Graziano Pelle to leave Southampton in summer transfer window with Chelsea and Everton favourites to sign Italy striker 
Sam Wallace, chief football writer
3 JULY 2016 • 2:01PM
Italy striker Graziano Pelle is to leave Southampton this summer with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea among the clubs considering a move for the 30-year-old who was one of the four Italians who missed a penalty in the shoot-out defeat to Germany on Saturday night. There are no plans at Southampton to offer a new contract to Pelle, who has one year left on his current deal and would have been able to leave last summer if a serious offer had been made for him. Charlie Austin’s arrival in January was with a view to Pelle’s long-term replacement and the club will also reinvest the funds from their sale of Sadio Mane to Liverpool, potentially worth up to £38.5 million. As usual, Southampton will expect a high price for a forward who finished the season strongly, with six goals in seven games, and want between £10 million and £20 million.
They negotiated an £11 million fee with Spurs for Victor Wanyama when the Kenyan had only one year left to run on his Saints deal.
There is expected to be interest in Pelle from the Chinese Super League clubs as well as from Italy’s Serie A.
He may yet be regarded by his former manager Ronald Koeman at Everton as a good option.
The two go back to their days together at Feyenoord, and while their relationship at Southampton might best be described as up and down, Koeman knows exactly the kind of player he would be getting.
Pelle had a good Euro 2016 and scored twice, in victories over Belgium and Spain. He started in the team for all four of the critical matches, and was rested for the final group game defeat to Republic of Ireland when Italy had already won the group.
Conte demanded of him that he play a much more hard-running game, shutting down Germany’s midfield.
Chelsea have already released loan signings Radamel Falcao and Alessandro Pato and have an agreement to sign Marseille’s Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi.
Diego Costa’s future hangs in the balance with interest from Atletico Madrid and Pelle, with his Premier League experience, could potentially be a good short-term option as cover among the strikers.
Conte said after Saturday’s match that he would take seven days break before he started work at Chelsea a week on Monday. That gives him five days working with his players until Chelsea fly to Vienna to play the first match at the Allianz Stadion, the new home of the Austrian club, on July 16.
Four days later they play the Austrian side Wolfsberger AC in Carinthia with a training camp in Austria in between games. After that the club embark on their major commercial tour of the summer - three games in the United States against Liverpool, Real Madrid and AC Milan in California, Michigan and Minneapolis.
Conte said after the defeat to Germany in Bordeaux that he was looking forward to his new life as the Chelsea manager and left with a parting shot at the Italian game and the Italian media.
Conte said that he had always felt isolated over two years as Italy manager and had been stung by criticism of the team.
“It seemed I had to go into battle – Conte against everyone,” he said. “I have always worked for the best of the national team. Not for myself.”
He added that his decision to leave Italy after Euro 2016 was made when the team qualified for the tournament in November and at that point he had hoped that under different circumstances he might have stayed on.
Once Chelsea made his offer, he said he has not looked back. “I know it will be a significantly different challenge but that’s a challenge I relish.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/03/graziano-pelle-to-leave-southampton-in-summer-transfer-window-wi/ [ 此帖被羅力亞在2016-07-11 20:42重新編輯 ]
