided to get the Viola band back together in black and blue stripes; perhaps a move for Milan Badelj (also targeted by Inter occasionally over the past two years) is also in the works.
It’d be a real blow to the Gigliati and especially to the new mister. Stefano Pioli has already spoken in glowing terms about Vecino, citing him as the perfect man in the middle of a 4-2-3-1. If he leaves, it’ll be Badelj—whose camp has been awfully quiet about his loudly professed desire for an exit—and Sebastián Cristóforo. If the former does in fact get his move, it’ll be the latter and, uh, someone. Abdou Diakhate? Andrés Schetino? Yikes.
Vecino’s clause expires on 10 August 2017,so we’ve got a little bit less than a month to figure out what’s going to happen with him. In a perfect world, he’d stick around at least long enough to help chaperone the youngsters into Serie A readiness, if not for much longer. Then again, any Viola fan will tell you this ain’t no perfect world. On top of everything else, this could be the straw that breaks the tifosi.