Tweet
FIORENTINA FANZONE
The FFO auctions are an exciting time of the season for transfer addicts, where potential bargains can be had, or hopes dashed.
Which was it for Fiorentina in the mid-season auction?
Gambles pay off with double signings
With the first round of the auction coming up and very little cash in the coffers, Fiorentina took the gamble in selling off one of their better midfielders in young Florentino, with Shaktar paying 47m in value for him. A deal with Celtic also brought in an extra 12m, enabling the club to at least make a speculative bid. They looked hard at the auction list, with the priority appearing to be bringing in a replacement midfielder. However, a teenage keeper caught the eye. Manager Kirby had been working hard at bringing down the age of the squad this season, and the glaring oldie left was keeper Benitez at 31. So a bid was made for young Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro a Dutch under 21 wonderkid. An for every penny in the bank, at just under 60m, he was successfully won!
R_Owusu_Oduro 19 ned 23 1 1 1 22 17
The young keeper is the best rated teenager currently in the game, and if he develops as expected will be one of the games top keepers in years to come.
In a surprise move by the FFO bigwigs a bonus bidding auction was announced, with the 3 remaining players left over from the main auction available to be bid on by the tier two sides.
Fiorentina were left with the same dilemma as the first time around, did they try to sell off an asset to be able to make a bid? Yes, of course! the manager now getting a reputation as a gambling man with the fans. The club advertised several players to try and bring in enough for a bid, and fortunately, fellow transfer addict Sam showed interest in attacking midfielder Zaniolo, and a deal was struck at 61m. This still didn't bring the club into the top three balances, so it felt a risky move, and again left the side very light in midfield. The decision now was which player to bid for. With all 3 players top youngsters who were better than Zaniolo, any would be a win. First up was a defensive midfielder, and the club's tactic became clear, bid high on all of them! This time round Fulham came in with a higher bid, so it was onto player two. Striker Ekitike was next up, and again Fiorentina bid most of their cash in an attempt to scare off the opposition, and this time surprisingly it was successful! A fantastic young striker. Many fans were expecting the club to go for young Harvey Elliott, and indeed that would have been the manager's preference, but you have to go with how the dice roll.
H_Ekitike 20 fra 1 6 17 20 24 1 23 380 538
The young French lad looks to be the second best 20 year old striker in the game, and will add his firepower to Jovic and Nunez up front, or possibly one of them might drop deeper. Will he stay longer than the last two young strikers signed, Jackson and Hojlund, well yes, because he can't be sold until the end of the season!
So all in all, two fantastic young players sign on, after big gambles taken by the boss to have a bid.
The FFO auctions are an exciting time of the season for transfer addicts, where potential bargains can be had, or hopes dashed.
Which was it for Fiorentina in the mid-season auction?
Gambles pay off with double signings
With the first round of the auction coming up and very little cash in the coffers, Fiorentina took the gamble in selling off one of their better midfielders in young Florentino, with Shaktar paying 47m in value for him. A deal with Celtic also brought in an extra 12m, enabling the club to at least make a speculative bid. They looked hard at the auction list, with the priority appearing to be bringing in a replacement midfielder. However, a teenage keeper caught the eye. Manager Kirby had been working hard at bringing down the age of the squad this season, and the glaring oldie left was keeper Benitez at 31. So a bid was made for young Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro a Dutch under 21 wonderkid. An for every penny in the bank, at just under 60m, he was successfully won!
R_Owusu_Oduro 19 ned 23 1 1 1 22 17
The young keeper is the best rated teenager currently in the game, and if he develops as expected will be one of the games top keepers in years to come.
In a surprise move by the FFO bigwigs a bonus bidding auction was announced, with the 3 remaining players left over from the main auction available to be bid on by the tier two sides.
Fiorentina were left with the same dilemma as the first time around, did they try to sell off an asset to be able to make a bid? Yes, of course! the manager now getting a reputation as a gambling man with the fans. The club advertised several players to try and bring in enough for a bid, and fortunately, fellow transfer addict Sam showed interest in attacking midfielder Zaniolo, and a deal was struck at 61m. This still didn't bring the club into the top three balances, so it felt a risky move, and again left the side very light in midfield. The decision now was which player to bid for. With all 3 players top youngsters who were better than Zaniolo, any would be a win. First up was a defensive midfielder, and the club's tactic became clear, bid high on all of them! This time round Fulham came in with a higher bid, so it was onto player two. Striker Ekitike was next up, and again Fiorentina bid most of their cash in an attempt to scare off the opposition, and this time surprisingly it was successful! A fantastic young striker. Many fans were expecting the club to go for young Harvey Elliott, and indeed that would have been the manager's preference, but you have to go with how the dice roll.
H_Ekitike 20 fra 1 6 17 20 24 1 23 380 538
The young French lad looks to be the second best 20 year old striker in the game, and will add his firepower to Jovic and Nunez up front, or possibly one of them might drop deeper. Will he stay longer than the last two young strikers signed, Jackson and Hojlund, well yes, because he can't be sold until the end of the season!
So all in all, two fantastic young players sign on, after big gambles taken by the boss to have a bid.