The wheels are turning again in Florence. Fiorentina, under the watchful eye of their director, are ready to revive a pair of high profile pursuits th...
The wheels are turning again in Florence. Fiorentina, under the watchful eye of their director, are ready to revive a pair of high profile pursuits that had gone quiet. The names on the desk are Radu Dragusin, currently battling for minutes at Tottenham Hotspur, and Matteo Ruggeri, the Atalanta bred left back now plying his trade for Atletico Madrid. This is not a scattergun approach. This is a targeted double raid, orchestrated with the kind of tactical patience that suggests La Viola are building something more than a mid table outfit.Starting with Dragusin, the logic is immediate. The Romanian international burst onto the scene with Genoa, a defender built for the grind of Serie A. He reads the low block well, throws himself into challenges, and has that rare commodity for a centre back: genuine physical presence married to decent recovery pace. At Spurs he has been used sparingly, a victim of Ange Postecoglou's high line and the sheer volume of attacking talent ahead of him. Yet the raw material is undeniable. Fiorentina need a leader at the back, someone who can organise and snuff out danger before it reaches the goalkeeper. Dragusin offers that, and at 22 years old, he still has room to grow under the right tutelage.Then there is Ruggeri. The profile here is different. This is a player who knows the Italian game inside out, having come through the Atalanta system. He is not a flashy full back. He is a disciplined operator, capable of bombing forward to support transitional play but equally comfortable tucking in to form a three man defence when the opposition have the ball. At Atletico, under Diego Simeone, you do not survive unless you have tactical flexibility drilled into your soul. Ruggeri has that. He also has a wand of a left foot, delivering crosses with the kind of precision that makes a centre forward salivate. For Fiorentina, who have sometimes lacked width and service from the flanks, he could be the missing piece.The question bubbling under the surface here is whether Paratici can pull off a double deal of this magnitude during the same window. Let's be honest, negotiating with Daniel Levy at Tottenham is never a stroll in the park. Dragusin will not come cheap. And Atletico, despite their own financial tightrope, are not in the habit of letting promising talents walk away. But Fiorentina have shown ambition. They have the structure, the coaching staff, and the fan base to tempt players back to Italy. If they can secure both men, this squad suddenly looks a lot more resilient. They would have steel at the back and intelligence on the left. Two boxes ticked. Two problems solved.What happens next will depend on the speed of the talks. Fiorentina cannot afford to dither. Other clubs will be sniffing around. But the intent is clear. Paratici is rolling the dice, and in the high stakes game of Italian football, that is precisely the sort of boldness that separates contenders from also rans. The rumour mill has spun; now we wait to see if the paperwork follows.
