How distant it seems, very distant, this period when Marseille supporters were curious to see at work this young Serbian player, 22 years old at the time, who had just splashed the summer play-offs of the Champions League with the Red Star of Belgrade. Purchased by OM for 14 million euros, Nemanja Radonjić’s adventure in the Phocaean City was short-lived. Despite some sparks during his second season in Marseille, the French leaders decided to send him on loan to Hertha Berlin, Benfica then Torino. In Italy, he completed a rather fruitful loan (30 matches, 4 goals, 3 assists), although up and down, and the purchase option included therefore became an obligation. But his first season was also marked by this terrible humiliation suffered. Entering the game during the derby lost to Juventus (4-2), the Serbian international was taken out… 17 minutes later: “There are things I don’t understand. He lacks respect for this sport. I ask him to do things and he does the opposite. After six months, I couldn’t get him to become a football player.”deplored Ivan Juric last March.
“I’m not satisfied with him. He must give more. He’s struggling to become a real player. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it disappears. This is the boy’s great limit. We will still wait, but he has to show that he wants to do something in football. I expect more from him”, already warned his trainer last February. Retained and reinforced in the Torino rotation, all the fans, who nicknamed him “MaRadonjic” when he started in Piedmont, believed in it again last September, when the Serb scored three goals in the first four days of the championship. Unfortunately, Nemanja Radonjić clashed with his coach twice, notably during training at the beginning of the month. Bis therefore repeated and a new exclusion from the professional group and from the match sheets against Atalanta (3-0) and Frosinone (0-0), until his reinstatement twelve days later. Before the Derby della Mole against Juventus (2-0), in October, the Granata number 10 had already suffered a total exclusion from the team for similar reasons. Tense atmosphere in the Turin house.
A decisive transfer window for Toro!
Currently ranked in an anecdotal 10th place in Serie A, Torino nevertheless remains quite close to the European tickets, only five points from 6th position camped by Atalanta. Turin management therefore knows full well that this month of January could be the month of change in the project, in terms of both arrivals and departures. Tired of his attitude and his irregularity, the sporting director, Davide Vagnati, in agreement with the Turin president, Urbano Cairo, is looking for a way out for Nemanja Radonjić during this winter transfer window. According to our information, Torino called several Italian clubs, including Salernitana, Udinese and AC Monza, in the hope of selling the Serbian striker. For a while, Adriano Galliani, president of the Lombard club, finally left the track due to the Serbian’s mood swings which have caused a lot of ink to flow in Italy since his arrival. The native of Niš seems to have blown all his jokers in Turin which is now only thinking of throwing in the towel with the former Marseillais, to the point where the leaders will also test the foreign market, notably in Serbia, France, Spain , in Portugal and Germany to sell it as quickly as possible.
In the other direction, Torino has already listed some names of possible successors to Nemanja Radonjić in the Turin rotation. According to our indiscretions, among the profiles, the names of Dennis Praet and Aleksey Miranchuk once again come back to the management’s mind as during the last summer transfer window – the two players have already been on loan to Torino, know Ivan Juric’s system well and are highly appreciated by the Croatian coach. The Granata leaders want to satisfy their coach who will be at the end of his contract in 6 months and who is waiting for signals to make his decision, while negotiations for a renewal, stopped for a time, have been relaunched in recent weeks. The other players proposed to fill the probable departure of Nemanja Radonjić are as follows: Dany Mota (Monza), Armando Broja (Chelsea) but also two young people Panos Katseris (Catanzaro) and Rocco Vata (Glasgow). In any case, the seven-time Italian champions are determined to wipe out their offensive lines, now built around Duván Zapata, Nikola Vlašić and Antonio Sanabria.
