With the news that Juventus and Chelsea are said to be in talks regarding a swap deal that involves Romelu Lukaku and Dusan Vlahovic, it makes perfect sense to look at some of the best swap deals seen in Italy.
Some of these are utterly bonkers and some brilliant. This article is peak Serie A lunchtime reading at its finest.
Christian Vieri and Diego Simeone (Lazio and Inter)
This one requires a bit of a look back into a world when Serie A was the world’s richest and most lucrative league.
Massimo Moratti was backing Inter to high heaven in desperate search of a Scudetto that had so far alluded him, despite him bank rolling the club to sign the likes of Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo.
Moratti parted with, at the time, a record 90 billion lire and also threw in midfield general Diego Simeone to sign Bobo Vieri.
The move was largely a success. The swap allowed Simeone to win the Scudetto with Lazio at the end of said season and Vieri, despite suffering with a lot of injury troubles, netted 123 goals for Inter in 190 games.
Clarence Seedorf and Francesco Coco (Inter and AC Milan)
Inter are famed for their ability to absolutely self destruct in the transfer market and this deal is probably their most legendary piece of tomfoolery.
In 2002, Clarence Seedorf was coming off the back of a solid third season in Inter colours when rather bizarrely, the club chose to include him in a swap deal to sign Milan wingback Francesco Coco.
Coco had a productive loan with Barcelona and many in the Italian media were tipping him to become a future Italy great. However, it would not pan out that way at all.
Much to Inter’s chagrin, Seedorf went onto win multiple league titles and Champions League titles for their city rivals whilst Coco managed just 26 league appearances in five years at Inter, due to a terrible back injuries and unsuccessful loans to Livorno and Torino.
Coco retired upon leaving Inter at the age of just 30 with the ambition of becoming an actor. He owns a clothing brand with his father Antonio called ‘Urban 77.’
Fabio Cannavaro and Fabian Carini (Inter and Juventus)
Inter fans reading this article will no doubt have one fist clenched or have stopped reading at this point altogether and I for one wouldn’t blame them.
If trading Seedorf for a glass backed wingback wasn’t enough, two years later, they traded the only defender to win the Ballon D’Or in the modern era for Juventus’ backup goalkeeper.
Fabio Cannavaro is one of the greatest centre halves in the history of the game. However, with him turning over 30, Inter decided his best days were behind him and he was worth trading to the Old Lady in return for their fledgling Uruguayan understudy to Gianluigi Buffon, Fabian Carini.
Cannavaro was excellent for Juve and his form saw him become a vital part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning side which in turn led him to winning said Ballon D’Or and earned him a move to Real Madrid.
Carini? He played four league games in three years before being shipped off to Spanish side Murcia.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o (Inter and Barcelona)
Finally, there came a time in which Inter actually did profit from one of these ludicrous swap deals.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is without a doubt one of the greatest players to grace Serie A and arguably the best traditional number nine of the modern era. He was successful at every club he played for with perhaps the exception of Barcelona.
In the summer of 2009, Pep Guardiola decided he wanted the big Swede to be his focal point for the Nou Camp outfit and was willing to part with Samuel Eto’o and an astonishing €46million.
Eto’o, who had been almost faultless in Barca colours, took it personally and decided to help engineer a majestic treble for Inter under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho.
Zlatan did not quite enjoy his side of the deal quite so much. In his only season at Barca, he did manage to score 21 goals in all competitions but fell out with the coach and ended up back in Milan within twelve months, but this time at Inter’s crosstown rivals.
It would be here where he would mastermind a Scudetto win in a season long loan move which was then made permanent.
Leonardo Bonucci and Mattia Caldara (Juventus and AC Milan)
For the fifth and final slot on this list, it was hard to choose between Radja Nainggolan’s move to Inter that included Nicolo Zaniolo and Davide Santon and the mega deal that saw Genoa gain Leonardo Bonucci and Roberto Acquafresca in swap for treble winners Thiago Motta and Diego Milito with Inter.
Instead, it made sense to go with a deal that still has relevancy given that Milan can’t actually get shut of the disastrous Mattia Caldara.
In the summer of 2017, Milan went on an all out assault of the transfer market, spending over €300million in the hope of dethroning the Juve monopoly of Serie A.
That included signing one of their legendary defensive backline in the shape of Leonardo Bonucci.
Italian international, Champions League and Euro finalist as well as multiple Scudetto winner. It looked a great signing but just twelve months later, Bonucci wanted out as Milan’s project came crashing down due to controversy over funding from owner Yonghong Li.
Bonucci went sprinting back to Juve almost begging for a return so a deal was negotiated that allowed Milan to gain Mattia Caldara as a direct replacement.
Caldara was coming back off a very productive spell as part of Gian Piero Gasperini’s burgeoning Atalanta and was seen as a smart piece of business that would see him form part of Milan’s defence for years to come.
Fast forward five years and Caldara hasn’t played a minute in Serie A for Milan.
Injuries to his Achilles and ACL saw him miss the entirety of his first year at the club and he was then farmed back out to Atalanta to regain fitness and confidence.
After a rather unconvincing spell there, he was sent to Venezia and most recently Spezia in spells that have seen him relegated from Serie A with both teams.
Still not yet 30, Caldara remains a Milan player and returned to the club this summer but it is highly unlikely he will be there for much longer.
Jake Smalley | GIFN
