Wakaso in talks to join Italian side Genoa

Italian Serie A side Genoa have moved to sign Ghana midfielder Mubarak Wakaso from Russian side Rubin Kazan, GHANAsoccernet.com can exclusively reveal.

The two clubs will open talks over Wakaso’s move on Saturday night with the midfielder expected to move before the transfer window shuts next month, Ghana’s leading football news outfit GHANAsoccernet.com can reveal.

The move will spark his career back to international prominence after the move to Russia seems to have affected his rating globally because the Russian top-flight is not popular.

A meeting with officials of Genoa including the president Preziosi and his son Fabrizio will be held on Saturday night with Italian football agent Federico Pastorello who will broker the deal.

“Yes, we spoke with the president, let’s see what will happen after today,” the strong agent Pastorello said when asked about the possibility about Genoa signing Wakaso.

“The boy sits well with the (Genoa) head coach. He is a midfielder who is fast and technical, with interesting qualities. Him arriving in Italy? Let’s see,” Pastorello added.

Wakaso played in Spain with Elche, Villarreal and Espanyol, before moving to Russia last summer to play for Rubin Kazan.

The Russian club is expected to demand about $6m for the tough tackling midfielder whose progress was negatively affected by the move to Russia.

The former Espanyol hard-tackling midfielder was on the verge of joining English Premier League side Swansea last year but their offer of 4m Euros was knocked back following late negotiations.

Espanyol received around 5m Euros for the transfer of the Ghana international to Rubin Kazan but half of that amount went to Villareal who had a 50% stake in the player.

Wakaso emerged one of the star performers for Ghana at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations where he finished the competition as joint-top scorer but since moving to Kazan he fell down the pecking order in the Ghana team.