Salernitana director Luca Esposito is trying to make Boulaye Dia ‘forget about Wolverhampton Wanderers’ after the Premier League club failed to sign the Serie A striker in the summer.
With only one goal in five league games so far in 2023/24, Boulaye Dia appears to be suffering a hangover following a hectic summer.
According to Salernitana’s president, the Senegal international was keen on a move to Wolves before the September deadline. Wolves wanted to sign Dia on loan, a deal which may have become permanent to the tune of £19 million in 2024.
Salernitana, however, had no interest in accepting such an offer – one member of the club’s staff quipped that saying yes would have caused a ‘diplomatic incident’ – and their focus now is on helping Dia rediscover the form that made him one of the most feared marksmen in Italy last term.
The former Villarreal and Reims striker should, in theory, be boosted by the appoitment of Pippo Inzaghi as Salernitana’s new head coach. Inzaghi was, after all, one of the finest finishers of his generation.
“(Inzaghi) can help. Who can do it better than him?,” Esposito tells Tuttomercatoweb. “Make him forget about Wolverhampton and only think about the pitch.”
A target for West Ham during his time in France; Dia scored 16 goals in 33 Serie A games in his debut season in Italy.
Wolves haven’t really had a centre-forward capable of reaching double figures since the pre-injury Raul Jimenez. And, despite the best efforts of the in-form Hwang Hee Chan and the industrious Matheus Cunha, Gary O’Neil’s side have just nine goals to show from their first eight Premier League games this term.
“In this complex industry, there are many interests. Anything can happen. Dia, hearing the bells of the Premier League, would have liked to leave,” Danilo Iervolino, Salernitana’s head honcho, told Radio Bussola 24 a few weeks ago.
“He is a young man. His ambitions should not be stifled. On the other hand, however, we have invested a lot (in him). Knowing that he is an important striker on whom we are betting incredibly highly.”
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