Torino Club Focus: What do the Granata need in January?

Incredibly sitting in seventh place at the turn of the year, the Torino players can rightly enjoy treating themselves over the festive period for their achievements so far this season.

For they have surpassed all expectations and a lot of fans will be happier than they may have thought they would be when looking at the league table at this stage.

The players who have departed have not been missed one iota with those coming in to join Giampiero Ventura’s attacking revolution at the Olimpico are being richly rewarded for their efforts.

Perhaps the biggest transfer activity from the club in the summer was keeping the services of the sensational Alessio Cerci who has unquestionably been the club’s star player again this season.

Not far behind is Ciro Immobile who is tied with the former Fiorentina winger for the club’s top scorer and who has already been forgiven by the fans for his Juventus past due to his displays that have won over the critics and the even more endearing way he speaks about the club and he has been a huge coup thriving in the proper environment.

Another man enjoying great success in such an attacking side is Omar El Kaddouri who arrived on loan from Napoli during the summer mercato and who has been at the centre of much of the Granata success between attack and midfield when he has featured.

Alexander Farnerud has shown the kind of talent he is with some assured performances in midfield and although it took a little time before he fully adjusted to the task, he has shown himself to be a more capable performer than many of the players in his position already at the club.

Astute experienced defensive signings like Cesare Bovo and Emiliano Moretti will help at the back and players like Nicola Bellomo and Marcelo Larrondo have shown they can shine if given the chance.

Potential/Definite Ins

A goalkeeper. Anyone will do. It has been no secret in Turin this season that Daniele Padelli has cost the club far too many points to be considered a viable number one choice for anyone who could realistically now challenge for a European spot.

Anyone will do was an exaggeration but there are good options out there for the club with Samir Ujkani being a player who has been admired in the past for his performances at this level and could come in to do a job until the end of the campaign but it would be very unlikely that the goalkeeper would be dispensed with at this delicate stage and the former Udinese man looks set to stay for better or worse.

Defensively, the team look more than stable and it would come as a surprise but not a shock if someone was added. If there is an arrival, it will likely be an experienced stop gap along the lines of Moretti or Giovanni Pasquale, perhaps a necessity to replace Danilo D’Ambrosio.

In midfield and attack there have been names linked rather frequently and if they can pull off the signings of AC Milan duo Antonio Nocerino and Stephan El Shaarawy as has been speculated they would go some way to maintaining a top half finish.

Nocerino may not have hit the heights he did at San Siro when Zlatan Ibrahimovic starred beside him but he would be a quality signing for Toro and if they could try tempt ‘Il Faraone’ into a loan move, he could be a man with a point to prove and a World Cup place to play for and therefore represent a top class acquisition.

Among the other names being linked are a cross city switch for Sebastian Giovinco (I for one would welcome ‘The Atomic Ant’) and Francesco Lodi so it is reassuring to see the calibre of player the Granata are setting their sights on.

Potential/Definite Outs

There is not a great deal to be said for many or any player(s) leaving the club during the January window.

All of the players the club wanted to farm out or sell left this past summer while each main first team player looks set to stay with the club bar one.

Danilo D’Ambrosio has been an outstandingly consistent performer for the past 18 months or so and unfortunately it has not gone unnoticed by some of the league’s bigger names.

His contract is set for expiration in the summer and he has not signed a new one. With Juventus and Roma circling in interest, the club could be forced to cash in this in January rather than let him walk for nothing.

What needs to happen?

If it isn’t broke don’t fix it is the old adage and that could be true of Toro’s dealings in the window although some astute arrivals certainly would not go amiss to add to a squad already doing the business.

Keeping D’Ambrosio, even if only until June, would be an expectation that should hopefully be fulfilled. He could then walk for nothing but you would rather keep him for the run in to the campaign than have his place taken by a player like Salvatore Masiello or Pasquale who are not on his level.

The signing of Nocerino would be a massive boost and seems likely going by the sounds coming out of Torino fan whisperings.

Lodi would be welcomed with even wider arms but seems highly unlikely. An attacker, one of either Giovinco or SES maybe, would then make it a prosperous window.

And a goalkeeper. Has that been mentioned already? Are you listening Gianluca Petrachi?