PARMA COMPLETE TRIPLE HEADER OF SIGNINGS
15 July 2017
Paolo Vanoli has confirmed his first three signings of the summer as Carl Medjani arrives on a free transfer, Kevin Mendez from AS Roma and Arlind Ajeti arrives on loan from Serie B rivals Frosinone.
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- Former Monaco and Ajaccio defender Carl Medjani signs on free transfer
- Hotly tipped forward Kevin Mendez arrives on three year deal from Roma
- Albanian defender Arlind Ajeti completes loan switch from Serie B side Frosinone
Parma manager Paolo Vanoli has today confirmed the first three signings of the summer as Carl Medjani, Kevin Mendez and Arlind Ajeti have all been confirmed as Parma players this morning. Whilst Medjani and Ajeti are perfectly capable central defenders for Serie B, Kevin Mendez is capable of playing in the shadow striker role that Mattia Minesso has made his own, as well as his favoured and more natural position of playing up front. Chairman Nevio Scala took to twitter after the confirmation to state
”I would like to welcome all three of the new recruits to Ennio Tardini, they are very good players that should do extremely well here.”
The first of the new players to arrive through the door is Algerian national team central defender and former AS Monaco and AC Ajaccio player Carl Medjani who arrives on a free transfer after being released by Gimnastic in Spain’s Liga Adelante in June. The defender who has made 46 appearances, scoring two goals for his nation stated in his first official interview with Parma’s official website
”I am over the moon to be here. It is a magnificent club with a lot of history over the last 20/30 years and they deserve to be at the top and hopefully I can help them achieve that.”
Whilst being a natural at centre back, Medjani is also capable of filling the defensive midfield role as well as being a more then able ball playing defender and Paolo Vanoli claimed
”He is a very good player that is perfect for a club at the level we are at. If he does his job well this year then he will be a great signing and we will be in with a very good shot at having a good season.”
The second of the three signings is Uruguayan forward Kevin Mendez, signed from Serie A giants AS Roma for a fee of around £150K, and has made 20 youth team appearances for the Uruguayan national team. The forward claimed that if he was given the opportunity he was capable of shining at the Ennio Tardini.
”I’m still young and this is a great opportunity for me to show people what I can do and how good of a player I want to be. I will give my all for Parma and hopefully have a good season here and help us achieve something special.”
Paolo Vanoli was once again very forthcoming with his praise for his latest recruit.
”He is an exceptionally talented young player who can score goals and create as well. He made several appearances for Roma last year and showed what he is capable of doing and in my first season at Parma he scored 7 goals for Lausanne in Switzerland. It might not be a lot but he showed what he can do and I hope that he can do the same here. We have a good set of young strikers in Kevin and in Denis Baumgartner and together they are going to drive this club forward, hopefully with a lot of goals!”
The final new arrival at Stadio Ennio Tardini is Albanian central defender Arlind Ajeti, capped five times by his nation and is a Champions League experienced defender.
”He is a very good defender that is going to be a very good loan move for us in the long run I am sure of that much. He has played Champions League football with Basel as well as in Serie A with Frosinone and for a club at our level that is absolutely massive. We hope he can go on to form an extremely close relationship with the other defenders at the club and hopefully he can make a big impact at this club.” Claimed manager Paolo Vanoli after the arrival of Ajeti at Parma’s training ground.
Meanwhile the player also gave his thoughts on the transfer claiming
”It feels great to be here. There is a manager who is really passionate about the club and a group of players that really want to succeed at this club. With any luck we can have a really good season and go a long way to restoring this club to the level we should be at.”