Doumbia to Sporting, agent reveals all: “Fiorentina and Roma wanted him in Italy”

Cheikh Fall has spoken to TuttoMercatoWeb.com for the first time since Issa Doumbia’s move from Venezia FC to Sporting CP, the biggest sale in the history of the Veneto club. The deal is worth €20m plus bonuses, with Venezia also retaining a 10% sell-on clause on any future transfer.

Why did Doumbia choose Sporting CP?
“We were looking for a club where the boy could continue his development after AlbinoLeffe and Venezia. After last season in Serie B, several important clubs came forward, but Sporting moved earlier and better than the others. They had been following him for a long time, courting him since January. In the end, Doumbia chose to go there to continue his development.”

It is striking, though, that one of the best talents in last season’s Serie B has been picked up by a Portuguese club...
“Sporting are a club who pay great attention to the market. Players like Gyökeres and Suárez were taken from second-tier clubs, and look at the careers they have had. Yes, perhaps in Italy they did not believe in him enough, while Sporting practically closed the deal before the transfer window even opened. If such an important club, one that will play in the Champions League, decides to make its first signing from Italian Serie B, it means they really wanted him. And it means they have a very well-equipped scouting department.”

In Italy, meanwhile, clubs are still dealing with coaching and executive decisions.
“That is true, but there are also clubs who work well and manage to plan ahead. Look at Venezia and Filippo Antonelli, who in my opinion is one of the best Italian directors around. Two and a half years ago Doumbia was playing for AlbinoLeffe in Lega Pro. A lot of clubs were following him, but they did not trust him enough. It took courage and a little bit of madness to back him, and Antonelli, with Venezia in Serie B, decided to invest €1m in him.

At the end of the season they went up to Serie A, he made 24 appearances in the Italian top flight and we decided to stay and continue his development at Venezia even after relegation, despite several offers.
“Last season, in my view, he was the best player in Serie B, and at that point Antonelli supported the player’s desire to test himself in an important league. Credit to him. We need more directors like Antonelli, even at our biggest clubs.”

Which other clubs tried to take him from Sporting right until the end?
“There was another important Portuguese club, two Premier League clubs and a top club in Spain. I would rather not name names, though.”

In Italy, more or less all the names came out: Lazio, Roma, Milan and the others.
“Lazio never made an offer. Milan only made an enquiry, as did Napoli and Juventus. Cremonese moved concretely last summer, Fiorentina tried with Paratici in January and again this summer. Roma were also very insistent on him, at least while Massara was there. But, I repeat, nobody wanted him the way Sporting did.”

If he now does well in Portugal, there is the ‘risk’ we may not see him in Italy again for quite a few years.
“He will do well in Portugal, I am sure of it. He is a Bergamo boy with a strong work ethic, a very serious lad. He does everything with respect and dedication, and he has a great desire to grow as a man, as an athlete and as a sportsman. He chose to go to Portugal above all for that reason. He wants to become the best Italian midfielder in that position.”

And perhaps in September he will also be called up by the national team.
“In truth, he was hoping to be called up in June as well, and he was very disappointed. He was quite surprised because they called up other Serie B players, but not him, even though he was one of the best players in the division last season. Issa is Italian, he was born in Italy and he wants to play for the Italian national team, even though Ivory Coast - his parents’ country of origin - are in touch every week and probably would have taken him to the World Cup too. But he is waiting for Italy. We hope that from September he can become part of the national team’s new cycle.”