It’s hard enough to make a breakthrough as a young player, never mind having the burden of a legendary dad and playing at a club in turmoil.
Federico Chiesa managed this with a Fiorentina side who may well have gone down without him last season, but his chairman won’t let him go cheaply.
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The Sun reported last week that the player was a target for Liverpool and Juventus among others, but Fiorentina owner, Rocco Commisso, hit back saying he wouldn’t even sell the player for €100m as reported by Football Italia.
“I will not make the same mistake with Chiesa that was made with Baggio. Roby Baggio was the greatest player ever and they sold him just for money,” he is quoted as saying.
“I don’t know if there are any particular clauses in Chiesa’s contract, but as far as I am concerned, he is our champion and I won’t sell him even for €100m.”
Chiesa is capable of playing anywhere across the front three, but unless Liverpool part with Firmino, Mane or Salah, it seems unlikely they would spend such a large sum on a backup player.
A move to Juventus may be more likely, interestingly if he played on his favoured right wing he would likely force some former Fiorentina players out of the club, with Cuadrado, Pjaca and Bernardeschi all playing in a similar position.
The son of former Fiorentina legend and free-kick master, Enrico Chiesa, he has 13 international caps and looks to be firmly established in the Azzurri starting XI, so of course he will cost a hefty transfer fee.
Time will tell if the Fiorentina owner was merely setting a price tag or using a figure he believed would be out of reach for clubs and forcing them to back off.
Unfortunately for him, €100m isn’t out of reach for a lot of Europe’s top clubs, and it seems Chiesa will be moving on at some point soon if the club can’t match his ambitions, fortunately they just clung on to their Serie A status this year or he could have gone for much less.
Chiesa has 15 goals and 19 assists in 100 Serie A games for Fiorentina, and he’ll be looking to add to those tallies next season if he stays in Florence.
