The Udinese sporting director, Pierpaolo Marino, spoke to Udinese Tonight on Monday about new signings Adam Masina and Jaka Bijol.
“Masina has joined us from our sister club, Watford, thanks to the connection that has seen so many prestigious players come to Udinese. We hope he can follow in the footsteps of [Roberto] Pereyra and [Gerard] Deulofeu.
“He already knows Serie A, he’s worked his way up and I’ve always really liked him. He has an excellent left foot, is physically imposing and is one of the few players here who’ll play in the World Cup, representing Morocco. He’s already brought his desire and enthusiasm to the dressing room. He’s settled straight in and has been made to feel welcome by his team-mates. He’s a leader.
“Bijol is a player who we’ve tracked for a long time. He represents a major transfer market investment and we’re grateful to him for wanting to join Udinese. He’s still so young considering the wealth of experience that he has. There’s so much that he can achieve. He has plenty of room for improvement with excellent technical and physical foundations in place.
“I warmly welcome him and Masina to the club and I’m convinced we’ll speak about them in glowing terms for many years to come. I hope they can make a big impact this season. We want to spring a few surprises.”
Marino also looked ahead to the curtain-raiser against AC Milan: “We couldn’t have a better fixture to kick off the season. It’s better to face the top teams straight away to make the most of the surprise factor among the clubs that start out as underdogs.
“The injured players are all on the recovery path. Beto was back on the bench. [Tolgay] Arslan is recovering.”
The sporting director finished off the interview by mentioning Destiny Udogie, who has attracted the interest of Tottenham. “There are negotiations under way, but speaking about it before anything is official is rather tricky. It’s great that a big offer has come in for Udogie, but Udinese only sell players at the right price and we try to hold on to them for two years. We’ll try to stick to these parameters.”