According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United are looking to sign Fiorentina winger Federico Chiesa in a deal rumoured to be in the region of £60m. The report states that Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solksjaer sent his personal scout to watch the 22-year-old Italian, fueling rumours of a deal.
Who is Chiesa? What do I need to know?
Federico Chiesa, as mentioned above, is a 22-year-old Italian winger, currently playing his trade at Fiorentina in Seria A. He is the son of former Lazio striker Enrico Chiesa.
As a player, he can play anywhere across the front-line. Primarily, he is a winger, but this season he’s played predominately in a central role and thus, is very important to the way his side play.
Chiesa has spent his entire career to date with Fiorentina having joined them way back in 2007, when he was just nine.-years-old. Since making his debut for the senior side back in the opening game of the 2016/17 season, Chiesa has 29 goals and 20 assists in 138 appearances.
This season, Chiesa has bagged six goals and five assists in a pretty poor Fiorentina team. His side currently sit thirteenth in Serie A and are currently seven points above the relegation zone.
Chiesa now also plays for the Italian national senior team. Having made his debut in 2018, he has gone on to make 17 appearances for The Azzuri, scoring one goal in the process. In recent times he has become one of their most promising stars and is an absolute shoe-in to be in the side for the European Championships this summer.
Where will he fit in at Manchester United?
Since the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, nobody has really been able to lock down that right wing position at United. If Chiesa is to come in, it seems likely he will be deployed in that role in the hopes he can make the position his own.
Considering the recent shift in transfer strategy wherein Manchester United have begun targeting hungry, young players rather than older players with a big name and shirt sale potential – it seems a likely move for United to make.
The transfer fee at £60m seems steep, but I honestly don’t think it’s too bad. For the top young players in the world, you will obviously play a premium – this lad has been touted as one of those.
If Chiesa actually lives up to the massive potential he has, the £60m pricetag will seem so minuscule in comparison to what he will end up being worth.
As anyone who reads this site regularly will know, we often use TransferMarkt as a guideline for valuations of football players. Currently, they value Chiesa at £54m – not far away from the figure quoted in the media today.
For me, this deal seems like one that could go either way in terms of whether it will work out. I like Chiesa and do highly rate him, but the move to Manchester United hasn’t exactly turned out to the career-defining move it used to be in recent years.
Look at Memphis Depay – many people will even have forgotten he even played for Manchester United. It’s a risk worth taking though – it feels as though the time has come for Chiesa to make that next step in his playing career.
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