Striker required in push for Champions League finish.
In the fourth instalment of our six-part Serie A series, we discuss how injuries may force Vincenzo Montella into action during the January transfer window.
It has been a frustrating season in some ways for Fiorentina, despite the fact that they are in fourth place in Serie A and are just three points adrift of Napoli in third.
Having come agonizingly close to securing Champions League football last year, the Viola are determined not to see the same thing happen again this season but factors outside of their control threaten to derail them.
Summer signing Mario Gomez has been absent since September after suffering ligament damage in his knee, although he appears confident that he will make his comeback sooner rather than later despite missing his initial target which was the Livorno game this past weekend.
While he failed to return, Giuseppe Rossi joined him in the treatment room after sustaining collateral ligament damage in his right knee.
Livorno defender Leandro Rinaudo was widely blasted by the Italian media for his challenge on Rossi who has missed the best part of the last three years with knee problems, and although it wasn’t as serious as first feared, it is still a disappointing blow for both the club and player as well as Cesare Prandelli and the national team.
As a result, Fiorentina may well be forced into bringing in reinforcements while their star striking duo are sidelined for the next month or two.
Gomez will likely return in the upcoming weeks after now targeting the game against Genoa at the end of the month but he will presumably require time to find his feet and with the level of competition as high as ever in Italy this year. Montella will be wary of losing ground.
Since the weekend, speculation has spread as to who the Florence-based club will target, with former Catania man Alejando Gomez a possibility, according to Football Italia.
However, those rumours have quickly been replaced with links to Antonio Di Natale and Antonio Cassano, but both would appear highly unrealistic given the circumstances and connection between the players and their respective clubs.
In contrast, an interesting possibility was presented to Montella in a recent press conference, where he was asked about the chances of Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic returning to Italy after just a few months.
“Jovetic? It seems he’s injured too,” he said, as reported by Goal.com. “But his arrival isn’t science fiction.”
Such a move would still seem unlikely, but with Fiorentina requiring a striker and Jovetic struggling to find playing time in Manchester, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad temporary fix after all?
Juventus Transfer News Analysis
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