The jewel of Atalanta snatched from Inter by Chelsea consolidates a tradition: Italian football counts for nothing on the transfer market. Here are all the previous ones from these years…
Marco Palestra’s snatch from Chelsea to Inter, a flash negotiation at increased prices and the Nerazzurri club’s transfer men found themselves with a handful of flies in their hands one afternoon, should not be surprising. Serie A is not competitive in big international deals, those that move top players from one team to another with operations worth hundreds of millions of euros in terms of price tag, commission and salary.
An example: Chelsea has made an investment of over 140 million euros to bring Gym at Stamford Bridge at the court of Xabi Alonso: 63 to compensate Atalanta, plus commissions and a percentage of future resale and 6 million net (12 gross) for six years to the player. No Italian club can fit into these figures, not just Oaktree’s Inter who even in this situation had authorized the demolition of the strategic barriers that govern the market of Marotta and Ausilio.
It had already happened last summer with Giovanni Leoniborn in 2006, paid 35 million by Liverpool after having played for just a thousand minutes in Serie A with a five-year contract worth around 3 net. Inter thought about it, Chivu who had coached him loved it, but faced with the Reds’ invasion there was no longer any room for manoeuvre. Like it or not, and net of some mistakes in moving by the Nerazzurri managers, this is the snapshot of the current state, the sidereal distance between Italian football and English football or that of the large football multinationals.
The product of this ever-widening gap is that the best youth of the blue ball more and more often and willingly go elsewhere. Whether or not it is a good idea, the continuation of individual careers will tell. In the negotiations, however, there is no history: Serie A has now become one factory leaguea championship for building talents destined to go elsewhere or passing through if they come from other nations.
Other examples? Riccardo Calafiori he was courted for a long time by Juventus after the season of his definitive consecration with Thiago Motta’s Bologna. All useless. He ended up at Arsenal for 45 million euros and with a salary of 4 net, he plays often even if he is not a starter and for now he has fallen off the radar of Serie A. We will talk about it later or if he goes through difficulties, becoming attractive as a return horse on favorable terms.
Sandro Tonali he is one of the pillars of Newcastle and a transfer man in the Premier League. His sale was one of the moves on which Milan built their series of profitable balance sheets, reinvesting in players of a lower price cut only to then monetise them in turn as in the case of Reijnders. The first in the series was Gianluigi Donnarummawho moved on a free transfer from Milan to PSG in 2021 and from there went to Manchester City. Salary: from 17 million euros (gross) upwards. Off market for Italy, including islands.
A drain of good feet and brains that also involves emerging coaches, not just the “great old ones” like Carlo Ancelotti. Some names: Enzo Maresca he has been away from Serie A since 2022 and after Chelsea, the club world champion, he is preparing to lead none other than post-Guardiola’s Manchester City. Vincenzo Italiano he snatched a contract worth 6 million net plus bonuses from Besiktas, Türkiye. Francesco Farioliborn in 1989, has just become Portuguese champion on the bench of Porto, the first success of his career. Many wonder why he doesn’t come back to us. He doesn’t even think about it.
