The defender’s agent in the club headquarters. At certain figures – i.e. 70-80 million – the Nerazzurri are ready to negotiate his transfer
Once Steph Curry, lighting up just by saying “tiki-taka”, explained how much Guardiola’s Barcelona had inspired the Golden State Warriors, who then launched, thanks also to that philosophy, towards four NBA titles in eight years between 2014 and 2022. An indirect and not red thread but which somehow connects Alessandro Bastoni to his non-football idol and to the club that laid its big Blaugrana eyes on him.
the figures
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The more days pass, the more the defender confirms himself as Barça’s number one target. From Inter there is no clear closure but at the same time the club remains firm on one crucial point: the economic one. To sign the defender from Casalmaggiore, with a current salary of over 5 million net, you need between 70 and 80 million. Strategic investment for quality, flexibility, intensity, profile in general. Painting considered a very valuable piece of the Nerazzurri gallery, within an iridescent frame with shades of blue, current and past. The sparkle of Wembley night 2021 is nostalgically intact. But the melancholy of the successes that were – with Inter the two championships and the second star, the 7 trophies in total, the two Champions League finals in three years – does not have the right consistency to creep into the transfer market. Barcelona have chosen the defender to focus on, they increase the pressure (and he knows it) and on Inter’s part there is no preclusion in a squad in which there are none untransferable, with the exception of the captain and his acquired scion Pio.
a super market
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Full interest, fixed price. Although it cannot be ruled out that a phone call from Spain could arrive with a proposal that includes a quid pro quo. No exchanges, in Catalonia they know this, rather they are evaluating the possibility of inserting a “buffer” to soften the Nerazzurri side of the deal and lower the request. Here on the table Barcelona can lay down the Masia card. Gerard Martín is one of the precious players who grew up there and made it to the first team. Left-handed who also plays center, 2002. Liked, clearly. But in Milan he is not considered equal to Bastoni. Translated: it would not be enough to reduce Inter’s requests. So here we are again with those 70 (at least) million and with which the club could then launch into a super market. There are the Koné and Vicario deals, and perhaps an attacking winger so as not to deny himself a forecast for a change of formation. And Bastoni? Right now it’s all about the national team. Head, heart, body. But trying to move the horizon a little further, today the player sees himself (would see himself) at Inter in the future too, despite that awareness that everything can change. The route he takes from Bergamo to Appiano every day is always one and the same – which allows him to live and play close to his family – while those to the market are endless. In this context, the visit of his agent, Tullio Tinti, to the headquarters last Monday did not go unnoticed. A passage to talk about the moment that Bastoni is experiencing, between the injury and the aftermath of the simulation in Inter-Juve, but it is plausible that the Barça topic has crept into the rooms of Via della Liberazione. Very current discussions for a not too distant future and at the same time to be handled with care because, whatever the fate of the defender, after this national parenthesis, the priority will once again become only one. All tricolor. To “leave well” if his Inter career really ends next summer.
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