An example of how not to trade? Years ago Torino wanted a ridiculous 90 million for Belotti, now Zim’s captain is leaving for free

There is nothing wrong with a club wanting to properly monetise one of its stars. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The latter is now the case with FC Torino, where Moravian defender David Zima is playing. The Italian outfit has shown how not to trade.

The name Andrea Belotti should be familiar to every fan of European football. He may not be the star of one of the European giants, but he is definitely one of the best Italian strikers.

Belotti started to shine in the jersey of Italian side Torino, he also made it to the Italian national team and especially with his lifetime season in 2016/17, when he netted 26 goals in the league alone, he was asking for a lot of attention.

While he never repeated such a successful season, he was the captain of Torino, setting an example with his leadership skills and combativeness, plus he kept scoring goals. He just never got over the 20-goal mark in the league again.

After that season of his life, the really big clubs wanted him. There was talk of Chelsea’s interest, even AC Milan, who Belotti is said to be a fan of, was mentioned. But no transfer came through.

The reason was simple. It was uncertain whether the Italian striker could repeat such a successful season. And Turin were not going to sell. They asked for 90 million euros for their star, which no one was willing to pay. And the Italian team has not let this sum down.

According to Transfermarkt, Belotti’s value has never been higher than €40 million. So it is clear that Torino simply wanted to get so much out of their star that they ended up getting nothing.

And realistically. Belotti is now out of contract at the club and is leaving Turin as a free agent after seven years. And the interest of the big clubs? He seems to be nowhere in sight. There is speculation that he will join Serie A newcomer AC Monza.

But he has much more to offer. Currently, his value is estimated at 20 million euros. Getting such a valuable player for free could be an interesting transfer for any club. Even a bigger one that is really looking for a quality striker.

Belotti played 251 competitive games for Torino and scored 113 goals and added 28 assists. That’s certainly not a bad record. Moreover, considering that Torino are not really one of the teams that would play in the Italian top competition.

Source: Transfermarkt, Football-Italia