Premier League newcomers Wolverhampton Wanderers reportedly wanted to sign Juventus’s Andrea Favilli.
Andrea Favilli only moved to Juventus this summer from Serie B side Ascoli for £7 million but that did not stop clubs in England from expressing an interest.
According to Gianluca di Marzio, Wolverhampton Wanderers were keen on the 21-year-old striker, despite the fact that Juventus had slapped a £17.5 million price-tag on his head.
And, in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, the owner of Leeds United, Andrea Radrizzani, admitted that he too was a big fan of the Italy youth star.
“It was a real interest for Favilli, we had been following him for two years,” Radrizzani said. “(He is) a potentially very strong player who could do very well in England.”
In the end, Juve obviously felt that Favilli, who scored twice in a pre-season win against Bayern Munich, would be better suited honing his trade elsewhere in Italy rather than making a risky move to England.
The highly-rated poacher joined Genoa on loan instead and, although the sample size is small, he has made a real impact in his limited time on the pitch.
So far, Favilli has played just 45 minutes of football for Genoa in Serie A. But he certainly made an impression in that substitute appearance against Sassuolo, coming off the bench at half-time to set up two goals although he could not help Genoa avoid a 5-3 defeat.
Nonetheless, this was a glimpse of mercurial talent from a player Wolves and Leeds could have been disappointed to miss out on.
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