Turin Transfer Market: Two Former Azzurri Players in the Crosshairs for the Right Wing. Two Offers for Ilic

One of the issues Torino needs to resolve is the right-back position. With just a few days to go before the start of the Serie A season, Ignazio Abate has only Marcus Pedersen available for that position; Ali Dembelè and Balcot haven’t been convincing, and the Piedmont-based club is looking for an alternative to the Norwegian.

Among the names mentioned in recent hours are two veteran former Italian national team players: the first is Davide Calabria, who could return to Italy after last season with Panathinaikos, where he played 39 games. The 1996-born player is also being tracked by Genoa and Sassuolo.

The other option is Matteo Darmian, who is still looking for a team after leaving Inter: for the defender, it would be a return to Torino, the club that launched his career in top-flight soccer years ago. In a recent interview, Darmian said he still feels like a Serie A player and is waiting for offers.

On the outgoing front, Torino is preparing to part ways with Ivan Ilic, who has fallen out of favor. The Serbian, born in 2001, is not part of the team’s plans and has not been called up for the last three friendlies: he will be sold even though there are no official offers at the moment. Only two inquiries have come in for him from the Bundesliga; Mainz and Freiburg are reportedly interested as of the last few days.

There are also inquiries for Ali Dembélé, the French fullback of Malian descent whom Abate has already ruled out of the technical plans. Two clubs are interested in the player, who joined Torino in 2022 and has spent the last few seasons on loan at Venezia and Mantova: Mantova itself, which would like to repeat the loan deal with an option to buy, and Empoli, which, however, is aiming for a straight loan. His departure could speed up the club’s efforts to bring in a new player for the right flank.