The latest reports are that Leeds and Fulham still haven’t reached agreement over Ross McCormack, even though the cottagers have increased their bid to £10million and our club captain has formally asked for a move.
Cellino has insisted that he does not need to sell McCormack and says he wants him to stay, even though the player has been granted expended leave by the club at his own request, to give him time to sort out his future. McCormack was not on board when the rest of the squad flew out to Italy for a training camp and a couple of pre-season friendlies.
So it’s a bit surprising that Cellino still hasn’t accepted the latest bid from Fulham. I think we’ve done well to get the price up to £10million, and now could be a good time to cash in. Although McCormack came good last season his previous three years at the club were rather patchy, so we could be better off with the cash, especially if the player is no longer willing to remain at Elland Road.
We have been linked with a couple of possible signings, and it’s no surprise that both are Italian, though it’s not clear whether these would be dependent on receiving a fee for McCormack.
One of them is Tommaso Bianchi, a 25-year-old creative central-midfield player who is currently with Sassuolo. They’re a club that many people in England won’t have heard of, but they finished 17th. out of 20 in Serie A last season , narrowly avoiding relegation. And with 17 being Cellino’s unlucky number, it’s amazing he’d even consider signing a player from a club who finished in that position.
Silvestri is a goalkeeper who is currently at Chievo, and we will have to assume that his birthday doesn’t fall on the 17th. Chievo is a suburb of Verona, and they are another relatively small club just about managing to hold on in Italy’s top division, finishing one place above Sassuolo last season to claim 16th spot.
Whilst these signings may not exactly set the pulses racing, at least they are players who were playing in Italy’s top division last season, and they are probably the highest calibre of player that we can hope to attract to Elland Road at the present time. Let’s hope they turn out to be quite good.