Fiorentina stand to make big money from Ante Rebić

Remember Ante Rebić? Croatian fella, joined Fiorentina from RNK Split in 2013 for €4.5 million as a 19-year-old? Showed oodles of promise but never came good in Italy and fell out of the club’s long-term plans? Currently looking like a pretty dang good player in the World Cup? He’s about to make the Viola a pretty good-sized pile of money.

When he left Florence for good last summer, it was on a year-long loan to Eintracht Frankfurt, who were on the hook for a €2 million mandatory fee due on 1 July of this year. While that seems like an awfully small amount for a versatile 24-year-old who’s just starting to hit his stride, Corvino at least had the foresight to install a clause in the deal that means about 30% of any future fee for Rebić will come back to the Viola coffers.

Now a host of big-name clubs are interested in the Vatreni hero: Tottenham Hotspur, Borussia Dortmund, and Everton are the candidates most often mooted for his signature, but whoever gets him will have to pay Frankfurt about €30 million, of which €9 million would make its way to Fiorentina.

For a team of Fiorentina’s size, a €9 million boost in the mercato is a very significant sum which could easily be the difference between signing another Valentin Eysseric and a real, bonafide starting-caliber winger. On the other hand, keeping him around would have been just fine, too; a front line of Federico Chiesa, Giovanni Simeone, and Rebić would cause Serie A opposition fits. Ante’s still prone to the odd moment of madness, but he’s finally grown into the player we all knew he could be. While it’s frustrating that it didn’t happen for Fiorentina, at least the club will get some good back from him.