Torino President Urbano Cairo was “never afraid of losing” Andrea Belotti, but the Chelsea offer for Davide Zappacosta was “too good to refuse.”
The striker was wanted by the likes of Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.
“I was never afraid of losing him. The decision was mine to keep Belotti, unless someone came along ready to pay the €100m clause,” Cairo told Radio Sportiva.
Torino President Urbano Cairo was “never afraid of losing” Andrea Belotti, but the Chelsea offer for Davide Zappacosta was “too good to refuse.”
The striker was wanted by the likes of Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.
“I was never afraid of losing him. The decision was mine to keep Belotti, unless someone came along ready to pay the €100m clause,” Cairo told Radio Sportiva.
“Seeing as nobody came close to it, I was relaxed. He is staying with us for this season and then we’ll see. We kept him and Adem Ljajic, Iago Falque and Daniele Baselli, Antonio Barreca, Afriyie Acquah even if he had a lot of offers, and of course Joel Obi.
“We had an incredible number of proposals come in, but we kept practically everyone and added important new players.
“With a heavy heart, we parted with Marco Benassi and Zappacosta. When it came to Zappacosta, Chelsea made an offer that was simply too good to refuse.
“As for Benassi, it was an issue of the tactical system and what was best for him. Sinisa Mihajlovic called yesterday to thank me for the transfer campaign, now it’s up to us to prove on the pitch that we can aim for Europe. We mustn’t set limits.”
This week marks the 12th anniversary of Cairo buying Torino with the club on the verge of bankruptcy.
“I looked back over my diary for 2005, from August 12 when meeting the Mayor of Turin to September 2 when we were able to announce the purchase. They were incredible days, which regularly went on until 5am.
“I’ve always been a prudent person, but for Toro I lost all sight of that. There were a few difficult years, but from 2011 we started building towards the Europa League and victory at the San Mames.
“I’m glad we helped grow so many young players who are now starring for Italy, like Belotti and Ciro Immobile.”