Padova Sporting Director Predicts Teenager Defender ‘Will End Up Going To Inter Milan’ | OneFootball

The Sporting Director of Serie C side Padova anticipates that defender Giovanni Leoni will end up joining Inter Milan.

Speaking to PadovaSport, via FCInterNews, the club’s executive Massimiliano Mirabelli predicted that the Nerazzurri will seal the deal to sign the teenage defender, with his club receiving a cut of the fee.

Inter have made Leoni one of their major young targets for this summer transfer window.

The Nerazzurri see the 17-year-old defender as a player capable of growing into a top-level defender.

At the moment, Leoni naturally still lacks experience in senior football. He only broke into Sampdoria’s first team over the course of last season.

However, Leoni’s performances once he got his foot in the door were highly convincing.

The teenage defender had spent last campaign on loan at Sampdoria from Padova. However, the Ligurian club had a purchase option to sign the 17-year-old for a fee of €1.5 million.

And it was little surprise to see Sampdoria exercise that option.

It looks clear that, if the Blucerchiati are to sell Leoni this summer, it would already be for a significant profit compared to what they have just paid to sign him.

Reports indicate that Sampdoria would demand at least €5 million for Leoni. And potentially even more.

Padova Sporting Director Predicts Giovanni Leoni Will Join Inter Milan

Inter are the team to have shown the strongest interest in Leoni this summer.

However, the Nerazzurri are not the only club to have registered an interest in the 17-year-old’s signature.

Nevertheless, it is Inter who have taken by far the most significant steps to sign Leoni.

By comparison, Juventus and Napoli have yet to progress in talks with Sampdoria.

Inter’s intention would appear to be to sign Leoni this summer. Then, they would be ready to loan him back to Sampdoria.

This solution would suit Inter, who would hardly have a use for Leoni in their senior squad at this stage. It would also suit Sampdoria.

And Leoni himself would benefit from more experience in a familiar environment.

For his part, the Sporting Director of the club that just sold Leoni expects the 17-year-old to join Inter.

“I know that Inter are leading the way to sign him,” Mirabelli said.

“I think he’ll end up going there.”

“They’re very interested,” Mirabelli said of the Nerazzurri. “I spoke to them recently, they’re looking to find an agreement with Sampdoria.”

The Padova Sporting Director noted that “We’ll receive 10% of future resale, so we’ll get some money in our coffers.”