Pantaleo Corvinoresponsible for the technical area of Leccein the long interview with TV Playcorv, also spoke about his predilection for buying attackers. In fact, in his career he has managed to discover Bojinov, Vucinic, Jovetic, Vlahovic and now Krstovic: “As a sports director you know that there are roles that are more important than others, which ignite the fans’ imagination and their and the club’s expectations. I have always looked for Goalkeeper and striker first, as a philosophy, right from the lowest categories I have leveraged my skills, which don’t always prove to be successful, I hope to my experience and my ideas, looking at what a player can become rather than who he is at that moment, which is what you have to do when you don’t have financial availability four times I exceeded the 10-15 million threshold… Obviously the risk is high, but the results were overall in my favor.”
A heartfelt note about Bojinov and Vucinic?
“Each player has his own story and can potentially be a top or a flop. Sometimes it depends not only on ability, but on many mental, psychological and environmental factors, which can make a player perform well or not. I took Bojinov at 12 -13 years old, on a trip to Malta, where I went to see Berbatov, among other things, we had taken the latter, before everything fell apart after the medical examination process… Then, on Bojinov’s debut in Serie A, after he had scored 11 goals in half the season, I decided to sell him to Fiorentina, to give Vucinic more space. I didn’t have the club’s approval and I didn’t have Zeman’s, but it turned out to be the right choice, also because we then sold Vucinic to him. 21 million”.
When you signed Vlahovic, many said that you paid him too much.
“It was thought that my purchase of Vlahovic was not right, because he was a 17-year-old boy who didn’t know anyone, paid one and a half million euros and who occupied a non-EU slot which precluded the possibility of other purchases for the first team I received a lot of criticism from inside and outside, also for the fact that I took him in December and then brought him to Florence in July, a moment where I was criticized a lot, it’s true Fiorentina earned 80 million from his sale, it turns those criticisms into caresses. I remember that at the time of Vlahovic’s signing, the mother looked me in the eyes and said: ‘Look, I’m giving you the new Batistuta.’ taken aback: ‘It would be enough for me that he is the new Toni’. She was right and I was wrong.”
What are your best purchases?
“There are many, I don’t feel like wronging anyone. The best shot, I would reply, is always the next one.”
Hasn’t he already got the new Vlahovic?
“We always start from last, let us enjoy this undertaking for a few more days, before thinking about the future.”
