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In what’s becoming an increasingly surreal story, Borja Valero (according to Violanews.com) told friends that Fiorentina “made him cry and lose sleep” for weeks over his reported sale to Inter Milan. I’m not sure I can recall the club ever acting in a less dignified fashion.
Valero, true to his reputation as a man of pure class, has refused to explain what exactly has been going on in this saga, stating that he’s a Viola player and won’t say anything negative about his club while he’s under contract, although he’s promised to tell the tifosi what the story is if and when he leaves.
We’ve heard rumors that Pantaleo Corvino is incensed at his Spanish midfielder for a refusing a big-money move to China back in January and has had it in for him ever since, but so far nothing has appeared to corroborate this account. However, Corvino’s de-Pradè-ization of the squad seems to bear witness to a coup against a player so beloved by the city that he’s frequently dubbed “the mayor of Florence.”
The only silver lining here is that Borja’s comments also contained this nugget: he’s “still not 100% sure that [he]’ll be leaving.” Let’s hope that this, combined with the outpouring of outrage from the fans, will help Corvino leave his control freak tendencies behind and let Valero spend the remainder of his career in the city he loves.