Empoli President Fabrizio Corsi believes Inter ‘must be kicking themselves’ for losing Guglielmo Vicario to Tottenham, all because Manchester United stalled over Andre Onana.
“We are sad not to see Vicario in an Italian team challenging for the Scudetto,” Corsi told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.
“I think Inter must be kicking themselves, but they had the problem of having to sell Onana first and Tottenham got in there quickly.”
The plan for the Nerazzurri had been to let Samir Handanovic go when his contract expired in June 2023 and snap up Vicario from Empoli as a long-term replacement.
However, that move was scuppered by the long time it took for Inter to first sell Onana to Manchester United for an eventual €50m plus bonuses fee on July 20.
By the time that had been done, Tottenham Hotspur had already dived in to secure Vicario for just €18.5m and he has gone on to become perhaps the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.
The 27-year-old Italian is occasionally called up to the Azzurri, but is yet to receive any caps for his country at junior or senior level.
He is arguably third in the pecking order for Italy behind Gianluigi Donnarumma of PSG and Lazio’s Ivan Provedel.
#Empoli, #Corsi: "L'Inter si starà mangiando le mani per #Vicario. Avevano il problema di cedere prima #Onana"https://t.co/UNy53Qno5R
— FcInterNews.it (@FcInterNewsit) January 26, 2024
“He has gone on to become perhaps the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.” Maybe. His performance this morning for Tottenham against City was not great – he gifted them the only goal of the match and now Tottenham are eliminated from the FA Cup.