Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano confirms Sofyan Amrabat ‘apologised’ to the squad after pushing for a deadline day transfer to Barcelona. ‘He must give everything until June.’
The Morocco international had already been heavily linked with Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, but it was Barcelona who made a late swoop, offering a loan with an option to buy at the end of the season.
These terms were not acceptable to the Viola, who rejected the bid outright, leaving the player frustrated and openly irritated.
He was at first left out of the squad entirely for this Coppa Italia quarter-final against Torino, but then came on as a substitute after making amends.
“Amrabat was shaken up by what happened, but he apologised and knows he must give everything until June. He is a top player,” said Italiano in his press conference.
“The only situation that went to the last minute was Amrabat, who was rightly left out of the training session, but when the transfer window closes, everything settles down.
“Amrabat stood up and apologised. The transfer market is a sporting tragedy for coaches, so it’s much better when it closes and we can focus on the game.”
Fiorentina won the quarter-final with goals from Luka Jovic and Jonathan Ikone, although a late Yann Karamoh effort set up a tense finale.
“We showed great concentration, brought back players we had missed, which then improves the intensity and passing. Jovic played like a real striker today, as he scored and had also created a big chance for Christian Kouame. He can work even better, he has the capabilities, but he lives for those balls he can knock into the net.
“We deserved the win and achieve an important target like the semi-final.”
Italiano also caught the eye for his rather passionate talk to team manager Ottaviani during stoppages.
“I reminded him that we had to keep concentration levels high and indeed moments later we conceded a goal. We should’ve been focused to the very end.”