Venezia’s sporting director Filippo Antonelli addressed the media in a press conference, discussing the club’s current situation, their faith in manager Eusebio Di Francesco, and the recent transfer window activities.
Despite a challenging start to the season, Antonelli reaffirmed the club’s confidence in Di Francesco: “Two months on, I can confirm that our choice makes me happy. I’m convinced that Di Francesco, with his human qualities and on-field preparation, can increase the value of this squad.”
Regarding the club’s objectives, Antonelli emphasized the long-term vision: “We aim to create a multi-year project. We’ve tried to bring in important players like Duncan and we’re looking to develop players like Joronen, Pohjanpalo, and others.”
When asked to grade Venezia’s transfer market performance, Antonelli was cautious: “It’s difficult to give grades. We’re satisfied, but the true evaluation will come in the long run. We achieved all our main objectives, though we could have done more in terms of outgoing transfers, as we have 28 players in the squad.”
Antonelli also addressed specific transfer situations:
“The negotiation for Gytkjaer to Sassuolo was real. They wanted him until the very end, but he decided to stay.”
“Sassuolo had been working on Pierini for a while. Tessmann’s sale might have seemed difficult and time-consuming, but we achieved our goal of selling him for a good price.”
On the failed acquisition of Giulio Maggiore, Antonelli explained: “It was a last-minute opportunity we tried to seize. Last-hour market operations can have setbacks, but in this case, the only real culprit was insufficient time to regularize the deposit.”
Antonelli also took the opportunity to respond to former manager Paolo Vanoli’s recent comments: “We said goodbye during the last match. Some things I’ve read and heard from him, I don’t understand. We thank him for bringing us to Serie A, but I’m surprised he’s still talking about Venezia and not focusing on Torino, his current team.”
