Zaniolo, Skriniar and the others: because for clubs the ideal is a (good) plan B

Open market, players whose contracts are about to expire (or almost) and many opportunities on the market. But also many thorns or at least reasons for deep reflection for several clubs. Inter have been grappling with the Skriniar case since last summer, a negotiation always on the verge of a possible sale. Juve wonders about Rabiot, fresh finalist of the World Cup: but how far can we go for a very, very expensive renewal?

Roma are in fibrillation due to Zaniolo’s stomach aches who are now pushing for his transfer. And Lazio, in a less traumatic and more hidden way, is still involved in the Milinkovic Savic issue, which a year and a half after the expiry of the contract is agitating the club. Because we go from a possible (but very difficult) extension of the contract to the possibility of further decreasing the value, with the danger – even – of losing it on a free transfer if Lotito’s conditions were not destined to be revised. In short, everyone is there, clinging to cover players, perhaps trying to get a signature or very perplexed in giving the green light.

Even if there are reasons, on the part of the players, which lead to different solutions. Because there are those who are fascinated by significantly higher wages and earnings that foreign clubs can guarantee. Because there are those who are attracted by the ambition to compete in different realities, where fighting to win the Champions League is a habit. There are those who are no longer at ease even for technical reasons and are convinced that they can gain value elsewhere. In short, faced with such different motivations, there is the concrete possibility that a negotiation will turn into a useless and costly tug of war.

And then, what to do? The personal feeling is that companies often end up immersing themselves, stubbornly, in almost dead-end operations that waste money and time. Instead of looking around and asking the most obvious question: how can I replace this or that player, playing in advance and studying the best solution? Yes, because football is made up of stories that testify to how important it is – even more than perseverance in insisting on certain goals – the foresight in knowing how to look beyond. Besides, to give an illuminating example, Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes, because despite its value and its impact on the Spanish ten years, it’s not that Real Madrid has finished winning since its farewell. On the contrary. a period of adjustment was enough to start again. In the last season the Champions League, the Scudetto and the Super Cup arrived. In short, one can be sorry or sad even for the snatch of a champion, but then one has to look beyond. Perhaps to Vinicius and Rodrigo, quality “substitutes” capable of ensuring a very bright future.

But, to stay in Italy, the theme was raised by Napoli who for a year questioned themselves first about Insigne and then about Koulibaby: the first started to free himself on a free transfer, the second entered the fateful last year of his contract. And concern traveled everywhere: but how can one do without Insigne and without Koulibaly? Napoli evidently instead chose instead of being carried away by the current. And well in advance he bet on Kvara and Kim, with two operations that seemed very risky and losing compared to the hole that had been lost. But we know how it’s going. In short, there is only one morality. It’s right to try to retain the best players, but when the conditions – economic, technical or professional – risk no longer being compatible, you have to be ready and good at imagining the alternative. The famous plan B, which instead we invoke only as a resource in the field, thinking that by moving from one module to another we can solve all the problems. Forgetting that plan B can instead lead to the renunciation of a player, if in the meantime the best (and perhaps more motivated) substitute for him has been identified.