Fiorentina director denies interest in Tottenham's Vlad Chiriches

It might be time to slow our roll on the rumors linking Vlad Chiriches to Fiorentina. In a recent interview with Sky Italia, as reported in Football-Italia.net, La Viola Sporting Director Daniele Prade put the kibosh on what had looked to be a solid rumor linking the Romanian central defender to Fiorentina.

"Chiriches? He is not a player we are tracking. The market is long, we know Paulo Sousa's ideas and are confident we can build a good team. We know that we need a defender and a midfielder."

That's... pretty definite. It comes just a day after Italian journalist Gianluca DiMarzio had insisted a deal was in place for a season long loan for Chiriches with an option to buy. So either DiMarzio is full of crap (possible) and the Fiorentina connection is busted, or Prade is either lying to keep the deal under wraps (unlikely).

All is not lost, however. There are still links between Chiriches and Galatastaray, and even a rumored HOT TIP from the (print only) edition of Gazzetta della Sport that says Napoli is interested in Chiriches, but only if Spurs make them an "indecent offer." We know SOMETHING'S in the works, because if Vlad were in Pochettino's plans for the league, he'd be in Denver right now.