Ipswich Town must always regret £2.9m transfer miss – He remains one of Serie A’s greatest ever players
The striker started his career in Argentina and made an impression with teams like River Plate, Boca Juniors, and Newell’s Old Boys before moving to Italy in 1991.
Although he scored 29 goals in his first two seasons with Fiorentina, they were relegated from Serie A in the 1992–93 season, finishing in 16th place.
Despite the fact that some may have been disheartened by the drop to Serie B, the Argentine remained unfazed, and the team quickly recovered under the new manager Claudio Ranieri. He scored 16 goals in 26 games, which was crucial to their successful promotion campaign and Serie B title,
but it was that summer that a significant international rumor surfaced that John Lyall’s Ipswich Town was reportedly interested in signing the striker.
The Tractor Boys had a difficult 1993–94 season under Mick McGiven’s leadership. They struggled in front of goal and barely avoided relegation thanks to Chelsea’s 3-2 victory over Sheffield United, which condemned the Blades to the drop instead.
Desperate for firepower, John Lyall, who had returned, found one player who might be able to help them score goals: Gabriel Batistuta.
The Independent claims that the 25-year-old striker was reportedly unhappy in Florence and that Ipswich Town had allegedly agreed to a £2.9 million deal with Fiorentina for his services.
With four goals at the 1994 World Cup, Batistuta’s reputation was high, and the idea of his arrival sent shockwaves through Suffolk. It would have been a dream come true for Town, but it never happened. Instead, the team looked to another South American forward, Adrián Paz, who was signed from Estudiantes.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the Uruguayan was a poor substitute as he struggled with the physicality of England’s top flight, managing just one goal in 17 Premier League appearances before leaving the following season.
After failing to sign him, Ipswich fans watched in awe as their team dropped to the second division of English football, while Batistuta continued to thrive in Italy.
The Tractor Boys endured a series of heartbreaking play-off losses, which were exacerbated by the Argentine’s unrelenting goal-scoring exploits, which saw him score an incredible 26 goals in 32 Serie A games in 1994–95.
He was Fiorentina’s talisman, the player they could always rely on, and he helped them win the Coppa Italia in 1995–96 by scoring in both legs of the final against Atalanta BC.
In 2000, Batistuta made a high-profile move to AS Roma for €36.2 million, where he won his only Serie A title and scored 20 goals in the 2000–01 season.
His illustrious time in Italy ended in 2003 after a brief loan at Inter Milan, and by that time, his Serie A total stood at an incredible 183 goals in 318 games, solidifying his reputation as one of the best strikers of his generation.
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