Time out. The winter market has closed its doors and now, waiting to go back to thinking only of the pitch, it's time to take stock of its main movements. Let's start immediately by saying that this was not a simple "remedial" session, at least not for everyone. Inter, Milan and Napoli, for example, have intervened forcefully and also in the lower middle part of the standings we have witnessed many operations, with Fiorentina, Genoa and Spal being particularly unleashed. Clearly, the performance achieved so far has had an impact, but it must also be said that the winter transfer market has now changed logic: the time for "patches" has retired by virtue of a football that is always on the move, in which the future counts so much as much as the present.
The most glamorous purchase is definitely that of Eriksen, capable of overtaking even Ibrahimovic. The Swede remains a very important shot, capable of drawing further attention to Serie A, but the Dane is undoubtedly a player with more perspective and having him already in January is really a lot of stuff. Marotta concentrated all his economic strength on him, so much so that he had to renounce that deputy Lukaku who would have suited Conte so much: the chosen one was Giroud but Chelsea's economic demands, combined with the sagacity with which the Tottenham president negotiated Eriksen, they prevented the wedding. Today the Nerazzurri coach, in the pre-Udinese conference, will give us his opinion in this sense, but it is legitimate to expect, if not a thank you, at least a little more serenity towards a club that took almost everything he asked for .
Positive market also for Milan, if only in terms of financial statements: le sales of Suso, Piatek, Rodriguez, Borini, Caldara and Reina they allow capital gains and salary savings that are difficult to predict at the beginning of the month. At the entrance everything revolved around Ibra, the real great coup by Boban and Maldini, not so much for the purchase itself as for having convinced Gazidis to leave the under 30 line. Pioli needed this and in fact the results prove it: the rest (Kjaer, Begovic, Saelemaekers and Laxalt) are basically side dishes. An intense market also for Napoli, capable of investing 95 million in reinforcements for this season and those for next. The Azzurri are those who most of all have thought about the future, thus confirming that the cycle started by Benitez and continued in a big way by Sarri is now closed.
Lobotka, Demme and Politano will give Gattuso new life, Petagna and Rrahmani will do it in a few months, provided that the coach is confirmed. The other big names, except for Lazio (Lotito tried to treat Giroud to himself, after which, once he understood that he wasn't coming, he left everything as it was). they stood out mostly for transfers, starting with Juventus (which Kulusevski grabbed as an offer of purchases for the future). Emre Can's departure can be considered positive in terms of budget (the German, who arrived on a free transfer, went to Dortmund for 30 million), a little less from a technical point of view, although it is fair to remember how Sarri considered him the last of the reserves. In short, keeping him would have risked depreciating him, furthermore the player absolutely wanted to return to being a protagonist, on pain of losing the European Championship.
The speech you can “copy and paste” to Florenzi, escaped from his Rome after experiencing the worst months of his career. Alessandro was not well seen by Fonseca, moreover in Trigoria, for some time, the flags have not been so well seen. Valencia took advantage of the opportunity, now we'll see what the verdict on the pitch will be, starting from tonight. In fact, the Giallorossi will be engaged in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo (20.45 pm) in one of the three advance matches of this 22nd matchday (the others are Bologna-Brescia and Cagliari-Parma). A delicate match, not to be missed for any reason, otherwise we risk overtaking Atalanta (tomorrow at home against Genoa) in fourth place, and perhaps even an approach from Milan, currently at minus 8.
“Sassuolo is a team that I really like, I admire their offensive qualities and their courage – thought Fonseca. – It will be a difficult match but I hope it will also be open and spectacular, both we and they always try to impose our game. Florenzi? He wanted to play more and I understand that, but I couldn't guarantee it… ”. In short, at the Mapei Stadium the first Rome without flags will be stagedat least by birth. However, the fans, already addicted to the idea after the farewells of Totti and De Rossi, are more interested in beating Sassuolo, as is Fonseca, who is determined to win the 3 points with the usual 4-2-3-1 with Pau Lopez in goal , Santon, Mancini, Smalling and Kolarov in defense, Cristante and Veretout in midfield, Under, Pellegrini and Kluivert in the frontline, Dzeko in attack. The same game system also for De Zerbi, who will respond with Consigli between the posts, Toljan, Romagna, Kyriakopoulos and Rogerio in the back department, Obiang and Locatelli in the midfield, Berardi, Djuricic and Boga behind the lone striker Caputo.
