To say that former Leeds United striker Mirco Antenucci is in demand is a definite understatement, it seems that every team in Serie B or below has their eyes on him. The latest Italian side said to be casting their occhi ove rthe 31-year-old forward is Lega Pro side Cremonense.
News coming out of Italy via various sources such as TUTTOmercatoWEB, PARMAlive, tuttolegapro and tuttosport says that Cremonense are targetting the 80-game, 19-goal Leeds United striker in a move to gain promotion next season from the LegaPro to Serie B competition.
Antenucci signed for Leeds as one of the initial wave of Cellino-drafted imports, a raft of players brought in as something of a stop-gap measure with some performing to a better standard than others. Antenucci was one of those ‘better performers’, Leeds United’s leading scorer during his first season in English football with 10 goals and second leading scorer in his final season with the Whites with nine goals.
It will be goals like these that will have caught the attention of Cremonense as they look to build their promotion bid to reach Serie B around a goal-scoring striker and, to be fair, Antenucci should be albe to comfortably score goals in the third tier of Italian football.
Tuttolegapro say that Cremonense “are to give new coach Attilio Tesser a competitive squad for the Lega Pro” and that the grigiorossi “would set its sights on the experienced striker Mirko Antenucci.” Back from what the publication says are “two good seasons in England,” Antenucci is looking to base the next chapter of his football career back in Italy and that “Cremonense would try to convince him to embrace the project.”
However, as tuttolegapro admit, there is much interest in Antenucci from Serie B teams, something that would make their capture of the former Elland Road marksman a little more difficult. They say that the “point of fact is that he is courted by Parma and other clubs from Serie B including Veron and Ascoli.”
This view that Cremonense are going to ‘go for it’ is backed up by tuttosport who say that next season, “Cremonense will aim to win the Lega Pro championship,” and that current sporting director Stefano Giammarioli is “working for the new season market” – then adding that Mirco Antenucci is “in [the] viewfinder.” However, in an aside, tuttosport also go on to mention that Cremonense have other options such as 26-year-old Guido Marilungo at Atalanta and Novara’s Felice Evacuo.
