Fiorentina sporting director Carlos Freitas has denied speculation of a Chelsea bid for wing-back Marcos Alonso a day after reports surfaced that the Blues have entered into advanced negotiations with the Viola for the Spaniard.
As we enter the final 48 hours of the transfer market, there are bound to be numerous reports and almost as many denials from club officials — sometimes earnest, sometimes bureaucratic. Sky Sports reported on Monday that talks with Fiorentina for a potential transfer involving Marcos Alonso have entered a crucial stage as Chelsea fans awaited a final outcome.
The figure reported for the outright purchase of the former Real Madrid youth player was £24m. Shortly after that, Fiorentina’s sporting director Carlos Freitas spoke to the press denying that a deal has been agreed with the London giants for Alonso.
He said, she said
The press spoke to the Portuguese director at the presentation ceremony of Fiorentina’s new signings Sebastian Cristoforo and Carlos Salcedo, and he was quick to deny the sale of Alonso. However, he implied that it is possible, saying (via ESPN), “At the moment, no. He is a Fiorentina player at the moment.”
He further added that as a club, the goal was to not let go of the best players — something that Fiorentina have maintained throughout the summer. The Viola have rebuffed the attempts of AC Milan and Roma to sign Milan Badelj and Borja Valero respectively.
Freitas strongly asserted (via Football-Italia): “We’d like to keep our best players and make the Coach [Paulo Sousa] happy.” This was a sentiment reciprocated and affirmed by coach Paulo Sousa himself in an interview. Sousa said that he trusts Pantaleo Corvino, the current director of football who rejoined Fiorentina this summer after replacing Daniele Prade.
“I trust Corvino, he has proved me that he doesn’t sell big names so I can’t even think about the opposite decision,” Sousa told Mediaset Premium while there was still suspicion over Nikola Kalinic’s future at the Artemio Franchi (via Calciomercato).
Meanwhile, reputed Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Fiorentina have already started looking for alternatives for Alonso in the form of Zenit fullback Dominico Criscito, a player that a lot of Italian clubs have been trying to sign for a while now. The latest development suggests that the Marcos Alonso deal is a long way from completion and there is still every possibility of it collapsing.
