Fiorentina signing had many tryouts with Inter, father says
Speaking to a local Bergamo paper after his son’s loan move to Fiorentina, father Antonio said that the Nerazzurri “never gave [Marco] a clear answer” before he joined Atalanta in 1999, and was grateful about the latter, the Lombard side being credited for having “faith in Sportiello”.
“He played a number of tournaments with Inter, but they were all considered to be tryouts,” he told Bergamo News, "but they never gave us a clear answer.
“Then our friend Silvano Pezzali arrived, he took Marco to Bergamo and it took a small game in training [to convince them], Angelo Messina and Coach Bonifacio immediately said they wanted to keep him”.
Sportiello nailed down the starting job at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium in 2014, missing only three league games in the following two seasons.
Etrit Berisha has knocked him off his perch this season, however, with Antonio Sportiello claiming that “clashes” with Gasperini contributed to son Marco being left off the starting lineup.