FEATURE | Could a return to Italy be on the cards for Marco Verratti? | OneFootball

Marco Verratti will be a free agent this summer and a lot of Serie A clubs could do with him. The midfielder’s contract at Al Arabi expires in the summer and the Italian could come back to home to play in the Serie A for the first time ever. He has played in his home country with Pescara before but all of his appearances came in the second division, Serie B. So which clubs are linked with bringing him home? Pretty much all of Inter, Milan, Juventus, Napoli and Roma have been mentioned in the discussion for the player over the last few months. All of them could do with his abilities in the middle of the park. Inter have built up a reputation for astutely picking up free agents over the last few years and Verratti is almost as good as it can get. Additionally, with Davide Frattesi expected to leave, they could do with another midfielder, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan not getting any younger and Piotr Zielinski having had an inconsistent season.

The same logic applies for Napoli who could be losing Andre Franck Zambo Anguissa on a free this summer. Philip Billing is likely to return to Bournemouth and Antonio Conte is no stranger to having major squad changes after his first season at clubs. Verratti can play as a 6 or an 8 and can be a useful asset to Conte.

Roma were the ones linked quite heavily to him in January and Milan have reportedly sounded out the option too, but any decision at either club will come after a manager has been brought on board for next season.

Juventus too have the same problem and given that their summer signings in midfield haven’t really worked out, the Bianconeri should perhaps be paying closer attention to this than the others. Lastly, although there have been no links, Cesc Fabregas’s Como have been doing deals like this of late and the 32-year-old will definitely be on their radar. Verratti, who was widely acknowledged as one of the best midfielders in the world at PSG combines a very high level of tenacity and technique and favourably for any suitors, has not played a lot of minutes in Qatar over the last couple of years.

Kaulik Mitra | GIFN