Much-maligned Leeds United loanee Giuseppe Bellusci could sign for Empoli permanently for £1.6m.
When you’re angling for a move, it’s probably not the best time to claim that you’re not a particularly gifted footballer.
Yet, after somehow blagging a switch to Serie A, the birthplace of some of the world’s greatest ever defenders, Giuseppe Bellusci is understandably keen to stay there.
The 27-year-old’s agent, Michelangelo Minieri, told Tuttosport recently that his client would be more than happy to remain at Empoli having played 28 games for the club since joining on loan from Leeds United last summer.
Though Bellusci’s startling admission should perhaps make the Serie A strugglers, just one place above the relegation zone, think twice about making his deal permanent.
“I think we realised we are no longer the sparkling team of recent seasons and if you do not have the same quality you have to make up with quantity,” Bellusci told Pianeta Empoli.
“The quality that I have is very little, so to stay at this level I need other features.”
Quite how Bellusci managed to engineer a move to the top flight of Italian football will forever remain a mystery to Leeds supporters. The madcap centre-back was capable of infrequent moments of sublime quality but his time at Elland Road will be remembered for needless cards, horrific lapses in concentration and even the odd own goal.
Nonetheless, Pianeta Empoli report that Empoli will pay £1.6 million to take Bellusci, booked 13 times in Serie A this season, off Leeds’ hands. Not bad for a player with ‘very little’ quality.
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