In what will undoubtedly be a busy summer for new players, Torino have made Varese striker Osarimen 'Giulio' Ebagua their first summer signing.
After their failure to reach the Serie B playoffs, Torino will be looking to build a squad that is capable of achieving a return to Serie A in the forthcoming campaign, under their new coach Giampiero Ventura. The signing of Ebagua certainly seems to be a positive one, and whilst he cannot be described as being a prolific goal scorer throughout his career, he scored 12 goals from 28 games to help newly promoted Varese to an impressive 4th place finish last season.
At just 25 years old, there is also plenty of room for improvement for a player who was been described by his former Varese coach, Giuseppe Sannino as being ‘self-sacrificing’ as well as being a ‘born fighter’, which are characteristics Torino have lacked in their team in recent seasons.
By completing his transfer to Torino, Ebagua is returning to the club that he began his career at, as he was in the youth set up at Toro, before being released in 2005 due to the clubs financial difficulties. The Nigerian born striker is not the only player who has gone on to have a successful career after being released by Torino in 2005. Federico Marchetti, Robert Acqafresca and Fabio Quagliarella were all released under similar circumstances, and it certainly makes one wonder where Torino would be today had they not gone bankrupt in 2005.
Torino have had to pay Varese a significant sum of 1.2 million euros in order to sign Ebagua on a Co-Ownership deal, and young defender Gaetano Carrieri has moved in the opposite direction as part of the transfer. The purchase of Giulio Ebagua increases the likelihood that Torino’s captain and talisman Rolando Bianchi will be departing, with a number of Serie A clubs interested in the former Manchester City striker.
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