There is no summer without its transfer market derby. One way or another, Milan and Inter always end up vying for some player during the long summer transfer window, of which we already had a taste in the first ten days of June and which will resume from July 1st. Then, often, the transfer target ends up neither in red-and-black nor in black-and-blue, but a long-distance challenge is almost always there. This year, the hot name on both Milanese managements’ notebooks is that of Giovanni Leoni, a central defender born in 2006 from Parma.
A derby for Leoni...
It is La Gazzetta dello Sport, this morning, that highlights the transfer derby that could emerge in the coming days. The very young centre-back, in his first Serie A season, stood out with the Parma shirt, contributing to the survival of the newly promoted team in Serie A, especially in the final part of the year. In this sense, Inter’s advantage could be the possibility of relying on Christian Chivu, the new Nerazzurri coach, who gave Leoni regular playing time. However, Milan also has its cards to play: the rosea writes that Massimiliano Allegri is a very good friend of Federico Cherubini, CEO of the Parma side; it is known that in the transfer market the right contacts can often make the difference.
Parma’s stance regarding Leoni...
Clearly, Parma’s point of view should not be excluded from the equation. Last summer, the club bought the player from Sampdoria for €4.8 million plus €3.5 million in bonuses and 10% of a future resale. They have no intention of letting go of the player, as it would like him to play another year so that the capital gain could be even greater. Not only the Milanese clubs but several top Italian teams have entered the race for the player, and the feeling is that an auction exceeding 20 million euros could start. In all this, the inclusion of such a target in the Rossoneri list is a clear signal of wanting to bring a bit of Italian identity back into the Milan team, a topic much discussed over the last two seasons. In this specific case, Milan managers see in Leoni the perfect replacement for Malick Thiaw should the latter leave Milanello.
