As we approach the end of the transfer window, there are too many rumors for me to write about individually without flooding the homepage. I’m going to round up today’s here. If anything goes official, I’ll make a separate post. For now, though, here’s a placeholder.
Beto is coming
It’s been just 2 games but nobody seems particularly convinced by Mateo Pellegrino. With Moise Kean on the way out, there’s an obvious need for another striker. Fabio Paratici has duly tabbed Everton’s Norberto Bercique Gomes Betuncal
(alias Beto), who’s in the city for his medicals and wearing Viola merch. Nicolò Schira reports that it’s a flat €20 million purchase, although I’ve seen slightly different numbers elsewhere.
The 28-year-old Guinea-Bissau international was something of a late bloomer, only breaking into the top tier in Portugal in 2021 and scoring 11 for Portimonense. Udinese pounced on him and he responded with back-to-back double-digit goals before moving to Everton for €25 million. He’s got 20 Premier League goals across 3 seasons as a rotational option. He was part of Portugal’s 55-man pre-World Cup squad but picked Guinea-Bissau last year and has made 10 appearances for the Dromedaries.
Beto’s never going to wow anyone with his technical ability but he’s a rare size/speed athlete. Despite his hulking frame, he’s less of a holdup player and more of a threat in behind, where he can use his strength to hold off defenders and get shots away. His linkup play is probably a step or two below Pellegrino’s but his ability to stretch defenses should open a lot more space for his teammates to operate behind him. He’s also got an excellent mindset, relentless chasing every lost cause.
He’s not a perfect player by any means but does enough useful stuff to be, at worst, a functional member of the team. He also has the idiosyncrasies that make for a fun squad player: pre-training Beethoven, signing his name Beto’o in honor of his idol Samuel Eto’o. He’s also somehow not the first Norberto in Viola history but does close the couplet perfectly, giving us Neto and Beto.
Moise Kean is so done
Beto’s not a Kean replacement because the Moose is a level or three higher than the Bissau-Guinean but he’ll have to do his best because Italy’s number 9 is heading to Como, having finished his medicals by the lake. It’s a full-on purchase of €35 million with a potential €5 million more in bonus payments. It’s a rather sad end to what had been a decent Viola career.
Kean, as you’ll recall, set the entire league on fire under Raffaele Palladino. Despite the initial skepticism of certain idiots, he immediately established himself as Serie A’s most explosive striker before suffering through an injury-riddled campaign last year. Until a couple weeks ago, he’d been a loyal servant to the club too, ignoring years’ worth of rumors and keeping his head down. It was only after a summer of Paratici and Grosso hinting at selling him that he lashed out, which is understandable: your bosses saying that you’re the central figure to the team but obviously shopping you around is probably quite frustrating.
There’ve been whispers of bad behavior (e.g. constantly late to training, extra time off for family and music) but if so, that’s on Fiorentina for allowing him so much leeway and is a window into a dysfunctional organization, one with sliding standards of tolerance. That’s a great way to fracture a squad and torpedo its morale. As much as Cesc Fabregas and Como irritate me, they seem to have built a very strong culture that should be able to handle Kean in a way that the Viola clearly can’t.
Again, Beto isn’t an upgrade on Kean in terms of talent. His ceiling is probably 14 league goals and he’ll undershoot that as he splits time with Pellegrino up front. A healthy and motivated Kean remains the scariest striker in Serie A. He’s probably already circled 17 October 2026 and 4 April 2027 on his calendar and is planning just how he’s going to dance on Radu Drǎgușin, Marin Pongračić, Luca Ranieri, and the rest of the Viola defense. I’m not excited.
Albert Guðmundsson to Lazio is gaining steam
I don’t like Guðmundsson much as a player so I’m not too upset that he’s finally inching towards the exit. Bologna and Genoa are interested but the Iceland international’s representation is working on a move to Lazio, according to Nicolò Schira. Sounds like it’ll be a loan with an option. My guess is the fee would be around €15 million, maybe with a sell-on clause of some kind, especially because Paratici doesn’t seem too worried about plusvalenzas with Daniele Pradè’s players.
For my money, Guðmundsson was more symptomatic of Fiorentina’s ruinous form last year than anyone else on the roster. His anarchic tendencies undermined any attacking structure around him and on those rare occurrences when the team succeeded, it always felt in spite of him rather than because of him. Add in his penchant for losing his head—a red card against Hellas Verona last year, shoving a referee against Frosinone—and I think he’s a liability on the pitch, although he’s at least injured often enough that he’s not as damaging as he could be.
For a player I dislike, Lazio’s a perfect destination. He’ll offer a change of pace in Gennaro Gattuso’s 4-3-3 but pairing him with Roberto Piccoli again is a sequel nobody wants. The only problem is that Claudio Lotito has been pretty cheap this summer and might not okay the purchase next year—Guðmundsson’s signed through 2029—and having this isn’t a player I particularly want to see bounce back to Florence, so I guess go Albert.
Wilfried Gnonto, huh?
With Guðmundsson leaving, there’s a massive need for more wingers; Franco Mastantuono hasn’t set the world alight and Alieu Njie isn’t a surefire thing. Wilfried Gnonto’s potentially an interesting solution. Schira has it as a loan with an option, and despite the player’s presence in Florence it’s not quite certain yet: Leeds won’t okay the sale without finding a replacement but want to make sure there aren’t any hiccups with paperwork and are letting Gnonto hang out at the Viola Park for his medicals and to sign in person if that replacement indeed ends up at Elland Road.
An Inter Milan academy product and 13-cap Italy international, Gnonto’s had a slightly odd career, spending 4 seasons with Zürich before Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds snapped him up for just €5 million in January 2022. He showed flashes in his first year in England but took off the next two, tallying 17 goals and 8 assists in the Championship; weirdly enough, it was Jack Harrison’s departure that made room for him. After a goalless campaign in the Premier League, Leeds is ready to move on.
Gnonto’s a fun player when he’s locked in. He’s a live wire on the ball, boasting the sort of quickness that can break games, and regularly darts past his defender. He’s not just an on-ball guy, either: his movement to get in behind is clever and he’ll make those over-the-top runs that put a back line under pressure. He’s a decent finisher with either foot but isn’t always consistent striking the ball. He’s not really a creative passer and can drift in and out of games but it’s not hard to see him excelling in Serie A.
I like his fit with Fiorentina, too. He’s at his best in transition, where he can win 1-v-1s and make the decisive run. As a complement to Mastantuono, he should offer some balance to the Argentine’s slower pace and provide him with another option; he should link well with Pellegrino’s holdup play and Beto’s bursts over the top as well. My guess is that he’ll start ahead of Njie. I can’t find anyone talking numbers but I’d guess the option won’t exceed €25 million.
So long, Mandrake
Rolando Mandragora’s barely been an afterthought for Fabio Grosso so far. Fiorentina’s new-look midfield is built around physicality, boasting a bunch of strong and mobile players (plus Nicolò Fagioli), and that certainly doesn’t describe our Roly. A return to Torino is on the cards, according to Gianluca di Marzio, although the sides still have some issues to resolve before anything’s finalized. Given the nature of every other move here, it’d probably be a loan with an option to buy. €6 million, maybe? Mandragora’s 29 and his contract runs out in 2028 so it’ll likely be a smaller fee than we’d like.
The Mandrake spent 2021-2022 with Torino on loan from Juventus but I’m not sure there are any holdovers from that squad. He’d still have a friendly face there, though, as Pietro Comuzzo and Niccolò Fortini have both rocked up there in the past few weeks. I’m not sure he’d be a weekly starter but he’d certainly compete for a spot. I’ll miss him. His first year or two weren’t great but his apotheosis over Vincenzo Italiano’s final two months were so much fun. His swagger, his penchant for the dramatic, and his caginess could probably help Grosso’s Fiorentina but the midfield logjam was always going to uproot him eventually.
