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EXCLUSIVE Romano: How Milan, Inter turned down low-cost wonder Kalinic
And to think that a mere handful of years ago, a 21-year-old Nikola Kalinic once dreamt of playing for the Milanese sides, wishing to emulate fellow Balkan talent Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who played for both clubs.
“I’d gladly play for Inter and Milan, they’re fantastic clubs” Kalinic once said, without hesitating to reveal that Napoli were in talks with his agent, though nothing came of it.
And it isn’t only Inter and Milan who failed to take a plunge on a player who has now netted nine Serie A goals, putting him joint-second in the league behind Gonzalo Higuain.
Among Italian clubs, Palermo thought of bringing him in in 2011, before Napoli…and the Milanese sides.
Only in the latter case it was Kalinic’s entourage who made the first move: “Nikola is for sale, he’s cheap and is really up for it. He’d even reduce his salary”.
Unfortunately, signing Bacca and extending Mauro Icardi pretty much exhausted the San Siro’s hunger for strikers, leading both clubs to turn the 27-year-old down.
Instead, it was up to Fiorentina’s Daniele Pradé to masterfully seal the deal, immediately sensing a huge opportunity when the Croatian’s agent rang him up.
After all, the former Blackburn player had by then accumulated international experience, playing well enough in the Europa League to deserve the chance to at least partner Khouma Babacar in the Rossoneri’s attack, with a starting job in Europe if he didn’t match up to him.
The rest, as they say, is history, with Babacar being relegated to Euro league action, and Kalinic making the team, and the town, his own.
And it all began with a phone call: "Wait, only seven million?".
Pradé couldn’t believe his ears, but a bit of digging around confirmed this: Dnipro were in financial crisis, their coach had left, and the club was offloading its expensive contracts. Kalinic, for his part, wanted out, and desperately wanted to play in Serie A.
A bit of negotiating... and he was Fiorentina’s, for €5.5 million, and a lower salary.
Talk about a steal!
