ALBERTO GILARDINO

Genoa are extremely close completing the signing of Fiorentina striker Alberto Gilardino, who has now completed the medical ahead of the much-anticipated move. The two clubs recently agreed a £ 6.6 million deal, which seems to have convinced the club to sell the former AC Milan striker.

The 29-year-old is thought to have agreed a contract worth around £ 1.3 million per year. He has been Fiorentina for the past three years during which he has managed to amass 46 goals for the club. Despite this, Fiorentina seem to have thought that the transfer fee is too good to turn down. They are thought to have lined up a readymade replacement for him in the form of Juventus’ Amauri.

Alberto Gilardino has just undergone a medical. So, one can expect him to be one of the first players to be switching clubs once the transfer window opens. Replacing Alberto Gilardino is going to be extremely tough for Fiorentina, but because of the substantial transfer fee, they have certainly considered the prospect of playing the remainder of the season without their star striker. Alberto Gilardino has said that he will be able to reveal more details about this transfer after completing it over the next few days.

“I will speak more next week, best wishes to all. I am happy to be here,” said Gilardino. “There would be no problems in reaching an agreement with Fiorentina, because for me they are a big club and they are always ambitious. I would accept [their proposal] with great enthusiasm,” Amauri said about the prospect of joining Fiorentina in the January transfer window. Amauri is currently out of favour at Juventus and has been looking for a move throughout the summer. The interest from Fiorentina could not have come at a better time for the Italian.

Alberto Gilardino has come a long way since playing in the Champions League final for AC Milan against Liverpool. Despite having a three-goal advantage going into the break, somehow AC Milan managed to lose to Liverpool. Now the unthinkable has happened, with the talented Italian being linked with a move to Liverpool, which comes as a surprise for many.

Alberto Gilardino has always said that he is not looking for a move away from Fiorentina and just wants to get back from his injury. Since signing for Fiorentina, Alberto Gilardino has become one of the most important players at the club, scoring more than 60 goals for the Italian club and earning a contract till 2013.

However, recently there has been a lot of speculation that Liverpool are interested in signing the former AC Milan striker in order to replace Andy Carroll. Carroll has been extremely disappointing since signing for Liverpool in a £ 35 million deal from Newcastle United. It seems that Kenny Dalglish has run out of patience with the England striker and is now targeting the Italian striker to partner Luis Suarez instead. Even though there has been a lot of speculation, Alberto Gilardino has not publicly commented – instead, his agent has come out with the statement that he is looking to not move away from Fiorentina.

Speaking to the media, his agent said “Alberto is currently recovering from injury and has only one thought at the moment – to do well in the purple shirt, and please the Ultras and other fans with as many goals as possible.”

Another player who has been linked with a move away from Juventus is Fabio Quagliarella. Both Fabio Quagliarella and Alberto Gilardino share the same agent, who has once again denied speculation that Fabio Quagliarella is looking for a move elsewhere from Juventus.

Alberto Gilardino is the Italian football who plays as the striker for Italian team Fiorentina. He was part of the Italian team that won the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Gilardino is best known for his playing days with Milan and also with his current team Fiorentina. Initially, people compared Gilardino with the likes of Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi. His youth career started with Piacenza, for whom he made his debut in 1999. However, he sent only one season with the club before moving to Verona for a fee of around €10 million.

It was quite a high transfer fee for a young teenager, but he repaid the faith Verona had in him by scoring a few goals. In his first season, he made 23 appearances for Verona. He spent another season with the club before moving to Parma in the summer of 2002. Even though he initially struggled at Parma, the second season was extremely satisfying. He scored an astonishing 23 goals in just 34 appearances for Parma, which put him in the league of top scorers. The exit of Adriano was a crucial factor in Gilardino becoming an extremely good goal scorer. Unlike previously, Gilardino was the main focus point of a team. This seemed to help him a lot and he proved that his second season was not a flash in the pan by scoring the same amount of goals in the following season as well.

This brought him to the attention of AC Milan – one of the biggest clubs in the world. They paid Parma a reported € 24 million fee to sign the youngster. He signed for AC Milan in the summer of 2005. In his first season, Gilardino shined domestically, but was poor on the European front. The following two seasons did not spark any new confidence within the striker. Gilardino was part of the famous AC Milan team that lost a three-goal lead in the Champions League final to Liverpool. After spending three seasons with AC Milan, Gilardino was on the move again in the summer of 2008.

Fiorentina showed interest in the striker and signed him for €15 million. The combination was extremely brilliant because Fiorentina were then managed by Cesare Prandelli, who was instrumental in getting the best out of Gilardino at Parma. It proved to be a great buy for Fiorentina, as Gilardino scored 19 goals in his first season with the club. Till date, it has been his best ever season at Fiorentina.

Gilardino made his international debut for the Italian national team in 2004. He was taken to the 2006 FIFA World Cup as part of the 23-man squad by Lippi. He scored one goal in the World Cup against the United States.

So far, Alberto Gilardino has won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup with AC Milan. On the international front, he has also won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, while he was also voted as the Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2005.

Gila interview soon after the Milan – Catania game