New Decade, New Fiorentina?: A look at the latest Winter transfer rumors

With half a Serie A season under Rocco Commisso’s belt, he’s surely learned quite a bit. Vincenzo Montella’s second stint with the Viola has met its untimely end, and Fiorentina is ringing in the decade with new-man-in-charge Beppe Iachini. There have always been a ton of of transfer rumors surrounding this club, but this transfer window has a little more anticipation around it—it feels like just about every out-of-form player in the top five leagues is linked to us right now. Some of these names are incredibly exciting, and some of them don’t quite hit that mark. That said, let’s dive in and take a look at everyone who has been linked to Fiorentina in the past couple of weeks.

Krzysztof Piątek, Striker, AC Milan
Reported by: La Gazzetta dello Sport
Adam’s likeliness rating: 2/10

Let’s kick off this list with arguably the most exciting (and least likely to join us) player whose name has been recently associated with Fiorentina: the out-of-form Polish phenomenon Krzysztof Piątek. Since the departure of Nikola Kalinić and even Khouma Babacar, Fiorentina’s center-forwards have severely under-performed in their expected goal output. This transfer would be a huge get for the Viola—someone with a proven goal-scoring record in the league feels desperately needed in this squad. However, it would be Fiorentina’s record-largest transfer expenditure by a significant margin, and it’s quite hard to believe that we’ll splash that much on a single player. On top of that, he’s been more credibly linked to the likes of Atletico Madrid, AS Roma, and RB Leipzig—so we can pretty safely kiss this one goodbye. But hey, maybe Stefano Pioli can convince the Milan brass to do us a favor.

Patrick Cutrone, Striker, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Reported by: La Nazione (via Football Italia), BBC Sport, CalcioMercato
Adam’s likeliness rating: 7.5/10

Wolverhampton is as weird of a destination for a young and promising Italian striker as the name Patrick is for an Italian boy. Speculation is rising that Patrick Cutrone will join Fiorentina on loan with an option to buy for £12.8m, especially after being left out of the Wolves’ match squad against Liverpool this past Sunday. Daniele Pradè was recently in the UK allegedly ironing out the details of this deal, and there seems to be little competition from other clubs for Cutrone’s signature. These things often fall through for the Viola though, so we’ll bite our tongue until official news is published. In addition to that, some of the news outlets reporting this aren’t the most credible, so we’ll just have to keep a close eye on this deal in the coming days.

Nikola Kalinić, Striker, AS Roma
Reported by: La Nazione (via ViolaNews), Corriere dello Sport (via Football Italia)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 5/10

Nikola Kalinić’s poise and positioning would be gladly welcomed back to Florence, especially as a mentor to Dušan Vlahović. Since leaving us, the Croatian striker has floated between AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, and AS Roma without really making himself at home in any of those clubs. Fiorentina isn’t the only club sniffing around for his signature though, as Bologna and Bordeaux are reportedly interested—and the latter are coached by none other than former Viola manager Paulo Sousa, who found some success with Kalinić in the past. While I can see this one happening, I think it’s less likely than some of the other strikers we’re currently linked to.

Andrea Petagna, Striker, SPAL
Reported by: Corriere dello Sport, CalcioMercato
Adam’s likeliness rating: 5/10

For over a year now, Andrea Petagna has outperformed the expectations of a team like SPAL (no offense to our friends in Ferrara). Quite frankly, he’s even outperformed Fiorentina—but unfortunately that’s not saying much as of late. As a collective whole, SPAL have slowed down considerably from their impressive form of the past couple of years, and their stars are likely to depart either in this transfer window or in the summer. It’s really no surprise then that we’re linked to Petagna (who we’ve been linked to several times in the past), but it’s probably likelier now that someone pulls him away from Ferrara. Whether that’s us or another club is unknown, but he’d certainly be a welcome addition to the Viola, and the type of striker we haven’t had in quite some time.

Simone Zaza, Striker, Torino
Reported by: Corriere dello Sport
Adam’s likeliness rating: 6/10

If the deal with Patrick Cutrone falls through, either Simone Zaza or Diego Farias are our likeliest contingency plans. This isn’t the first time we’ve been linked to Zaza, but it is the first time he’s been credibly rumored to us since his return to Serie A. He’s always been a bit of an inconsistent product, but he’d easily be the most proven striker on our squad if he were to arrive. In recent reports, he’s allegedly been endeared with Fiorentina and the project we’re currently building, which is always a welcome sentiment to hear from a potential transfer target. He’s likely just a piece in a larger transfer window chess game being played by Daniele Pradè, so we’ll have to see how our attack pans out once this transfer window has kicked into full gear.

Diego Farias, Striker, Lecce
Reported by: Tuttosport (via fiorentina.it)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 6/10

A striker that has fallen out of favor at a newly-promoted club isn’t the flashiest transfer target, but Diego Farias does have a proven track record of success in this league. The 29-year-old Brazilian has 23 goals and 17 assists in Serie A over 131 starts—with two of those goals being against us. Ideally, we’d be bringing him in as sorely-needed depth in our attack, but we may see him start quite a few games for us if this transfer window doesn’t shape up the way we want it to. Thankfully though, that’s not the worst thing in the world.

Domenico Berardi, Winger, Sassuolo
Reported by Corriere dello Sport (via fiorentina.it)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 4.5/10

In what’s probably the hundredth consecutive transfer window in which we’ve been linked to Domenico Berardi, it’s hard to imagine a world where he actually puts on a purple jersey. Nonetheless, he’s still only 25 and a very talented player to boot—one of these years he’ll surely have to leave Sassuolo, right? He’d certainly make a great foil to Franck Ribéry, both during the Frenchman’s absence and once he returns. However, the major roadblock in bringing Berardi to Florence has always been his pricetag, as Sassuolo are notoriously difficult to negotiate with. I wouldn’t complain if Fiorentina broke the bank to steal Berardi and Alfred Duncan away from Sassuolo, but we’re definitely not the kind of club to do that. Barring some unforeseen drop in his market value, it’s hard to see Domenico Berardi joining the Viola.

Matteo Politano, Winger, Internazionale
Reported by: Gianluca di Marzio, Libero (via SempreInter), CalcioMercato
Adam’s likeliness rating: 6/10

In another edition of How Many Times Have We Been Linked to this Guy?, Matteo Politano has found his name linked to Fiorentina. Things may be a little different this time though, as Politano has fallen relatively out of favor with Inter manager Antonio Conte. Montella was an explicit admirer of Politano, but we’ve yet to hear if Beppe Iachini shares the same affinity towards the speedy winger. Regardless of our failed transfer history with Matteo, he’d certainly improve the pedigree of the Fiorentina attack. Unfortunately though, Milan-based newspaper Libero seems to believe that any deal involving Politano will demand Gaetano Castrovilli be sent the opposite way, which is a possibility none of us want to even hear about for at least another year. The logistics of our deals with Inter are always changing though, so keep an eye on this one.

Alfred Duncan, Midfielder, Sassuolo
Reported by: Gianluca di Marzio, Sky Sport Italia
Adam’s likeliness rating: 7/10

While he’s certainly a fantastic player and would be a great fit at Fiorentina, I have some trouble believing that a player would be willing to join a team whose fans were caught shouting racist obscenities at him. However, Beppe Iachini has worked with Duncan in the past at Sassuolo, which gives this rumor a little more credibility. Additionally, Roberto De Zerbi’s newly-installed tactics have relegated Duncan to Sassuolo’s bench, which makes his departure much more likely given his proven talent as a starter in this league. I’d say this one is fairly likely, but ultimately depends on Duncan’s willingness to join Fiorentina.

Soualiho Meïté, Midfielder, Torino
Reported by: Gianluca di Marzio, Sky Sport Italia
Adam’s likeliness rating: 6.5/10

In what’s a relatively new and unexpected rumor from Gianluca di Marzio, Beppe Iachini is allegedly interested in bringing in Torino’s Soualiho Meïté to bolster our midfield. He’s a proven starter in this league who has been rumored to the likes of Tottenham in recent months, so he would absolutely be a welcome addition to the Viola. Most reports have Meïté’s name alongside Duncan, so one of the two is likely to arrive so long as reasonable terms are met by both player and club. Meïté only arrived at Torino in the summer of 2018 and has found quite a lot of success in Turin, so it would be a little odd to see a sudden change of heart by Walter Mazzarri. However, if he is indeed on the market, we would be thrilled to add him to our midfield.

Dennis Praet, Midfielder, Leicester City
Reported by: Corriere dello Sport, La Nazione (via CalcioMercato)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 5/10

Though Dennis Praet has only been at Leicester for 6 months and has allegedly shot down Fiorentina as a potential transfer destination, Daniele Pradè and Joe Barone were reportedly in the UK meeting with Leicester front office staff to discuss a deal for the Belgian midfielder. There’s a certain history here as well, as Pradè is the one who brought Praet to Sampdoria from Anderlecht in 2016. I’m generally inclined to take the word of a player who reported his explicit disinterest towards joining Fiorentina, but his relative lack of game time in Leicester may shift the situation in our favor. He’d cost a pretty penny, especially only six months after a move to the Premier League, but at the very least this is a good show of ambition from Fiorentina.

Éver Banega, Midfielder, Sevilla
Reported by: La Nazione (via CalcioMercato)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 3/10

We reported on this potential move in early December, where Tito discussed how dynamic our midfield would become with a high-profile passer such as Banega. Especially given the prospect of him helping mentor Gaetano Castrovilli and even Tòfol Montiel, this would be an exciting transfer for Fiorentina. However, little buzz has followed the initial report from a month ago, and Banega re-affirmed his desire to stay out the season with Sevilla. Nonetheless, he’s a player that would make a massive difference here and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear his name pop up at least one more time before the transfer window closes.

Walter Kannemann, Centre-back, Gremio
Reported by: FOX Sports Argentina, CalcioMercato
Adam’s likeliness rating: 7/10

Kannemann is a player who was linked to a number of Italian clubs this past summer (including Fiorentina), but negotiations fizzled out and he remained in Brazil for the first half of this season. Unlike many South American players brought over to European football clubs, the Argentine defender is already 28 years old—and will be 29 in March. Thankfully, this puts his price tag at a relatively small £6m, which is a number we are much more familiar with seeing Fiorentina spend. Given recent reports, it seems that Fiorentina isn’t facing much competition for his signature, so we may very well see him arrive barring any issues in negotiation. He’d fit anywhere in Beppe Iachini’s back three and provide some much appreciated depth, so he’d be a very welcome player for how much we’d be spending.

Marcos Rojo, Centre-back, Manchester United
Reported by: La Nazione (via Football Italia)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 6.5/10

Though Marcos Rojo returned to training a couple weeks ago after a muscle injury held him out for a couple months, Manchester United has reportedly given him “time off” ahead of a potential move away, with Fiorentina being the most widely-reported destination. It’s been a couple years now that Rojo has been relatively out of favor in Manchester, and a departure is looking increasingly likely. Unfortunately, his wages look like quite the obstacle, as he currently earns £160,000 per week in the Premier League. He’d likely take a pay cut to come to Florence, but Kannemann is probably a much more sensible arrival. Nonetheless, reports seem to imply that negotiations between Fiorentina and Manchester United are positive, so it’s definitely in the realm of possibility to see Rojo arrive either this winter or next summer.

Alessandro Florenzi, Right-back, AS Roma
Reported by: La Gezzetta dello Sport (via Football Italia)
Adam’s likeliness rating: 5.5/10

Alessandro Florenzi has been a Roma staple for a long time; however, in recent months he’s been on the bench for the majority of fixtures in the Italian capital. It’s been reported that he has mutual interest from Fiorentina and Inter, with the former being in pole position to sign the player. He’s only 28 and has a lot of gas left in the tank (not to mention how versatile he is), so he’d be a coup for us to sign. The deal would likely be a loan with either an option or obligation to buy, but Roma will probably demand quite a bit for Florenzi to join Fiorentina on a permanent basis. Although Florenzi has played significantly less this season than in years past, he’s started the past three games, so this transfer is likely losing steam. Paulo Fonseca has been fickle in his team selection thus far though, so our fortune may change as the transfer window moves forward.

As the month proceeds, some of these names will surely disappear and others will come forward, but there’s a lot to unpack here at the beginning of the transfer window. We’ll have another piece coming out in the next few days about the players who are rumored to be leaving, so keep an eye out for that one. For now though: who on this list would you be the most excited for? Who else do you want to see us linked to? Let us know what you think.