What we hoped would not happen is now in danger of happening. On the table of John Petrucelli a substantial offer has arrived, and the player is more than tempted to accept. It’s that of Trapaniwhich he would have put on the plate a two-year contract worth 500 thousand euros per season. Anyone who wants to have the Italian-American guard-forward by June 30 must also come up with 150 thousand euros for the player’s buy-out.
The figure, evidently, does not frighten the president of the highly ambitious newly promoted team Valerio Antonini, who has announced that he wants to reach the championship semi-final next season, and to imagine their own “stable” team in Europe within three years. The figures, however, are not official. And, until early afternoon yesterday (with reference to Italian time), Petrucelli did not have a definitive picture of the offer.
In short, in the “regional” basketball project of Trapani, which would involve all of Sicily and which – on the pitch – was entrusted to the expert Repesathe addition of the winger would be fundamental, who today, together with the rest of the national team, reached San Juan, Puerto Rico, after a brief retreat in Miami. On Tuesday 2 July the Azzurri will begin the Pre-Olympic with the match against Bahrain. Peppe Poeta, the new coach of Germani, is with Petrucelli all day. The offer arrived on Thursday, and in these hours it is up to the coach – assistant to Pozzecco in the national team – to try to convince Petrucelli not to sign.
The problem of John’s possible loss it is definitely multifaceted. Another Italian (it became such, to all intents and purposes, in the summer of 2022, thanks also to the bureaucratic work carried out by Pallacanestro Brescia) with its characteristics it is not there. He is in fact “an added American”, and losing him means going back to moving on a market of tricolor athletes that does not offer equally strong elements. Akele, already in the squad, could stay, but at a greater cost for the club than in the past. Nicola, moreover, is a very different player from Petrucelli, and the roster scheme would be no more and no less to be redesigned.
The master plan – the one that started with Petrucelli’s stay – was for the club to proceed with the purchase of a great forward of considerable value. Now, however, the Petrucelli knot controls even more every possible future scenario. In practice, in the event of the player’s departure, the club could find itself in the position of having to revolutionize its strategies.
