Deadline day madness: A running tally of Fiorentina’s official deals today

Well, here we are. The final day of the summer mercato in early October. To help us keep track of everything, we’re going to break with tradition and not publish two dozen stories about what’s going on with the market. Instead, we’ll add items to this one story so that the conversation stays steady throughout. We’re also not going to update with rumors, since those get debunked by the time we get the typed up; official news only here. Without further ado, here we go.

2:20 PM: ANTONIO BARRECA IS IN FLORENCE

The 25-year-old left back has been widely reported to be close to a loan deal with the Viola and is just crossing the tees and dotting the eyes on his loan from Monaco.

3:16 PM: CALLEJÓN IS IN FLORENCE

José Callejón is in Florence. Naturally, he was immediately mobbed by reporters and made his first statement to the press: “I’m not Chiesa. He’s strong and will do well wherever he goes. But I’m Callejón.” He’s wrapped up his medical and should be signing his Fiorentina contract in the next hour or so.

3:19: QUARTA MARTÍNEZ IS PROBABLY DONE

Okay, I know that we said “no rumors” above, but Fiorentina just tweeted this.

While it means nothing out of context, that’s probably a sign that the club has finished the deal for Lucas Quarta Martínez of River Plate. We’ll stand by for the official announcement, but this feels like a gimme at this point.

3:37 PM: QUARTA MARTÍNEZ IS OFFICIALLY A VIOLA PLAYER

The club website just announced that Lucas Quarta Martínez is indeed a Fiorentina player. The Argentinean defender likely cost something in the realm of €8 million and will serve as the top backup to Germán Pezzella, Nikola Milenković, and Martín Cáceres. The deal looked to be off late last week after the Viola were typically niggling over a million euros in bonus payments but Rocco Commisso reportedly overruled Pradè’s haggling to close the deal, which also required some finagling about the medical visit as the Argentina international couldn’t get to Florence in time and had the national team doctors perform the exams. Get to know him a bit better here.

3:47 PM: CHIESA WRAPPED UP HIS MEDICAL

Well, it’s happening. Federico Chiesa passed his medical exams with Juventus. The deal is a 2-year loan with a €2 million fee the first year, an €8 million fee the second year, and another €50 million due at the end of 2022 to make it permanent, assuming that J******s finish in the top four, which, yeah. Turns out some Viola fans aren’t all that pleased with him and had some thoughts to share outside of Coverciano, where he did his tests.

4:40 PM: IT’S HAPPENING

Cue the music.

4:46 PM: FEDERICO CHIESA IS A JUVENTUS PLAYER

The Bianconeri have deposited Chiesa’s contract with the league, so it’s official. Federico will suit up in white and black this year, bringing one of the most exhausting transfer market storylines of recent memory to a close. It’s widely reported as 2-year loan with Fiorentina receiving €2 million now, €8 million at the start of next season, and another €50 million at the end of 2022. To trigger the clause, Chiesa will have to meet some absurdly low thresholds, but we can assume that he’s gone 3 days after captaining the side and hitting the upright with the final shot of his Viola career.

4:50 PM: BARRECA IS OFFICIALLY A VIOLA PLAYER

The 25-year-old is on a year-long loan from Monaco after spending last year with Genoa. While there’s no official word, it sounds like Fiorentina will have the option to buy him outright for somewhere around €5 million if he impresses as Cristiano Biraghi’s backup.

5:14 PM: FEDERICO CECCHERINI JOINS HELLAS VERONA

The writing was on the wall for Cecche after a pair of truly awful displays in his last two outings, but he was always a serviceable bench player and a great member of the squad; let’s not reduce him to his lowest moments. He’ll join Hellas Verona on loan for this year, although his contract with the Mastini will kick in an extra 3 years if they end up buying him for somewhere around €4 million. His contract has been deposited with Serie A, so it’s official.

6:45 PM: ALMOST CALLEJÓN TIME

No real need to squeak this in under the finish line since he’s a free agent, but I guess it’s nice to see that Daniele Pradè is working quickly now?

6:58 PM: JOSÉ CALLEJÓN IS A FIORENTINA PLAYER

The ex-Napoli winger signs on for two years after explaining his desire to stay in Italy for his kids. While he’s far from a like-for-like replacement for Chiesa, the 33-year-old still has some life in his legs and could prove to be useful, although his fit as a wingback remains to be seen. For more about him, check here.

7:00 PM: MERCATO CHIUSO

The transfer market has closed. We’ll keep an eye on things for the next few minutes in case Fiorentina managed to slide some business in under the deadline and it’s taking a sec to get it online, but we’re likely looking at the team as it’ll stand until January. We could also see a few more sales to leagues whose windows remain open, but probably not enough to change a whole lot.