Cagliari Transfer Market: Juventus Offers a Midfielder
Cagliari is eyeing a key player for its midfield: the ever-reliable Fabio Pisacane. Vasilije Adzic, a 20-year-old midfielder who is clearly not part of Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti’s plans for the upcoming season, has been offered to the Sardinian club. The Montenegrin, however, is in high demand: Lecce and Sassuolo are also interested, with the latter having just announced the signing of a two-year contract with its new coach, Alberto Aquilani. The former Catanzaro player has taken the place of Fabio Grosso, the 2006 World Cup champion who has moved to Fiorentina.
Adzic’s story with Juventus is that of a crystal-clear talent who remained on the sidelines. The Montenegrin, in the season just concluded, logged a mere 123 minutes in league play—a paltry amount of playing time that did not allow him to express himself consistently. Yet his qualities are beyond question: it was he who scored the decisive 4-3 goal in the Derby d’Italia against Inter, a thunderbolt that made it clear to everyone what the young Balkan player was made of.
Spalletti himself, despite not finding a spot for him, spoke of him in enthusiastic terms: “There are these qualities I haven’t seen yet. This job is a bit like being a miner, and you don’t find certain things on the surface—you have to go looking for them. I haven’t played the kid much, but I see great footwork, great stamina, and a solid build because he can take a beating. I’d like to help him feel a little more at ease during moments of the game when he has the ball at his feet.”
Juventus, which is dealing with its failure to qualify for the next Champions League and the need to cut costs, has placed Adzic on the list of players set to leave. The Bianconeri would like to find the youngster a loan move in Serie A so they can closely monitor his development. This arrangement would also suit Cagliari, which has to contend with a limited budget and could lose Michael Folorunsho, whose high salary makes it difficult for him to stay in Sardinia: the midfielder, born in 1998, is set to return to Napoli.
