Udinese director Pierpaolo Marino has paid tribute to the club’s Pozzo owners after retaining Beto despite late interest from Premier League outfit Everton, speaking to Football Italia.
When Marino insisted a couple of weeks ago that Le Zebrette had no plans to cash in on any of their key players during the winter window, it was all-too easy to scoff and let out a dubious ‘we’ll see about that’.
Money talks in football, after all. Surely Udinese’s stance would have been softened if substantial offers arrived for the likes of Rodrigo Becao, Gerard Deulofeu and the aforementioned Beto.
Unfortunately for Everton, it turns out Udinese were as good as their word.
According to The Mirror, The Toffees offered to pay £20 million up front for Beto. But Udinese did not even consider cashing in on their talismanic top scorer for less than his £35 million price-tag.
Everton had bid rejected for Serie A striker Beto
“We received important offers on the deadline day, especially for Beto,” Marino explains. “Any other club would have accepted.
“What you read (about the rumours) is true. If we had owners with less passion, we might have had nasty surprises. But the Pozzo family wanted to keep all the big players, and sustained us with a big signing.”
Udinese ended the window stronger than they began it. France international and World Cup winner Florian Thauvin arrives after a spell in Mexico. Once a prolific goalscorer at Marseille, Thauvin should slot in for the injured Deulofeu in Andrea Sottil’s forward line.
Lisbon-born Beto, meanwhile, has seven goals in 20 Serie A games this season. He looks well-placed to beat last year’s tally of 13 across all competitions.
Everton did not make a single signing in January, while missing out on free-agent Andre Ayew to Nottingham Forest. The Toffees came close to Arnaut Danjuma before he opted for Tottenham Hotspur. They were also snubbed by the likes of Olivier Giroud, Connor Gallagher and Iliman Ndiaye.
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