With Leicester City reportedly in talks to sign Nico Gonzalez from Fiorentina, Lorenzo Bettoni reckons the Viola fans will only accept the winger’s sale on one condition.
Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Italiano said on Wednesday that reports of Nico Gonzalez potentially leaving the Stadio Franchi in January are ‘only rumours.’ The Argentinean winger had a great impact in his first season in Serie A in 2021-22, thanks to his eight goals and nine assists in 39 appearances across all competitions.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Premier League side Leicester City have offered €34m to secure the player’s signature in January. It may not be enough as the Tuscans paid €24m to sign Nico from Stuttgart in the summer of 2021.
According to the latest reports in Italy, the two clubs are in talks, but the idea of Fiorentina fans regarding the deal is quite clear reading their reactions on social media.
Most of them don’t want to see Nico leave just one year after Dusan Vlahovic’s €80m transfer to Juventus. They would accept a big-money sale, but only if the club reinvest the proceeds in other signings, something they think hasn’t been done after Vlahovic’s move to Turin.
Fiorentina signed Dodo from Shakhtar last summer, paying €14.5m, plus Rolando Mandragora from Juventus for €8.2m, Antonin Barak on loan with an option to buy from Hellas Verona for an initial fee of €1.4m, Pierluigi Gollini, on a €490,000 loan from Atalanta and Luka Jovic on a free transfer from Real Madrid.
A year ago, after Vlahovic’s transfer to the Allianz Stadium, they signed Arthur Cabral for €15.5m, Jonathan Ikone for €14.2m and Krzysztof Piatek on a six-month loan deal.
Everyone knows Rocco Commisso’s commitment to the club and the city of Florence and his efforts and investments in the development of Fiorentina. The club will soon inaugurate a new training centre which will cost more than €100m and, overall, Commisso has spent over €380m on the club.
However, Fiorentina fans don’t want to see Nico leave without a valuable replacement coming in. Cabral and Jovic have had ups and down in Florence and are not as prolific as Vlahovic was in Florence. Therefore, fans don’t want another downgrade on the wing after seeing their best player join their harshest rivals less than a year ago. They will only accept Nico’s sale if the club use the money to invest in a big signing.
The issue is that if a club like Leicester could afford tens of millions in transfer fees, it is almost impossible for Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and most of La liga to compete.
Fiorentina can’t turn away such sums, and the player is definitely looking at a huge increase in salary. At least if the move was to a side challenging for european places, you could say it is mainly a sporting decision. Leicester are 2 points above the bottom 3.
Premier League sides? They’re flush with stupid money so bleed them dry. Let him go for 200mil.