Wolves fans will be well aware their club made a late move to sign Boulaye Dia, only to to find their efforts rebuffed by his current club Salernitana.
The striker wasn’t too impressed with the situation. He’d wanted to grasp the chance to move to the Premier League and experience all that has to offer… not least the better wages available to players.
After his efforts to agitate for a move to Wolves, the Serie A club took action, reportedly fining him around 15% of his monthly wages.
Of course, that didn’t go down too well either, and Dia didn’t return to Salerno as expected from international duty. Instead, he travelled to France and said he was delaying his return due to personal reasons.
Now Sky Italia report peace has broken out, partly thanks to ‘mediation’ work carried out by sporting director Morgan De Sanctis.
It sounds like Salernitana are ready to forgive and move on, with their manager going out of his way to praise the player.
Paulo Sousa is quoted by Sky Italia as saying: “I saw him this morning, then he went for some medical visits. He is a boy who has always given everything on the pitch and that is what I want from every player.
“He is still of Salernitana, I still expect this when he is available, the rest are situations to be resolved internally. For my part, I am waiting for him to see what I have already seen in all the matches in which he has been on the pitch.”
Will Wolves return in the January window? Dia almost certainly hopes so.
Salernitana go in search of their first win of the 2023-24 Serie A season with the visit of Ivan Juric’s Torino on Monday evening, before Hellas Verona look to return to winning ways when Thiago Motta’s Bologna come to town a few hours later.
Minimal changes are expected from Salernitana, who could however, rotate one or two faces from their 2-0 loss to Lecce before the international break. Emil Bohinen could return to the matchday XI, while Pasquale Mazzocchi is also tipped to start.
Torino meanwhile, are expected to stick with a similar team to the one that beat Genoa 1-0 last time out. Valentino Lazaro could come in to start at wing-back over Megrim Vojvoda and Samuele Ricci is also expected to start in midfield.
For Verona, Martin Hongla, Darko Lazovic and Riccardo Saponara have all recovered from minor injury and fitness concerns, but only two are expected to walk into the starting line-up.
Thiago Motta is also expected to slightly shuffle his pack and is expected to give a first start to summer signing Remo Freuler alongside Nikola Moro in midfield. Riccardo Orsolini could also come in in place of Dan Ndoye on the wing.
Kick off between Salernitana and Torino is set for 17.30 UK time, while Verona and Bologna get underway
