Agent Mario Giuffredi ranged across his client list at the R Star Palermo Football Meeting, touching on the summer saga that took Sebastiano Esposito from Cagliari to Sassuolo, the progress of two young players at Napoli, Gianluca Gaetano's move to Atalanta, and the next name he expects to break through.
Asked what drives his decisions in a negotiation, Giuffredi said, "Not money, which has led me to make the wrong choices in the past. It's something I don't take into account. For me the most important thing is to have a serious director in front of me, someone who wants to do things properly.
"If on the other side I find a director I don't respect, he can offer more money, but an intelligent person points his player towards the more serious director."
He called Esposito's move the most difficult negotiation of his career, "but not for footballing reasons", and declined to go into detail: "I'd rather not talk about it, it's water under the bridge. I'm sorry that in this affair the one who suffered most was the player, but in the end the situation resolved itself in the best possible way."
He did reveal that he had tried to send Esposito to Napoli during the summer.
"This summer I wanted to send Sebastiano Esposito to Napoli, then for a thousand reasons it didn't happen. It upset me, because for a Neapolitan like Sebastiano going to Napoli would have been the childhood dream come true. But I realised that for the player it could have been the worst choice I could make. And I couldn't have made a better choice than sending him to Sassuolo."
He credited one man for Esposito's development at Cagliari and his subsequent first call-up to the Italy squad.
"He has to thank one person only, Guido Angelozzi. He was the director who wanted him at Cagliari, and he worked hard for him throughout the year too. And a good director is one who supports you. By the end of the season Sebastiano was an improved player, and that's thanks to him."
Turning to Napoli duo Antonio Vergara and Costantino Favasuli, Giuffredi defended the club's slow start under Massimiliano Allegri.
"Napoli remain a strong team even if they've started so-so. But horses are judged at the finish line, not the start. Passing judgement now is amateurish and superficial. There are young players like Vergara who I'm sure Allegri will get the best out of. Favasuli came from Serie B and the coach threw him straight into the Champions League and the league, giving value to a young player that not many were thinking of relying on. Napoli and Allegri will do great things, and compared with recent years they will bring young players through."
Angelozzi came up again on Gaetano, who followed the director from Cagliari's midfield to Atalanta this summer.
"Gaetano is another winning idea from Guido Angelozzi. He was already at Cagliari before Angelozzi arrived, but he was being used in other roles. Angelozzi had the foresight to suggest to his coach that he drop him back into a deeper playmaking role. For the season he had, he deserved to take a step forward, and given his characteristics there could be nothing better than being coached by Sarri."
Asked which of his players was next in line for a breakthrough, Giuffredi pointed to Modena forward Giuseppe Ambrosino, on loan from Napoli.
"When we talk about the next one, it means you have to look at players who are in Serie B or lower divisions. The next one who can become important is Ambrosino of Modena."
Ambrosino, born in 2003 and in his second spell at Modena, has scored four goals in his first six games this season across Serie B and the Coppa Italia.