Arkadiusz Reca is one of the first reasonable transfer rumors we’ve heard this year

In the midst of all the silly transfer rumors we’ve heard this summer, TMW’s report (via FiorentinaNews) that Fiorentina are interested in Atalanta wingback Arkadiusz Reca is a rare breath of sensible air. The Polish international would be a fairly inexpensive signing in a position of need for the Viola and would likely play significant minutes if he arrived.

The 25-year-old can play on the left of a back four, a midfield four, or at wingback. He was one of few players to emerge from the flaming bag of poo that was SPAL last season with a reputation even remotely intact. A lot of that is down to his sheer athleticism; he’s very, very fast, and also pretty good on the ball without being catastrophic on defense either. The only real caveat is that he does have a bit of an injury history; he’s missed 15 games over the past 2 seasons with a variety of muscular problems.

He made 27 appearances for the Estensi last year, racking up 3 assists and just two yellow cards. They had a chance to buy him (leaving la Dea with a buyback clause), but relegation means they don’t have the funds for him and he’ll return to Bergamo. With a contract up in 2022, this could be the last chance to cash in on him, although that’s a relative term; even thought Atalanta tend to drive a hard bargain, he probably wouldn’t cost more than €5 million or so.

That’s a good price for a Poland international who should be entering his prime. As we saw during the restart, Fiorentina’s left wingback situation was dire when Dalbert was unavailable (and not great when he played, frankly): Pol Lirola was simply dreadful on the left, Lorenzo Venuti seems to have nailed down a spot on the right, and Aleksa Terzić clearly remains outside the circle of trust. Having a capable backup like Reca would go a long way towards fixing a talented but illogical squad.

Now if Atalanta want to send Luis Muriel and Josip Iličić back too, that’d be fine. For now, though, we’d certainly settle for Reca.