PAPER TALK - Cuadrado close to Juve, Valero to Roma, Lazio after Balotelli, West Ham back for Zaza?
The Gazzetta dello Sport, on the other hand, reports on Mauro Icardi’s contract renewal. The Argentine now has a deal running until 2021, and Inter have inserted an €110 million release clause, but only for overseas clubs.
Beyond that, the Argentine will obtain his image rights in full, but Inter get what they want salary-wise. Icardi is set to earn €4.5m, plus €500k in easy bonuses, and the same sum again on some rather tougher conditions.
Tuttosport talk about Inter’s move for Joao Mario, claiming that young Pedro Delgado will be sent the other way, despite Benfica having previously reached an agreement with the youngster. They claim that 500k will be added to Mario’s total price.
The Turinese paper also reports that Jorge Mendes has offered Juventus Ruben Neves of Porto. The 19-year-old is considered to be a rising star in Portugal, a regista who can play as a box-to-box player, and of great qualities.
In other news, Milan’s pursuit of Rodrigo Caio proceeds well, as the defender has already expressed his interest in moving to Italy, but the Rossoneri are waiting for him to obtain an Italian passport before giving the move the all-clear.
Juventus’ search for a centre midfielder continues: Tuttosport claim that Luiz Gustavo may have overtaken Blaise Matuidi on Juventus’ shopping list, whilst West Ham are reported to have expressed an interest in Simone Zaza once again.
There are frankly worrying signals coming out of Florence, where Borja Valero's exclusion is leading Italy’s three big sports papers to speculate that Roma are next for him.
Napoli’s pursuit of Amadou Diawara continue, with the Partenopei expected to go for the plunge after today’s game with newly-promoted Pescara.
Beyond that, Mario Balotelli is apparently being pursued by Bologna and Lazio, but both clubs are expecting him to behave impeccably and mature.
@EdoDalmonte
