Saturday, 5th February 2011
Interest is growing in young Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna and his Italian club expect a wave of bids to flood in for the 22-year-old in the summer.
According to reports from Italy, Il Toro are aware of interest from Arsenal, AC Milan, Sevilla and Napoli in Ogbonna, with all having scouted the youngster. The defender, who is of Nigerian descent, has improved rapidly this season, regularly starring for Torino in their Serie B campaign, despite the fact that the former Serie A winners are well off the promotion pace.
Brought up through Torino’s youth academy, Ogbonna has pace, power and is ruthless in the tackle, timing them to perfection; international recognition has already been forthcoming and the defender has made 10 appearances for Italy’s Under-21s.
Comparisons have been made with both William Gallas and Lilian Thuram, though unlike the former Juventus man the youngster remains more comfortable as a left sided centre back. The Torino starlet is also able to switch to left back when needed.
Torino are well aware they face a battle to keep hold of Ogbonna, and that only promotion back to Serie A would give them a fighting chance of doing so. More realistic is a sale in the summer, and Torino’s president Urbano Cairo has mooted a figure of some €10M will be needed to be put on the table by any interested party.
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