Three more weeks of waiting for all the rossoblù fans. Then, for the Genoa, the new season will open. The appointment is scheduled for Monday 8 July at Signorini sports center with a large part of the squad having achieved salvation early.
It will be a week of medical visits, physical tests and first training sessions. The three players involved in their respective continental competitions will certainly be absent: Retegui and Malinovskyi at the European Championships, Vasquez with the America’s Cup. Whatever their path, in fact, after the adventure with the national teams they will enjoy the holidays and then join the team during the end of the retreat that will begin on July 13th in Moena, with the first friendly against the local amateurs already scheduled for the 14th, the following day (three in total scheduled in the two weeks during which Gilardino and its players will remain at the foot of the Alps). But it is still difficult to say exactly which players Gilardino will call up.
Among the market that has yet to open and above all the many returning elements, there are many registered players, over fifty. Of these, some young people, including Fini, Accornero, Calvani and Masini for example, will leave for retirement but they may not be alone precisely because the coach wants to carefully evaluate those who had the opportunity to gain experience last season, many of whom he himself has coached during his brief stint at the helm of the Primavera. Furthermore it is already certain that Marcandalli, upon returning from the experience with Reggiana, he will be part of the defensive department permanently but there are many players returning from loans and some could still move to Trentino while waiting for accommodation. Not to mention the possible new arrivals as well as there could be some absences. At the moment, for example, Cittadini, Spence, Ekuban and Haps have not been redeemed nor have they renewed and therefore should not be part of the squad but in some cases, as for Spence and Ekuban, the parties are working to continue together.
There will be no Strootman who said goodbye to the group definitively while the main doubts concern the prized pieces on the market starting from Gudmundsson, who many clubs like but who in Italy almost no one can afford to sign, guaranteeing Genoa the requested sum of more than 40 million euros for his contract. As well as Martinez increasingly in the sights of Inter with the Milanese side giving the deal practically concluded and the signatures already this week and the Genoese side slowing down, and by a lot, admitting the negotiation but explaining that we are far from a possible agreement, even because at Genoa, it is now known, the preference is for a possible cash-only transfer while Inter is trying in every way to include young players in the deal in order to lower the economic part. Furthermore, the Spanish goalkeeper has a contract until 2025 with an option for a further season in favor of the rossoblù club. Also for this reason at Villa Rostan they are still looking around so as not to be caught unprepared in case they ultimately decide to accept Inter’s court. And speaking of Milanese, but this time it’s the Rossoneri of Milan, another feat for the young rossoblù.
After the scudetto won by Gennaro Ruotolo’s Under 18s who defeated Roma in the final in Ancona last week, it will be up to Jacopo Sbravati’s Under 15s, future coach of the Genoa Primavera, to try to sew the national title for themselves and they will once again be against the Giallorossi and always in the Marche, no longer in Ancona but in Ascoli al Of the Duke. In fact, the griffincini defeated Milan 2-1 at home in the second leg semi-final thanks to goals from Mandirola and Savona who repeated the success of the first leg, 1-0 goal from Brizzolari, giving another final. With Genoa, out of four teams that qualified among the Under for their respective final four, two of them managed to play for the title. The final will be played on Tuesday 25 June starting at 8pm.
