The January transfer market for the Grifone closed without further shocks (only the dry loan of the young Seydou Fini, born in 2006, to Standard Liège), concentrated yesterday above all on the work on the pitch under the attentive gaze of an exceptional spectator like the coach of the national team Luciano Spalletti who in Coverciano, where the rossoblù train having brought forward their pre-Empoli retreat to allow the re-sodding work to be carried out at Signorini, greeted Gilardino, his collaborators and the players starting from a now rediscovered Mateo Retegui, ready to return to the squad national orbit.
The last day did not change the panorama at Genoa with Gudmundsson once again at the center of transfer rumors which have remained so. Since last week, as already mentioned, Villa Rostan’s intentions were clear. The club’s managers would have listened to any negotiations only to those who showed up with at least an offer of 30 million euros plus bonuses, naturally for a possible transfer in this transfer window. All this never happened. Fiorentina in Italy has timidly tried to reach just over 20 million, some interest has arrived from abroad on similar figures but without too much conviction. And given the season that the Icelandic elf is playing, it is possible that in the summer his value could increase even further. At that point, after almost three years in Genoa and at 27 years old, a move to a big foreign club would be a normal step in the career of the player who Spors bought for around 2 million euros. Even more so since the arrivals of recent weeks have not only strengthened the squad available to the coach but will allow Gilardino to easily insert the latest arrivals who would be ready for next season.
Excluding the movements of some young players, such as Yeboah’s move to Standard or that of spring defender Cissé, there were six arrivals and six departures. They left Genoa: Puscas, Dragusin, Galdames, Kutlu, Jagiello and Hefti. Spence, Bohinen, Cittadini, Ankeye, Vitinha and the young Austrian goalkeeper Stolz have arrived.
Excluding the latter, the other five could already all be called up by Gilardino for tomorrow’s match with Spence in his third match as a starter while the pair of forwards Ankeye and Vitinha would be making their debut. There are reinforcements in attack as requested by the coach who in the meantime has found Retegui again, two consecutive goals and an assist, and has finally seen Ekuban explode, author of the winning goals against Sassuolo and Lecce and the assist for Gudmundsson’s equalizer against Juventus . Cittadini has fleshed out a defense which, apart from the sale of Dragusin to Tottenham, has remained unchanged with Martinez improving match after match, giving joys that are worth as much as the goals of the attackers, just think of the penalty saved by Krstovic.
Now we await the additions of Ankeye and Vitinha, who will have to fit into a cohesive group that is experiencing the best moment of the season and this could help their integration for the better.
Meanwhile, for Sunday’s match Gilardino, who will be disqualified, finds Frendrup and Badelj again and could also count on Martin who of the three injured players is the closest to returning while for Haps and Messias we will have to wait longer.
Completing the golden moment of the Genoa scene are the numbers arriving from cinemas with the film “Genoa Anyway and Everywhere” which breaks records for a genre film. Yesterday evening the 10,000 attendance mark was reached and given the great demand the programming in the UCI Cinemas of Fiumara and The Space at the Porto Antico was extended by 7 days.
The pre-sale for the fans who will follow the team to Empoli is also approaching 4,000 with 15 clubs having organized buses (Genoa Club AMT, Camogli, Campomorone, Croce d’oro Sampierdarena, Di padre in Figlio, Figgi do Zena, Fontanabuona, Oregina , Pra’, Riva Trigoso, Riviera, Genoa Inside, Monterosso, Pedegoli and Zoagli).
Of note is the result obtained by Marta Carissimi (director of Genoa Women), who was the best in the course organized by the technical sector of the FIGC for the role of sports director.