FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

Torino have made yet another summer signing, with Palermo's Polish central defender Kamil Glik joining the club on a co-ownership deal.

At 6'3, Glik will certainly add some height to the Torino defence, but his arrival could cast further speculation on the future of Angelo Ogbonna, who has been linked with a move to almost every club in Italy. Glik spent last season on loan with Giampiero Ventura's former team Bari, and despite only signing in January, he made sixteen appearances for the club, but was unable to help them avoid relegation to Serie B.

Whilst Torino have been active in the transfer market this summer, the fact that of the signings they have made, none have been signed outright, as all six acquisitions have arrived on either co-ownership or loan deals.

Although this strategy does have its short term advantages (the biggest one being that it is cheaper than buying players outright) it must also be considered to be a risky strategy. If the players who are on loan (Iori, Coppola, Oduamadi) impress sufficiently, then their parent clubs may decide that they know want to keep them, or demand a large fee to make the move permanent. Similarly, should those who have signed on co-ownership deals impress (Ebagua, Verdi, Glik) then the fee to buy the other 'half' of the player will only increase.

Although this strategy is understandable, it would be good to see Torino take a risk and sign at least one player permanently this summer, if only to show some faith in the ability of the players that they are signing.
However, should the players that have already signed help Torino gain promotion to Serie A, then I certainly will not be complaining about whether they are loans, co-ownerships or outright signings.