UDINE. Gerard Deulofeu is ready to take off, expected to return to the group this afternoon and above all available for Sunday, when Friuli will have to beat Bologna to get back to scoring a success that Udinese has been missing since 3 October.
On Tuesday 10 January, the Catalan increased his work by setting his level of general condition at 80 per cent, a threshold which was deemed amply sufficient by the staff to return the player to the hands of an Andrea Sottil who, not surprisingly, was unbalanced, at the Stadium, setting his return in the middle of the week.
Deulofeu’s right knee, the one affected by the slight distortion remedied in Naples last November 12, and which scared him so much, is therefore healed, but if the physical aspect now no longer seems to be an obstacle, on the horizon c ‘is instead another front, this time of a psychological nature, which could affect the performance of the Catalan diez. Yes, because Deulofeu is receiving more than a few requests from the transfer market, and among the most delicious ones being examined on the front line is that of Aston Villa led by an old acquaintance of him, that Unai Emery who coached him at Sevilla.
In the restructuring that Emery has in mind to take the Villans away from the troubled waters of relegation, the role of the winger is a priority and Deulofeu’s name is at the top of the list delivered to the owner who just yesterday defined the agreement for the transfer of another Spaniard, left-back Alex Moreno, for 14 million euros, from Betis. And since there really was contact with Deulofeu, as confirmed by Juventus’ agent Alberto Botines when asked by Messaggero Veneto (“There was interest from Aston Villa, but nothing concrete”), then it is necessary to hypothesize the scenarios by asking at least two questions.
What would Gino Pozzo do if Aston Villa presented themselves with at least 25 million euros, the sum requested from Napoli in the summer? What if Deulofeu put his foot down after the disappointment of not transferring in the summer? These are questions whose answers would be expected not only by the fans, but above all by Sottil, who has already taken note of the registration and subsequent loan move to Watford of Matheus Martins, or the designated heir of the Catalan.
The latter is a crucial transfer, because Udinese can no longer insert non-EU players for the current season, having registered the former Fluminense Martins. It is a constraint that would therefore also preclude the possible passage of the Senegalese Ismaila Sarr, who could come in handy from Watford, and who for now also keeps Haji Wright away, the American striker born in 1998 from Antalyaspor who in Turkey approach Zebretta, the first point of tonnage, more “projectable” to a future without Beto, who also has a Liberian passport.
As if to say that in the event that the Villans launch the assault, Gino Pozzo could replace Deulofeu only with an external community striker, or talk about it with Sottil to definitively launch the Beto-Success tandem. All this, on a day in which Verona are one step away from Jayden Braaf, the winger born in 2002 who in the spring of two years ago, taken from City on loan with the right to buy, made Udine dream, before a serious injury to knee that forced him to return to the “mother house”. —
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