Calcio Mercato Summer 2011

bluenine wrote:BM, you should be happy that finally Roma have spent big money... Osvaldo, Pjanic, Kjaer, Stekelenburg, Lamela, Bojan, Gago.... Thats some star cast. Tho a lot of them look like risky investments for that amounts of cash, maybe Sabatini/Enrique know something we don't...

Yeah, I think they signed a lot of numbers but IMO they haven't signed well. Osvaldo is seriously overpriced, Pjani is expensive too, Bojan is never going to make it, Gago is only on loan but again, bit of a "let's try our luck" signing. I'd be surprised if Luis Enrique gets them into the top 3. He himself has a lot to prove as well.

At least they signed Kjaer on a loan (plus buying option). Never understood why'd be willing to pay €10m for him. He looked like a complete mess every time I saw him play for Wolfsburg.

Latest: Nocerino to Milan, Zarate & Tassi to Inter, Gago, Borini & Pjanic to Roma, Floccari to Parma, Fideleff to Napoli, Silva to Fiorentina

MILAN
IN: Mexes, Taiwo, Paloschi, El Shaarawy, Zigoni, Ferreira, Aquilani, Nocerino
OUT: Pirlo, Legrottaglie, Papastathopoulos, Onyewu, Jankulovski, Merkel, Astori, Albertazzi, Coppola, Strasser, Paloschi, Oddo

INTER
IN: [Gasperini], Nagatomo, Viviano, Alvarez, Castaignos, Jonathan, Forlan, Poli, Zarate, Tassi
OUT: [Leonardo], Materazzi, Suazo, Eto'o, Pandev, Santon, Rivas, Muntari

JUVENTUS
IN: Pirlo, Ziegler, [Conte], Lichsteiner, Pazienza, Matri, Quagliarella, Pepe, Motta, Ekdal, Almiron, Vidal, Vucinic, Giaccherini, Estigarribia, Elia
OUT: [Del Neri], Paolucci, Aquilani, Salihamidzic, Tiago, Melo, Sissoko, Almiron, Martinez, Grygera, Giandonato, Pasquato

ROMA
IN: [Enrique], Bertolacci, Bojan, Guberti, Curci, Rosi, Nego, Lamela, Jose Angel, Heinze, Stekelenburg, Osvaldo, Kjaer, Gago, Pjanic, Borini
OUT: Mexes, [Montella], Riise, Doni, Menez, Julio Sergio, Vucinic, Brighi

FIORENTINA
IN: Romulo, Munari, Lazzari, Kharja, Cassani, Silva
OUT: Santana, Mutu, Donadel, D'Agostino, Frey

PARMA
IN: Borini, Biabiany, Blasi, Santacroce, Pelle, Sansone, Fabio Nunes, Rubin
OUT: Rossi, Castellini, Dzemaili, Paci, Pisano

PALERMO
IN: Cetto, Simon, Pisano, Milanovic, [Pioli], Lanzafame, Labrin, Munari, Zahavi, Mantovani, Lores, Silvestre, Tzorvas, Della Rocca, Alvarez, Barreto
OUT: [Rossi], Kasami, Pastore, Goian, Sirigu, Lanzafame, Bovo, Cassani, Gonzalez, Milanovic

NAPOLI
IN: Santana, Donadel, Fernandez, Dzemaili, Mannini, Rosati, Inler, Britos, Colombo, Pandev, Fideleff
OUT: Pazienza, Santacroce, Blasi, Cribari, Sosa, Mannini, Ruiz, Cigarini

GENOA
IN: [Malesani], Papastathopoulos, Birsa, Kranjc, Lupatelli, Pratto, Seymour, Zima, Granqvist, Merkel, Forestieri, Acquafresca, Constant, Ribas, Frey, Bovo, Carraciolo
OUT: Rafinha, Konko, Criscito, Paloschi, El Shaarawy, Acqufresca, Papastathopoulos, Milanetto, Kharja

LAZIO
IN: Klose, Konko, Lulic, Marchetti, Stankevicius, Cana, Cisse
OUT: Lichsteiner, Muslera, Foggia, Floccari, Zarate

UDINESE
IN: D'Agostino, Barreto, Denis, Doubai, Sissoko, Fabbrini, Larrangeira, Neuton, Torje, Pereyra
OUT: Sanchez, Inler, Forestieri, D'Agostino, Zapata, Denis

fcb wrote: Bojan is never going to make it

Never thought I would hear this from you... remember the Krkic-Balotelli arguement we had a long time ago?

Just shows, you can never really tell with young talents.

fcb wrote:

bluenine wrote:BM, you should be happy that finally Roma have spent big money... Osvaldo, Pjanic, Kjaer, Stekelenburg, Lamela, Bojan, Gago.... Thats some star cast. Tho a lot of them look like risky investments for that amounts of cash, maybe Sabatini/Enrique know something we don't...

Yeah, I think they signed a lot of numbers but IMO they haven't signed well. Osvaldo is seriously overpriced, Pjani is expensive too, Bojan is never going to make it, Gago is only on loan but again, bit of a "let's try our luck" signing. I'd be surprised if Luis Enrique gets them into the top 3. He himself has a lot to prove as well.

Disagree. I think they have signed well and are clearly building for the future.

Lamela is a crack and arguably the biggest talent to leave Argentina in recent times since Messi (I personally think he'll reach or surpass Aguero levels), and probably eclipse Tevez, Pastore, Higuain, Di Maria etc.

Pjanic is a talented player who has stagnated at Lyon, and the others are all good squad additions too.

Remember they've sold Vucinic, and got rid of high wages in Mexes/Doni - they actually haven't spend a huge amount (probably 30 or so net) On paper as good a squad as they've had in ages.

Still could have done with another defender though.

Pjanic 11m
Lamela 12m
Stek 6m
Angel 5m
Osvaldo 17.5m
Bojan 12m
Borini 2m (plus 7m option to buy)
Nego 450k

----------------------
Vucinic 15m
Menez 8m
Riise 2m
Doni 1.5m

Not quite 30mill net. Then you have to factor in Kjaer's fee if he rids himself of his form in Germany. We've spent a lot.

Such a shame Remi had let go Pjanic. Pjanic seemed to have finally come good start of the season. And with overrated Gourcuff who is almost certain to become a major flop, they really need Pjanic.

I'm not sure about Luis Enrique. He has certainly bought well. But to integrate them into the team is a challenge that MOST coaches/managers fail at.

bluenine wrote:

fcb wrote: Bojan is never going to make it

Never thought I would hear this from you... remember the Krkic-Balotelli arguement we had a long time ago?

Just shows, you can never really tell with young talents.

We did?

Bojan's problem has always been - and still is - that he's unable to fight for balls on the pitch, to put it very simply. He doesn't have that burning desire, the desperation, to succeed and make something happen. Contrast him with Pedro, who has less natural ability, but makes up for it in other attributes.

Balotelli is a mental case so I'm not sure how likely he is to "make it" either.

Fade out wrote:I'm not sure about Luis Enrique. He has certainly bought well. But to integrate them into the team is a challenge that MOST coaches/managers fail at.

Plus he seems to be taking the "I'm Luis Enrique and I'll make bold decisions if I want to, so I'm going to drop/sub Totti". It's going to be tough for any manager at Roma to succeed if they don't get Totti on their side.

fcb wrote:

Fade out wrote:I'm not sure about Luis Enrique. He has certainly bought well. But to integrate them into the team is a challenge that MOST coaches/managers fail at.

Plus he seems to be taking the "I'm Luis Enrique and I'll make bold decisions if I want to, so I'm going to drop/sub Totti". It's going to be tough for any manager at Roma to succeed if they don't get Totti on their side.

He is not trying to make any touch decisions, totti doesn't have the pace to play in midfield, especially not a 3 man midfield, asked to play somewhat like barca's.

His position will be false nine or the 10 when he plays 4-4-2 diamond, he dropped him for the games because he wanted a different option, people should talk about luis after seeing what he did with the B team, they will know he is a huge fan of rotations and picks his team depending on the opposition a lot more so than a pep, for example their was a run of games than his best midfielder(thiago) didn't get a single minutes because he though JDS was the better option for those games, based on his skill set.

Totti will get his time,when the team his right, if luis is given time he will do a job for sure, but i rather doubt that will happen, because people outside who doesn't understand his philosophy will call for his head once a few things go wrong.

Ps. Bojan will make it

I am bit shocked about the santon transfer. I thought he looked really good for his age. Plus considering the rules an homegrown player what earth was inter thinking?

You're wrong, Santon is not that good

Hem fet un.. wrote:I am bit shocked about the santon transfer. I thought he looked really good for his age. Plus considering the rules an homegrown player what earth was inter thinking?

I can understand this move, he hasn't stepped up in last couple of years. And Gasp has no need for fullbacks in his 3-4-3, he needs wingbacks. Santon's intensity has fallen off since he first burst into the scene, he is no good as a wingback at the mo... in his last loan move, Santon could not even break into the Cesena team!

I think this is a good move for all concerned. Santon probably needs this change of scenery, and I hope he proves Branca wrong.

Inter have heavily invested in the academy in the last 12 months.... hopefully soon we willl not have any academy-grown issues.

“It’s true that I’m on an assist bonus,” Zarate stated on Friday. “I believe I got nine last year, which is quite a lot. I think more clubs could use the assist clause in the future.”

It’s understood that the bonus clause will be activated if he sets up 10 goals during the 2011-12 campaign.

Branca, I salute you. You, sir, are a fuckin genius!

Surely it's not that revolutionary that Branca has to be considered a "genius" for it? Literally anyone with some Football Manager experience would think of such clauses.

And is he on a goal bonus too? Last thing you need is for him to go all Arsenal-esque in the final third and make extra passes for others to finish, rather than finishing off a move himself.

Zarate is a selfish, individualistic player, which is why this clause is so fitting for him.

As for Branca's genius, it was confirmed long before this when he got us Eto'o + Sneijder + Milito + Motta + Lucio + Pandev in exhange for Ibrahimovic

fcb wrote:Surely it's not that revolutionary that Branca has to be considered a "genius" for it? Literally anyone with some Football Manager experience would think of such clauses.

And is he on a goal bonus too? Last thing you need is for him to go all Arsenal-esque in the final third and make extra passes for others to finish, rather than finishing off a move himself.

Was that really his genius? It was just stupidity and desperation from Guardiola to get Etoo out.

fcb wrote:Was that really his genius? It was just stupidity and desperation from Guardiola to get Etoo out.

Well, as it happens in most bargianing situations, one man's stupidity is the other's genius. Anyways, it was just what we got for Ibra, but also how that money was spent.

Also, in the last 12 months, Inter have managed to cut their wage bill by almost 50% without impacting the quality too much, and had a similar impact on debt. How smooth is that?

Recently in an interview, someone asked him whether comparisons of him with a young Galliani were appropriate... he laughed and said that even a young Galliani was not appropriate parallel!

Branca is a genius. IMO he is more critical to Inter than his best purchase (Sneijder). I just hope that the rumours about a rift between Moratti & Branca are unfounded... we need our genius director, Moratti!

Bluenine, what's it with the Forlan situation? Seems like there was a error on Branca's part for missing out that detail!