Torino goalkeeper Etrit Berisha missed out on a January move to Premier League strugglers Southampton and is now out of favour at the Serie A outfit, via Tuttomercatoweb.
The Albania international was one of the first names on the Granata team sheet during the final few months of last season. 12 months on, however, the picture has changed. Dramatically so.
Berisha has gone from first-choice to third-choice in the blink of an eye in Turin. The 33-year-old started the current campaign as back-up to Vanja Milinkovic-Savic but, after falling foul of uncompromising Torino coach Ivan Juric, things could still get worse before they get better for the one-time Lazio and Atalanta stopper.
Etrit Berisha out of favour in Serie A
“He trains badly and this, here, is harmful,” says Juric, who – ironically enough – has been linked with a move to the South Coast himself of late.
“Anyone who doesn’t train well stays out (of the squad). You need to train in the right spirit. Last year, Berisha made a great contribution. Now, he is struggling to accept his situation.
“I prefer that he trains separately and that Luca Gemello is second choice. In case of an emergency, (Berisha) is a Torino player, and we’ll see. But the situation is clear for me.”
According to Tuttosport, Berisha – who has been capped 74 times by his country – was on Southampton’s radar ahead of the January transfer window. Negotiations between The Saints and Torino never really got going, however, and Berisha missed out on the chance to step in for the injured Alex McCarthy.
McCarthy, second-choice behind Gavin Bazunu at Southampton, has missed the last eight Premier League fixtures due to a niggling ankle injury.
Under interim coach Ruben Selles, The Saints secured a confidence-boosting 1-0 win over Graham Potter’s toiling Chelsea in front of a gobsmacked Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon. That was just their second league win since the Qatar World Cup.
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