Bayern swoop for Italy star Luca Toni
Next season’s Bayern line-up is set to feature a reigning world champion with the arrival of Italy striker Luca Toni from Serie A outfit Fiorentina, the clubs have announced. Subject to a medical, the 30-year-old will put his name to a four-year contract with Germany’s most successful club side. The Bavarians will pay “exactly €11 million” for the player, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed.
Toni turned down offers from an array of top Italian clubs before opting for a switch to the Bundesliga. “Obviously, there was a great deal of money involved, but our negotiations with Luca Toni and his management were always extremely fair and above board,” Rummenigge commented.
Golden Shoe for 31 goals
Bayern began their pursuit of the 1.94 metre / 6 ft 4 in and 94 kg / 207 pound goal-getter back in February, the chairman revealed. “Toni’s decision to go to Bayern Munich is a nice gesture towards the club and the city of Florence,” Fiorentina President Andrea Della Valle was quoted as saying. The striker is due in Munich for his medical and official presentation in the course of next week.
Toni switched to Florence in 2005 and has amassed a total of 49 goals in the last two seasons, including 31 in his first year in Tuscany to earn him the Golden Shoe as Europe’s leading goalscorer. He was a member of the Italy squad which triumphed at last summer’s World Cup in Germany, and currently has 12 goals to his name in 27 senior internationals, with 91 goals in 177 Serie A appearances.
Late developer
“Tonigol” rates as one of football’s late developers, not making his Italian top flight debut until the age of 23 after a few distinctly modest seasons in the second and third divisions. “I even considered dropping to the fourth or fifth level somewhere near my home town of Modena,” the player recently revealed.
He finally made the breakthrough in 2003-4 with 30 goals in 45 appearances as US Palermo marched to a place in Serie A, a barnstorming record which also earned him a first international cap. Toni is currently recuperating from minor surgery on his foot but is expected to be fully fit when the Bayern squad report back for pre-season training on 29 June.
Fifth new signing
Toni joins Jan Schlaudraff, Hamit Altintop, Ernesto Sosa and Marcell Jansen as Bayern’s fifth new signing for the 2007-8 campaign, although the board plans to bring in a total of seven or eight new faces in a radical squad overhaul. The remaining transfers should be completed “in the next one, two, or three weeks at the most,” according to general manager Uli Hoeneß.
Bayern swoop for Italy star Luca Toni