Fiorentina signed Tariq Lamptey permanently from Brighton late in the summer transfer window.
The right-back’s prominence under Fabian Hurzeler had reduced last season, as he played only 15 times and his progress was constantly hampered by injuries.
Still only 24, the right-back arrives at the Italian club to initially act as an understudy to Dodo.
Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade has this week about La Viola’s business in the summer window and he mentioned Lamptey’s arrival from Brighton.
He was asked about why the Florence club has five full-back options. In response Prade said, relayed by Tuttomercatoweb:
“On the one hand, we have Gosens and Parisi, from whom we expect much more, and we’ve shown it by extending his contract.”
“On the other hand, we’ve been pursuing Lamptey for a long time because we really like him. We have great faith in Fortini. He’s had some physical problems, but he has our trust. All the Serie B and top-four teams in Serie A wanted him.”
Speaking about his satisfaction about the moves made, the sporting director confidently claimed:
“We’re satisfied – we’ve done what we said we would. The president gave us a guideline, and the goal was to enhance our squad by buying out those we wanted to buy, and then we moved on to capitalising on our signings. Today, the value of the squad has doubled.
“There were no missed signings. We’re happy with the squad, especially because we now only have two loans with very affordable buy-outs.”
It is clear that a move for Lamptey was in the works for weeks before it actually went through and that should be good news for the player.
Fiorentina have a plan in place for his growth in the squad under Stefano Pioli and he should also get enough game time in the campaign.
His stint at Brighton suggests that injuries are the only aspect which can hold Lamptey back, but being a rotation option can help him reduce his workload and slowly make a mark at his new club.