Fiorentina planning Chiesa extension

Fiorentina fans can breathe a very slight sigh of relief, because Pantaleo Corvino and company are working on a new extension for superstar 19-year-old Federico Chiesa. The new deal will raise the winger’s pay to €1 million per year, as well as keep him in purple until 2022, a year longer than his current contract, which he signed just this past January.

More importantly, we can expect either an unbelievably high release clause or no clause at all in the new extension. After all, we heard lots of rumors about the likes of Napoli and Inter Milan sniffing around Freddy Church this summer, and Corvino has surely learned his lesson about low buy-out clauses after the Matías Vecino disaster.

It’s also a clear indicator to the fans, the players, and the rest of the league that Fiorentina is serious about this youth-centric rebuild. By locking up their most valuable asset and presumed centerpiece for the next half-decade, it signals to other youngsters, both those in the team and those that Corvino tries to bring aboard in the future, that good performances will be rewarded promptly.

In the unlikely event that Chiesa refuses to sign, he’s still under contract until 2021, so the Viola would be under no pressure to sell him, as happened with Federico Bernardeschi. By offering him an extension so soon after his last one, though, the club is making a show of good faith in the winger, and he’s likely to repay that with a signature and several more seasons at the top of his game. This is the right move for everyone involved, and we’re glad to see the management taking it.