The negotiation for Diego Monaldi’s stay at Apu Old Wild West is still in the standby phase. The response expected from the Juventus captain last weekend has not arrived and apparently we will still have to wait.
The Aprilia playmaker’s contract is expiring, having signed a 1+1 deal with Udine in December 2022. In the first meeting with the club, Monaldi said he was willing to willingly stay in Friuli, even if offers are pouring in from his agent’s table from various parts, Rieti above all. However, nothing has been signed with the Lazio club, unlike what some market “insiders” claim. It is also clear that the player does not intend to wait very long, because he is without a contract for next season and does not intend to miss any trains in case a “goodbye and thank you” arrives from the APU. For this reason he asked for an answer over the weekend: it was Alessandro Pedone who called him personally, asking him to wait until Friday.
The Juventus management is making its assessments, based on the idea of the team it has in mind. The permanence of Lorenzo Caroti, who has another year on his contract, requires us not to make a mistake in choosing the second point guard. Apu is well aware of the value of Diego Monaldi, considered an excellent player, capable of solving matches thanks to his killer instinct, as well as a team man. However, the epilogue of the play-offs, with the 3-1 achieved by a decidedly more physically structured Cantù, seems to have left its mark. At Juventus, the idea of pairing Caroti with a playmaker with a larger physical size, capable of making himself heard in defence, took shape. With a top-level American shooting guard to complete the small division.
Or rather: small but not too much. If the property took time until Friday, it means that it is evaluating other profiles. A name that the owners like is that of Federico Zampini, but there is no chance of picking him up: he has a contract with Forlì and the exit clause is only valid for a call from Serie A, in fact Vanoli Cremona is on his trail. Watch out then for Alessandro Zanelli, born in 1992 and leaving Treviso. Both sporting director Andrea Gracis and coach Adriano Vertemati, who coached him during his time at Benetton Juniores, know him well. The player, however, faces strong competition from Scafati, who has just made Marcelo Nicola (another ex-Treviso player) official for the Boniciolli position.
