Amrabat: Fiorentina’s plans for the future convinced me

Following Hellas Verona’s stunning upset of Juventus this weekend, Sofyan Amrabat has been a marked man. Widely lauded as the top performer for the Mastini against the Bianconeri, the all-action midfielder spoke with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad about his impending €20 million move to Fiorentina and his career in general.

He first praised current manager Ivan Jurić for creating an excellent side, which is a fair assessment seeing as how the Croatian has brought Hellas straight from promotion to the cusp of the Europa League in a year. Amrabat added that he was excited to spend the rest of the year in Verona despite the interest of a number of big clubs.

That was a pretty easy transition to discuss his upcoming move to Tuscany. When asked how he felt about a move down the standings, he replied, “Fiorentina has really good plans and wants to make progress in the coming years,” which is about as stock a response as a player can give but is still the correct one.

More interesting, though, was the generally sensible attitude he displayed about his previous career and goals for the future. When asked about the grumbling of Feyenoord fans who’ve seen him blossom since leaving the club, he responded with a very honest shrug, “I understand that fans of Feyenoord and maybe Club Brugge sometimes think that way...It just didn’t become what we had hoped for in De Kuip.”

He also displayed an admirable disinterest in the money thrown around for him, addressing the matter of whether or not that €20 million was a bargain after his work this fixture: “Because we beat Juventus? That would be well-timed,” before continuing, “With regard to transfer amounts, I’m not interested in the business side.”

In answer to whether his Man of the Match performance against Bianconeri was the best of his career, he immediately tapped the brakes, saying, “No...but this was against Juventus so of course it stands out more,” which is again truthful if not perhaps exactly what a rabidly anti-Juve wants to hear.

It’s a good interview, allowing Amrabat to showcase a mix of politeness (when discussing his current team and coworkers) and frankness (when discussing everything else). He doesn’t seem to have much of an emotional attachment to any of his previous sides, which could lead to the accusation of mercenariness—to put it in his words, “I can play football anywhere”—but he also seems the type who will put in his best for whatever shirt he’s wearing, and that’s plenty good enough.