Corvino: ‘Badelj could go to Roma’

By Football Italia staff

Fiorentina general manager Pantaleo Corvino says Milan Badelj has been offered a renewal but “if he leaves he’ll go to Roma”.

The Croatian is out of contract at the end of the season, so he could leave this month in a cut-price transfer.

“Myself and my sporting director, Carlo Freitas, have a an excellent relationship with him and we’ll offer a renewal,” Corvino assured Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In my opinion though if he leaves he’ll go to Roma. Let’s see though.

“Now we can no longer be forced to sell. That also applies to [Federico] Chiesa. The Della Valle family love Fiorentina and in the past they’ve been able to say no to the sales of [Luca] Toni and [Adrian] Mutu when they seemed certain.

“Things have changed. When I joined this club I found it in the red by €40m and with a wage bill of €70m, but now the accounts are sorted and the wages are around €38m.

“If the Viola fans understand this and come back, united, we’d immediately start growing again. In my opinion we have the foundations for a new cycle.”

Corvino was asked who he sees finishing on the Serie A podium at the end of this season.

“Two steps are enough: Juventus and Napoli. I thought the Bianconeri had lost their hunger, but they’re still there. It will be a great duel until the end.”

The director has made some big signings, but are there any who got away?

“Well, I remember I had [Arturo] Vidal at my house at 7.30 in the morning to close a deal, with my wife making the coffee,” Corvino recalled.

“Everything fell through at the last minute, and a few years later I saw his agent who told me: ‘I have a package from Arturo for you’.

“Inside was his Bayern Munich shirt, and a note saying: ‘to that jerk Corvino who didn’t buy me’!”

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