PAPER TALK - Milan's London blitz for Fabregas, Shaqiri to Roma, Inter closer to Berardi?
The Belgian scored for Les Diables Rouges last night as they routed Gibraltar 6-0, but the bigger news story is that Juventus have made a give-or-take offer for the former Standard Liege midfielder.
Witsel was very close to signing with Juventus this summer before things fell through, something that led to an angry exchange between the player and the Russian Premier League (RPL) club, and sees the Belgian stuck in Saint Petersburg for at least another six months.
With Witsel’s deal set to expire in summer, the Bianconeri are hoping to make the most of Zenit’s weak position, offering only 6 million for the Belgian. Considering that they’d offered three times as much in August, it’s a heck of a deal.
Today’s Corriere dello Sport has the name of Roma’s latest transfer target: Xerdan Shaqiri! Things are going very badly at Stoke City, and were the Potters tempted to offload some weight, the talented Swiss midfielder could end up in Rome, where reinforcements will be desperately needed once Mohamed Salah goes to the African Cup of Nations.
With Juan Iturbe going through nothing less than an identity crisis, the Giallorossi would need someone like Shaqiri, whose brother (and agent) Erdin recently answered “never say never” when asked by the Corriere about a possible move to the capital.
“I can’t say much, Xherdan is focussed on Stoke City. January is far away, we have time to look at our options”.
So far, the Lupa is set to offer a loan, with a buyback clause that could be compulsory. Stoke acquired Shaqiri (who turned 25 yesterday!) for 17 million from Inter Milan in 2015.
On the Inter front, Sassuolo’s president, Giovanni Carnevali, opened up to Inter, saying that he’d “never said that Berardi will never go to Inter”, and claiming that the 22-year-old will stay this year, “but next year, who knows?”.
Read more on this from our own Pasquale Guarro here.
AC Milan could well step up their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas, if the Corriere dello Sport is to be believed.
Though Milan Badelj remains the Rossoneri’s preferred option, the Chelsea midfielder has only played 87 minutes this season, and could be the subject of another Milan offer, Silvio Berlusconi’s side having tried once before.
New director of sport Alessandro Mirabelli visited London last week, something that the Corriere now believes could have had contacting the Pensioners among its more discreet objectives.
Just as in August, the Rossoneri would be asking for the Spaniard on loan.
Milan Badelj is, as we’ve written on a number of occasions, AC Milan’s main transfer target for the January window, especially with Riccardo Montolivo going down with an ACL tear.
Tuttosport are now writing that Fiorentina won’t let themselves be taken for a ride, despite Badelj’s agent often clamoring for a departure.
The Croatian’s deal expires in 2018, and the Viola won’t let him leave on any conditions but theirs.
@EdoDalmonte
