Report: Fiorentina make offer for Caprari

So here we are again. We already explained why it doesn’t make sense for Fiorentina to add more attackers yesterday, when these Suso rumors cropped up. To put it briefly, a stable of Federico Chiesa, Patrick Cutrone, Dušan Vlahović, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Rachid Ghezzal, and Riccardo Sottil (to say nothing about Franck Ribery) is plenty of bodies for two spots. Nevertheless, Sky claims (via FirenzeViola) that the Viola have made an offer for Sampdoria forward Gianluca Caprari.

In fairness, this doesn’t sound like a big offer: €1 million for the initial loan fee with €7 million due at year’s end. Caprari isn’t some dud, either, considering that he was good for a goal or assist every 128 minutes last year and has 4 this year. He’s also versatile enough to play up top, off a main striker, or on the wing. His primary attributes are pace and dribbling, although he’s a more complete footballer than he gets credit for.

Under new boss Claudio Ranieri, he’s found his opportunities rather limited; he’s only started twice since October. Fabio Quagliarella is a must-start player and Manolo Gabbiadini is enjoying his best season in ages, leaving Caprari to fight for the scraps with Federico Bonazzoli. Ranieri hasn’t used him on the wings much either, preferring to use more central players like Karol Linetty and Ronaldo Vieira out wide.

Now 26 years old, he’s got 5 full seasons of Serie A experience playing various roles in various setups. The main criticism against him is that he’s inconsistent, drifting in and out of matches for long stretches, but he’s definitely got quality. That’s why Samp probably aren’t interested in selling him for a relatively paltry €8 million (especially since his contract runs until 2022), and why Caprari himself probably wouldn’t want to come to Florence to continue his supersub role. If he’s keen, though, he’s the sort of capable squad player we haven’t seen nearly enough of at Fiorentina over the past decade or so.

Wait, did we just talk ourselves into this? Yes. Yes we did. If this deal happens, it’d be a good one for the Viola.