Sampdoria will enter the January transfer window with a new football director and a new coach. Pasquale Sensible and Ciro Ferrara have been replaced by Carlo Osti and Delio Rossi respectively. After coaching the blucerchiati for only one match before Christmas, Rossi will have a chance to seek players that suit his style.
Keeping Pedro Obiang is the main priority for Rossi. The young defensive midfielder is Sampdoria’s most sought after player and he has been linked with moves to English Premier League clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham. The clubs were offering £15 million for Obiang’s services.
Napoli showed some interest too but recent reports from ‘Tuttosport’ suggest that Obiang might swap teams with Juventus full-back Paolo De Ceglie. The Turin giants are offering €5 million for the Spaniard but Samp want De Ceglie in return. Osti has said that Obiang won’t be sold in January, but expect the rumours to keep persisting.
Sampdoria need depth in attack. Although Maxi Lopez is out injured, there are still some strikers who could leave. Nicola Pozzi is a target for Siena and that will provide an opportunity for him to reunite with last season’s Sampdoria coach Giuseppe Iachini.
Another striker who could leave is Mauro Icardi. The young Argentine is being targeted by Lazio, who look set to offload some of their own strikers. Most of them don’t want to play second-fiddle to German international Miroslav Klose and Icardi might be brought in once the others depart.
Opposing teams are chasing after Sampdoria’s young talent but the blucerchiati themselves are looking for players of different ages. Wide players, central midfielders and strikers are among the latest targets for Delio Rossi’s team, starting with two veterans based in Tuscany.
Thirty-year-old playmaker Gaetano D’Agostino and 29-year-old full-back Mattia Cassani are struggling for action at Siena and Fiorentina respectively, so both players could leave Tuscany and head towards the port city. D’Agostino has played only seven matches for Siena this season and Cassani has played only one more match than his Siena adversary.
D’Agostino would be an ideal replacement for Enzo Maresca, who sustained a thigh injury in training. He will be out for a month but once he returns, Maresca could still play alongside D’Agostino and help maintain possession more. Cassani played under Rossi last season at Fiorentina, when the ex-Lazio coach opted for the 3-5-2 formation as opposed to the 4-3-1-2 he usually implements.
Sampdoria are competing with city rivals Genoa for the services of Atalanta winger Ezequiel Schelotto. The Italo-Argentine has played as a full-back or wing-back in the past and if he chooses the blucerchiati over the rossoblu, it will be bad news for Marcelo Estigarribia, who had a dip in form over the last month.
Another option in the wide positions is former full-back Reto Ziegler. The Swiss international could return to Sampdoria, ending a loan spell at Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow but a move to Besiktas in Turkey is more likely.
Rumours also suggest Fabio Ceravolo from Reggina might join the attack. He has had Serie A experience with the Calabresi and with Atalanta but he hasn’t had a breakthrough season at the highest level yet. At 25-years-old, this could be his chance to shine.
One more option for the attack was Mauro Zarate but the troubled Argentine unlikely to head to Genoa. Carlo Osti said that there are enough strikers at Sampdoria yet he didn’t talk about Zarate’s attitude. Perhaps it was self-explanatory.
Osti and Rossi are looking at their options now and the latest targets suggest that Rossi might move away from his preferred 4-3-1-2. At the moment, it isn’t clear if he would even use the 3-5-2 again. Regardless of the formation Rossi will use, Sampdoria look set to improve their roster and the players targeted are suited to mid-table safety, a goal Samp should aim for.
