End of the season, time for zero parameters: in June there is a footballer who could leap the barricade and revive the Scudetto challenge between Inter and Napoli
Inter-Napoli, salta il rinnovo: affare a parametro zero (Foto: LaPresse) – serieanews.com
There is a time in every club’s season when the enthusiasm for goals scored and trophies chased gives way to Excel sheets. The roll call is taken: who stays, who leaves, who still makes sense within the technical project. And then there are them, the players who enter the limbo of the zero parameters. Neither confirmed nor hailed, but formally free. The line between opportunity and oblivion, between revival and oblivion, is all there: in a signature that does not arrive.
In June, as every year, there will be many who end up in the free agent pile. Some worn out, others simply finished out of the game. But there are also those who-despite having passed the age peak-remain solid, functional, perhaps even underrated players. This is the case of those who won, sidelined for a while and now, accomplices of favorable circumstances, are back on the radar. Not a young upstart, but not a nostalgic veteran either.
Stefan de Vrij, to say.
If it were a TV series, Inter’s Dutch center back would be one of those characters you thought eliminated in the second season and instead pop up again in the penultimate episode with a decisive role. After being overtaken in the pecking order by Francesco Acerbi, he seemed destined for a slow exit. But this year, between injuries to others and capitalized performances, he has regained space and centrality.
Stefan De Vrij in scadenza di contratto: un’occasione da cogliere (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
He never made a sound. He came back as a starter, gave continuity, convinced. That’s no small feat for someone who is 33 years old and seemed off the radar. But despite the more-than-positive performance, and the flattering words of his agent Federico Pastorello, who a few days ago spent publicly for both him and Acerbi-“they both deserve renewal,” he said-the expiring contract is still there, untouched. And there are plenty of doubts about both of them.
For Acerbi it can fit: he is 1988, he has already given so much. But De Vrij (1992) is still inside an age of full expendability, especially for those looking for ready-made certainties. And indeed someone, for some time, has been thinking about it. Someone with a project to reinforce and a defense to rethink almost from scratch, at least in the back-ups.
Napoli, idea De Vrij: può arrivare in scadenza di contratto
That someone is Napoli. Which with Conte has regained stability and solidity and has begun to undermine Inter in the very Scudetto race. De Vrij, for technical and environmental reasons, could suit Conte. He knows him well, has already coached and appreciated him. He does not have to explain anything to him. De Vrij said of him, “Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 I compare to a Mondrian painting, symmetrical, Simone Inzaghi’s to one by Van Gogh, more imaginative: that’s what changes between them. They are two coaches who were right because they won.”
And so in June, with a dry signing, Conte could take him home without paying a euro for a tag. And ds Giovanni Manna, who needs to redeem himself after the January market and is gladly looking for such bargains, is giving it more than a thought.
Napoli, idea De Vrij: può arrivare in scadenza di contratto (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
He is not the only one, of course. Because De Vrij, on a zero-parameter basis, is also coveted by several foreign clubs. But Napoli has the advantage of playing ahead and having a starting jersey to offer. Inter, meanwhile, is watching. It could move, but so far it has not. And time is running out.
Also because the snub could be double. Because if on the one hand Napoli studies the incoming coup, Inter had been thinking about a reverse operation. Yes, because Alex Meret is also on deadline and his contract situation had attracted more than one look from Milan. Too bad that here the story is different. Meret, in fact, seems close to saying yes to Napoli. The renewal is practically finalized, all that is missing is the official announcement. A strong signal, almost a cross-revenge: if Inter gets De Vrij blown away, Napoli – at least – armors its goalkeeper.
Two stories that intersect. Two clubs watching each other, poking at each other, interlocking. And who knows, as is often the case, one signature is not enough to change the balance of an entire season.
This article Inter-Napoli, skips renewal: zero-parameter deal appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.
