It will be necessary to negotiate
According to our information, the option of seeing the Argentinian on loan from Sevilla FC stay for the 2024-25 financial year exists. It is not contractual. His loan does not contain any clauses and he has a long-term lease (2027) with the La Liga club. But the intention is to discuss a common future.
Anderlecht will once again have to negotiate with the Andalusian team (which also lends him Ludwig Augustinsson and Thomas Delaney) to keep the defender. We are not at this stage of the discussions. Other files are priorities and the future of Gattoni in Brussels depends, in large part, on the future of Zeno Debast (departing) and Jan Vertonghen (from whom the RSCA is awaiting news since he is at the end of his CONTRACT).
Ramos, the Pope and Aragorn, who is Gattoni the new defender of Anderlecht
As friendly as demanding
Sporting, however, imagines Gattoni as a security. The club knows what he is worth and knows that he can enter the central defender rotation. Which will be all the more important with the European Cup and the increase in meetings next season.
“It took us two months to find a central defender in Januarysays Brian Riemer. Every time we spoke with a player, he told us 'you have Jan (Vertonghen) and Zeno (Debast)where am I in all this?' And we didn't really know what to answer (laughs). Gattoni did not hesitate and told us 'Yes' when he already had a bunch of matches with San Lorenzo, in a difficult competition. It was almost too good to be true.”
His integration went without the slightest glitch. The Argentinian is highly appreciated by the staff for his daily attitude. He is said to be as friendly as he is demanding in his work. He pulls others up and in particular Luis Vazquez, with whom we see him sharing a mate before matches, and Nilson Angulo, two young people he took charge of supervising. A mission that Anderlecht could ask him to continue.
“He has integrated well and is performing well in trainingsummarizes Brian Riemer. He has an incredible personality. We see that he knows the high level. His experience will be useful to us. He knows what it’s like to have to perform in big atmospheres.”
Not yet ready to be the new Ramos
Gattoni's low playing time (122 minutes excluding stoppage time) raised eyebrows in both Spain and Argentina. However, he knew what to expect given the competition. Sevilla FC does not consider him ready to take over from Sergio Ramos in the summer of 2024 and has already decided to loan him for the entire season.
He must learn to play the European way. Anderlecht could help him in this sense. Brian Riemer made this clear by prefacing Saturday's match. “He is an excellent football player but he does not have the qualities of Zeno Debast on the ball. At the same time, Zeno is the only one who can do that, which makes me say that he will be one of the best in the world in his position. Federico is a player of another style. He comes from a rougher football, where we defend on the man rather than playing on positioning and sliding.”
His match against Genk on Saturday evening alongside Jan Vertonghen could be an indicator of his near future.
