Fiorentina boss Diego Della Valle confirmed that Luca Toni will not be leaving the Florence club before the start of next season. Della Valle appeared at a press conference with the striker himself and sporting director Pantaleo Corvino, effectively putting the issue of his departure to bed. Inter Milan had been pursuing 29-year-old World Cup winner, who wanted to leave Florence in order to play in the Champions League with Inter Milan next season. Fiorentina, Juventus and Lazio have all been banned from this season’s competition due to their involvement in the match fixing scandal. Della Valle said Toni understood the club’s reasons for wanting him to stay (he scores bags of goals; topping Serie A with 31 last season). “The player knows that he is essential for our future projects, I appreciate his understanding,” he said, adding that Toni wasn’t given any further financial incentive. Della Valle said it only took five minutes to convince the striker to stay, and suggested that had a change of heart due to his affection for the club and for Florence. “It isn’t common to see a player give more importance to the affection for the shirt he wears than to the money, these things happen very rarely.” Indeed. Given that one week ago Toni said it would be difficult to hold the club in good rapport if he wasn’t allowed to leave, this “change of heart” certainly sounds fishy. Next week we’ll probably hear the same thing from Juventus and Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the buyers decide his price tag is too high.