Even if Torino is no longer the surprising leader of the Italian championship, the start of the season remains no less positive for the Piedmontese club. Currently ranked 7th in Serie A, Paolo Vanoli’s players manage to show great things even in defeat. During their only two losses of the season against Inter (3-2) and against Lazio (2-3), the Turinese managed to obtain great opportunities, dominating their opponents in short sequences, even displaying a solid resistance in numerical inferiority as against the Nerazzurri after the expulsion of Guillermo Maripán. Unfortunately, this thunderous start was spoiled by the first piece of bad news. While the Granata celebrated the return to competition of Nikola Vlašić and the progress of Perr Schurrs in his rehabilitation, it was the star of the team Duván Zapata, taken out on a stretcher on Saturday against Inter, who joined the infirmary. A huge blow for Torino.
If the first information did not suggest anything good for Duván Zapata, the officialization did not help to reassure the people of Turin: “The medical tests to which Duvan Zapata was subjected, after leaving the field prematurely during the match against Inter, revealed an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament, the medial meniscus and the lateral meniscus. The entire Torino Football Club affectionately embraces Duvan in the hope of seeing him again as soon as possible as a protagonist on the field in the garnet jersey», Communicated this Monday the Piedmontese club. Captain of the team since the departures of Ricardo Rodriguez and Alessandro Buongiorno this summer, the Colombian striker had a great start to the season with 4 goals scored in 9 appearances in all competitions. It is therefore a huge loss for Paolo Vanoli’s troops who were banking heavily on the Cali native to secure a European ticket at the end of the season.
Several profiles including former Ligue 1 players
By losing its flagship striker, Torino also loses its experienced leader and its cornerstone of the collective system. In this sense, according to our information, the Turin club will quickly scan the market for players without a contract in the hope of finding a player capable of completing the offensive rotation since the forefront of the Garnet attack is only made up of two real scorers with the Scottish Ché Adams (3 goals, 1 assist) and the Paraguayan Antonio Sanabria (1 goal) – even if the Frenchman Yann Karamoh and the Croatian Nikola Vlašić can help out in a number 9 role. Especially since the system installed by Paolo Since the start of the season, Vanoli has taken the form of a flat 3-5-2 with two real scorers up front. According to our indiscretions, the Turin management wishes to find a very specific profile on the market for players without a contract: a veteran striker who has great European experience with the aim of bringing a little something extra to stay in the race for the title. ‘Europe. Several names have already come out in the Italian press today, while Torino would like to offer a 2-year contract with the second as an option to this much sought-after medical joker.
The newspaper La Stampa specifies that Mario Balotelli (34 years old) appears quite high in the list of Torino solutions. The former OGC Nice and OM player has been free since his departure from Adana Demirspor this summer and could thus take advantage of Duvan Zapata’s serious injury to find a new unexpected base. It was notably announced by Brazil or even Wydad Casabalanca this summer. But Super Mario is not the only former Ligue 1 striker tracked by Torino. Indeed, La Stampa adds that former PSG, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (35) is also on the shelves. The newspaper Tuttosport specifies that Kevin Gameiro (37 years old) and the former Strasbourg player, Lebo Mothiba (28 years old), are also present on the short-list, as is the former OL player, Mariano Diaz (31 years old). According to our indiscretions, the Turin management could nevertheless be tempted by easier local avenues in the event of failure of the aforementioned files. In this sense, the Isaac Success track (28 years old), passed through Udinese, could be relaunched, he who had been mentioned for a time in Turin. Note that Francisco Caputo (37 years old), Mattia Destro (33 years old) and Stefano Okaka (37 years old) are also currently without a contract.
