It’s been quite a saga but Fiorentina announced, literally as the World Cup final kicked off, that it has signed midfielder Christ Inao Oulaï from Trabzonspor. Nicolò Schira says it’s a €30 million fee while Sébastien Denis claims it’s €25 million plus bonuses; both agree that Karadeniz Fırtınası get a 10% sell-on clause. I haven’t been able to find salary information anywhere but the player’s contract will run until 2031.
Fiorentina’s
interest in Oulaï has been a matter of public discourse for weeks but the deal has taken longer than expected, especially considering how quickly Fabio Paratici has gotten his business done. As a reminder, Oualï is a 20-year-old Côte d’Ivoire international. He gained worldwide attention after making several appearances for the Elephants at the World Cup.
It’s easy to see what makes Oulaï such a fascinating player. His most notable attributes are his energy and his ability to burst forward from midfield as a ball-carrier. Despite his youth and a few obvious areas for improvement (i.e. passing, reading the game out of possession), he looks every bit the sort of midfielder that Premier League teams regularly buy for €50 million these days.
Figuring out his fit in Florence remains tricky. Arthur Atta, Nicolò Fagioli, Rolando Mandragora, and Cher Ndour will all expect significant roles too. My guess is that Mandragora will leave this summer so that the other 4 can rotate through 3 midfield slots, although I do worry about the fact that, besides Fagioli, none of this group is really a tempo-setter or distributor, which could lead to problems building out from the back.
That the player’s even in Florence, though, is remarkable considering the saga leading up to his signing. The usual rumormongers claimed that the Ivorian was en route but then his plane didn’t take off, leading to speculation that the deal had been hijacked. That was replaced by the story that Trabzonspor didn’t know where Oulaï was, leading to whispers of a kidnapping that were ultimately revealed to be a distortion of the truth that the player had gone to check with a third-party lawyer for advice about some legal/financial aspect of the deal. In short, it turned into the twistiest transfer saga I can remember, Dimitar Berbatov inclusive.
Regardless of how he arrived (or a somewhat alarming choice of hat), I’m excited for Oulaï. If Fabio Grosso can smooth some of the rough edges, he could be an excellent addition to the team, adding a dynamism to the midfield we haven’t seen since Lucas Torreira patrolled the center of the pitch. If nothing else, the Viola have a surfeit of talent in the middle, unlike this past year.
Bienvenue, Christ Inao Oulaï, et bon chance.
