Former West Ham United midfielder Valon Behrami believes Sassuolo ace Davide Frattesi could command a fee of £25 million with the Premier League outfit one potential destination, speaking via Tuttomercatoweb.
On the final day of the winter window, Sassuolo’s always-outspoken CEO Giovanni Carnevali admitted that an English club had made ‘an offer’ for Frattesi on January 31st.
He stopped short of naming the club in question. But Italy international Frattesi certainly isn’t short of admirers on UK soil.
According to Tuttomercatoweb, Brighton and Hove Albion, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur are among them. Spurs have impressive track record with regards to Serie A imports in the Conte-Paratici era; Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ivan Perisic and Cristian Romero all making a sizeable impact in North London.
Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham like Sassuolo’s Davide Frattesi
Frattesi, just 23, has shades of a young Dele Alli in the way he attacks the penalty area; those almost ‘Lampardian’ bursts a major part of his game. Only Teun Koopmeiners of Atalanta has scored more from central midfield than Frattesi’s five so far in 2022/23.
And Behrami, who played in Italy for Napoli, Lazio and Fiorentina amongst others, believes anyone looking to take Frattesi away from the Mapei Stadium will have to dig deep.
“As far as he has shown, he can be worth £25 million,” says the one-time West Ham enforcer; identifying Frattesi as a potential replacement for the much-admired Nicolo Barella at Inter Milan.
“I’d see him well at Inter if Barella weren’t there. But, for the Italian (clubs, it would be a big investment.”
That is one way of saying that even Italy’s biggest and most deep-pocketed teams would struggle to compete with the riches of the Premier League when it comes to the Rome-born dynamo.
Frattesi played alongside West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca at West Ham. His energy and drive from midfield, plus a well-rounded skill-set, could make Frattesi a potentially inspired replacement for the exit-linked Declan Rice.
“He’s an example (for other players). He’s an extraordinary player and boy,” Carnevali says (Rai Radio). “Frattesi is one of our most important players.”
“We had an offer from an English club for Frattesi. However, our policy will always be to raise our kids (homegrown players). Clearly, when an opportunity, arises we consider (a sale) for their sake.
“For Frattesi it would be nice if he could go and reinforce an Italian team. As happened with (Juventus’ Manuel Locatelli.”
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