According to an analysis by Mediamonitor, Lukaku, Vlahović, and Frattesi are the most ‘talked about’ in the summer football media arena. Romelu Lukaku is the undisputed ruler of the summer football market: the Belgian striker was the most mentioned by the national media (1,193 mentions), followed by Juventus’ Dušan Vlahović and Inter’s Davide Frattesi.
This was revealed by the monitoring carried out on the main Italian radio and TV stations by Mediamonitor, a platform that uses technology and solutions developed by Cedat85, a company that has been active for almost 40 years in the speech-tech industry. Mediamonitor scanned which football market players were the most mentioned from June 16 to September 1, the day trading closed.
Lukaku was on the verge of being bought back by Inter Milan, but after the break he was exposed to the currents of the market among Saudi Arabia, AC Milan, and Juventus. Just on the Juventus side for many days there were mentions of a possible Chelsea-Juventus exchange, sponsored by coach Allegri, between Lukaku and Vlahović. Lukaku eventually landed at Roma in Mourinho’s court. Silver medal of mentions for Vlahović (557) who instead remained in Torino. Davide Frattesi (455), the Nerazzurri former Sassuolo midfielder who was the protagonist of the market derby with AC Milan at the end of June, closes the rankings.
In fourth place we find Victor Osimhen (419 mentions), the architect of Napoli’s championship victory long ‘courted’ by Arab sirens, who precedes Gianluca Scamacca (394), arrived at Atalanta after only one season in the Premier League at West Ham. Sixth place for Alvaro Morata (384), the Spanish striker courted by Roma, Inter, and Milan in this market session. Next with 374 mentions, the former Inter goalkeeper André Onana, who moved to Manchester United.
In the eighth place we find Rudi Garcia (346), the French coach called to lead Napoli in the post-Spalletti era, who surpasses former Milan player Sandro Tonali (340), the protagonist of a rich transfer to Newcastle. In tenth place is Marcelo Brozović (334), the Nerazzurri midfielder who left Milan for a €100 million contract in three years at the Saudi club Al-Nassr and who overtakes at the photo-finish the newly-interested Yann Sommer (333), the Swiss goalkeeper called to replace Onana at the vice-European champions.
In twelfth place (with 316 mentions) is Napoli owner and president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who has rejected all offers for Osimhen by offering him a multi-million contact and who has had a tug-of-war with both former coach Spalletti, who landed at the national team, and former ad Giuntoli, whose move to Juventus has been delayed. In the same position we find French striker and new Inter bet Marcus Thuram, called up to make Lukaku forget.
One departure and one arrival in Italian football close Mediamonitor’s monitoring: Sergej Milinković-Savić (298), the former Lazio fantasist attracted by Saudi salaries, and Christian Pulisic, AC Milan’s new offensive reinforcement bought from Chelsea with 295 mentions.