Toni Signed with Bayern? Already?
By: Martha | April 28th, 2007
There’s a wire report — mean from a source at least somewhat more reliable than Tribal Football — hitting the internets this afternoon that says Luca Toni signed today with Bayern Munich. Whoa. Is that even legal?*
According to the report (which seems to have originated in a German magazine called Sport-Bild), Toni decided yesterday to select Bayern over all of his other suitors, a deal that is making Fiorentina a nice €18 million and will pay Toni himself €5.5 million/year for five years. If this is true, that’s several times what Toni would have earned with the Viola, and it’s given the Florence club a ton of money to spend this summer, so it’s win-win for both the player and his club.
But I still can’t believe he’s going to Germany, having carved out such a comfortable, productive place for himself in Italy, and with Milan and Inter — both of whom will be playing Champions League football next year — allegedly in the running for his services. Either they weren’t willing to pay what Bayern was, or maybe Toni really does want to take on new challenges. (If it’s the latter, more power to him — that makes him a braver man than a lot of his collegues.)
Keep an eye on the Italian new sources — odds are a denial is coming, but Channel 4 did report this morning that Bayern and Toni were still flirting, which is something.
*I just realized that, based on the fact that David Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy ages ago but is still playing for Real, this sort of thing is clearly totally legal.
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Bild are reporting based on a report in Gazzetta dello Sport. The Bild article says Hitzfeld wouldn’t comment “on such speculation.”
Posted from
United Kingdom
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Thanks Lisa — I checked but entirely missed that report, Gazzetta dello Sport genius that I am. Curiouser and curiouser.
Posted from
United States -
Anytime. :) The Gazzetta article was one of those deals where you had to go looking for it (buried midway down the Fiorentina page) to find it.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Stadionews was reporting earlier that Toni’s agent denied anything had been settled nor would be until the end of the season — I don’t know where they got that from (pff, and like it means anything anyway), but there’s that.
Posted from
United States -
I’m unsure the deal is done yet. I’d be suprised if he isn’t waiting to see how they go in qualifying for the champions league.
Posted from
Australia
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