Former Fiorentina director of sport Pantaleo Corvino recalls being “a nervous wreck,” after paying €10m for Luca Toni in 2005 and forcing Dani Osvaldo to return a Ferrari.
Corvino was speaking to Tuttosport about his career as a director and recalled when he signed Toni from Palermo in the summer of 2005 for €10m.
“Only five times had I signed a player with a value over €10m. The biggest one I signed was [Giovanni] Simeone at €16m. With Toni it was the first time that I had spent €10m.
“On his debut in Serie A I called him over and I said, ‘Luca, remember, I’m a nervous wreck at the thought of how much I paid for you.’ He said, ‘relax, relax.’ He scored 31 goals that season.”
When Toni left to join Bayern Munich in 2007, Corvino bought Osvaldo to replace him, but remembers the eccentric striker had some issues.
“When I sold Toni to Bayern and bought Osvaldo, there was a lot of skepticism. I suffered from the criticism that was said about me.
“I had to force Osvaldo to sell his Ferrari. We were already criticised over the deal and he does this?
“He shows up at the training camp in a Ferrari, drives around the city in it. I summoned him to explain that it was enough already, to stop being an exhibitionist.
“He was convinced and brought the car back, and he scored two goals on his debut against Livorno.”
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