Big(ger) Boys Pillaging Fiorentina?

By: Martha | December 27th, 2007

Come ON. If you believe the Italian papers this morning, Fiorentina are about the receive big money offers for their two touchstone players. (Hopefully they’ll be able to resist those offers, despite the delicious smell of cash and buying power.)

First, according to our beloved La Gazzetta — finally back after taking the holidays off like the rest of us — Sebastian Frey may be Milan’s ultimate target when it comes to replacing the error-prone Dida. The story has been around at least since Dida’s pantomime act in Glasgow, and it’s hard to tell if it’s simply thrown out there because the Frenchman is the best keeper in Italy not named Gigi, or if Milan actually have designs on him. La Gazzetta seem to doubt any approach could be put together before summer, but at that time Frey, whose contract with the Viola runs through 2010, could theoretically use that special buy-your-own-contract-out rule and go anywhere he wants. Sigh.

I imagine it would give any ambitious player pause to be told by Milan that you’ll be their first choice, particularly if their offer includes Champions League football. Of course, given how things are going for Milan right now, a Champions League spot is in no way a foregone conclusion, so that could be a blessing for Fiorentina — if they can make a miracle run into the top four, that would go a long way towards helping their big names ignore the salary cap, but at this point praying for loyalty is probably the best response. Which, given the prestige and money that would be involved if Milan did make an approach, could well be futile.

Corriere dello Sport, meanwhile, reports that Roma see Adrian Mutu as the answer to their striker question, and are preparing a big January bid for his services. Whoa. Well, he’s a bit different from the big target men who have been associated with Roma’s quest so far this winter, huh? Supposedly Rosella would be happy to pay Fiorentina’s asking price — rumored to be about £15 million — for the Romanian’s services, but since Della Valle doesn’t want to sell and Mutu doesn’t want to leave (at least not right now), this seems like a non-starter, even if Roma really do want him. If Fiorentina get into Champions League, I can’t see him leaving at all, and a UEFA Cup spot could even be good enough, given how comfortable Mutu is in Florence, and how highly he values his relationship with Cesar Prandelli. (She said hopefully.)

Note: I’m getting on a plane in a few minutes, so updates will be few and far between today.