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Mutu: Awaiting Gilardino

Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu is looking forward to playing with former Parma team-mate Alberto Gilardino again.

Gilardino is close to joining Fiorentina on a four-year deal from Milan and Mutu cannot wait for him to arrive.

The Romanian believes Gilardino has improved considerably in recent years and will make Fiorentina a force to be reckoned with next season.

“We played together for three years at Parma, but now he has changed,” Mutu told the Italian press.

“He is mature and he is no longer a boy who scored only once or twice. For some time now he has been scoring plenty.

Stronger

“With him we will be much stronger. In Florence he will find the trust and the passion which perhaps he has been missing recently.

“And then we are always talking about a world champion, let’s not forget that.”

Mutu believes Fiorentina can challenge for the Serie A title in the near future after finishing fourth this season.

“When (coach Cesare) Prandelli told us that we will win the Scudetto in about seven years, Tomas Ujfalusi, Fabio Liverani and I started laughing,” said Mutu.

“Some of us are around the age of 30 and told him that such a deadline wasn’t good for us.

“It was good for him because his career can go on and on, but not ours. That’s why we said that Fiorentina will win the Scudetto in three years instead!”

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