Between field and market. The "long" weekend of Italian football begins today with the first two advances of the second day, namely Udinese-Venice (18.30pm) and Verona-Inter (20.45pm), but the spotlights, as always happens at this time of year, will be shared with the market, monopolized by the story of Ronaldo and Mbappé. The Portuguese is now one step away from Manchester City, so much so that he has already emptied his locker at Continassa: a sign of an imminent farewell, perhaps already today, as soon as the English have presented Juve with the offer of 25 million necessary to sanction the marriage. The Juventus managers were very clear on this, to the point of raising their voices in the far from cordial meeting they had with Jorge Mendes, who landed in Turin to unravel the matter. The prosecutor reiterated to the Juventus general states (present Arrivabene, Nedved and Cherubini) the CR7 willingness to go away, without however proposing a concrete figure.
Hence the Juventus stiffening, to explain once and for all that they would never, ever let the Portuguese leave without adequate compensation, quantified precisely at 25 million. A figure that will allow the Lady to avoid a dangerous budget loss, absolutely unquestionable, beyond the good relations we have had so far. And so Mendes communicated everything to City, obtaining in exchange a commitment to present the right offer within a few hours: the deal can be considered in the pipeline, so much so that Guardiola and CR7 have already had a telephone conversation to sanction the beginning of the new adventure. Now it's no longer the case to wonder what the Portuguese will do, but what Juve's moves will be to replace him. The first is called Moise Keane: Mino Raiola, not by chance, visited Continassa immediately after Mendes. The striker, sold to Everton in the summer of 2019 for 27,5 million, is a very welcome profile, both for technical reasons (it was Max who made him debut in 2016 and who launched him continuously in 2018) and for regulatory reasons, given that he could be included in the Champions list as a player who grew up in the nursery.
The other hot name is that of Icardi, who has always been in the Lady's sights, only this time the Argentine appeared rather cold, convinced as he is that he can play his cards in a PSG that has taken Messi, but will soon lose Mbappé. The other great news of the day, in fact, concerns the Frenchman, now very close to Real Madrid. The Spaniards have raised the offer to 170 million plus 10 in bonuses, a huge amount considering that the player will expire in 2022. Al-Khelaifi, for the moment, continues to resist but the feeling is that the wall is about to give way: for the decisive shock, a further raise from Florentino will be necessary, perhaps coming close to 200, however it is very unlikely that the deal can fail, in the light of the player's will and the contractual problems mentioned above. PSG, however, should not (conditional, however obligatory) enter the race for Ronaldo, now mentalized to wear the Manchester blue shirt, to then challenge Messi in the most exciting group of the Champions League.
definitely the Inter transfer market is less tangled, who approaches the finish line with only one box to fill, namely that of deputy Dzeko. The arrival of Correa in fact solved the main issue, ie giving Inzaghi a valuable third striker to alternate with the Bosnian and Lautaro Martinez, but now, considering Sanchez's physical problems, another one would be needed, obviously less expensive. The hottest name seems to be that of Keita Balde, leaving Monaco, while Scamacca's candidacy is losing share, which Sassuolo could sell abroad (Eintracht Frankfurt would buy him outright), provided that he, of course, agree. In all of this, Inzaghi must think of Verona, the opponent in tonight's match at Bentegodi. Not an easy match, because Hellas, despite being defeated in the first match by Sassuolo, showed that they are a very different thing to the bewildered Genoa seen at the San Siro. The Nerazzurri coach, who was absent at the press conference yesterday, seems oriented towards confirming the debut team, with Lautaro as the only new feature.
At Bentegodi it will be 3-5-2 with Handanovic in goal, Skriniar, De Vrij and Bastoni in defense, Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu and Perisic in midfield, Lautaro and Dezko in attack. Similar game system also for Di Francesco, who while waiting to embrace Cholito Simeone, will rely on a 3-4-2-1 with Montipò between the posts, Magnani, Gunter and Ceccherini in the back department, Faraoni, Tameze, Ilic and Lazovic in the midfield, Barak and Zaccagni behind the lone striker Kalinic.
