Daniele Pradè’s Fiorentina legacy, at least for now, is a roster full of overpriced underperformers. Fabio Paratici’s will depend on how he deals with that logjam. Square-headed favorite Lucas Beltrán was the first domino. The second could well be Roberto Piccoli. The Viola are close to a deal with Lazio, per Tuttosport via Fiorentinanews, but there are still some wrinkles to iron out.
Lazio owner Claudio Lotito has imposed a net-zero transfer market this summer, restricting DS Angelo Fabiano Mariani’s
ability to pay big fees. That means the Biancocelesti want a loan rather than an outright purchase, a condition to which Paratici apparently agrees. The holdup is what kind of loan. Fiorentina wants an obligation to buy while Lazio wants an option.
Because the disagreement is about the formula rather than the amount, I think there’s a good chance this one gets done, probably by inserting some performance metric into the deal: if Piccoli starts 20 Serie A games or scores 12 goals or whatever, the purchase will become obligatory. Nobody’s talking about how much that fee would be but I’d guess that it’s about €15 million, which will be Piccoli’s book value next summer (€25 million fee to Cagliari, 5-year contract, simple amortization math).
Even with the conditions within reach of both sides, Paratici can’t hold out for too long or Lazio will move onto other options (Lorenzo Lucca, Andrea Pinamonti) for Gennaro Gattuso. This may seem like a lot of wrangling for a player who badly disappointed last year—4 Serie A goals in 1664 minutes, or one every 416—but these are the moves that the Viola need to stick in order to rebuild.
