Manchester United have been quoted £62m for the services of Fiorentina’s Federico Chiesa, according to a report by Talksport. Citing the Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, the suggestion is that the Serie A side have increased their original fee for the player considerably after Chelsea expressed an interest back in April. At that stage, Fiorentina’s asking price was £44m, but with United, Manchester City and Liverpool forming a quartet of Premier League giants expressing an interest in Chiesa’s services, that fee has increased by £18m to its current price, which is a clear indication of Fiorentina’s desire to get the most out the cash-rich English giants.
Chiesa, who made 38 apperaances for the Viola last season and grabbed six goals in the process, has only been involved in the club’s first team set-up for two seasons, but has turned out in 72 competitive matches during that period, and has been rewarded with call-ups to the Italian national side this year.
Of course, when Manchester United are involved, everything gets more interesting, but the reality is that Chiesa is unlikely to make Old Trafford his next destination this summer, purely because Jose Mourinho already has a surplus of attacking talent at his disposal. Having struggled to get the best out of youngsters Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford in the last few seasons, and with Alexis Sanchez’s struggles since joining from Arsenal in mind, the message to Mourinho should surely be to work harder to extract the best out of his available players as opposed to spending huge sums on an untested, if talented young player.
Chiesa’s undoubted talent will make him a target for the continent’s biggest teams, but at this stage, Mourinho will likely be concentrating more on buying established talent, like Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale or Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann as opposed to taking a risk on a young attacker.
