Calcio Mercato 2010-11

abundance wrote:

TM wrote:Has Diego been playing very well or is there just no place for Giovinco?

Diego didn't impress much last season, sure having him and Del Piero in the squad didn't help finding space for Giovinco, but I think he would have had troubles even if those two weren't there.

He's just clearly suffering of trequartistitis, that typical Serie A disease, where everybody and his dog praise you for your talent and skills but somewhat you are never good enough to start, due to vague issues related to team balance, tactics, workrate, contribution, experience, determination...

See also: Pirlo at Inter, Zola at Parma under Ancelotti, Baggio in the NT post '94, Cassano at Samp last year when the team was low on fitness...

It is so true, its also a bit sad. I had written a long post here sometime last year about the trequartista dying in the modern game, and coaches no longer ve the need for what they now call "luxury" players. Maybe Totti is the last of the great line....

I think it's difficult for trequartistas to play behind 2 strikers these days. Teams are more interested in winning the midfield battle so they can't afford to play 2 genuine strikers together. Trequartistas have to play as second strikers these days, and it seems like this is how Del Neri is going to use Diego this season.

Lusitan wrote:So, What do you guys think of Zapater? He any good?

I don't know how he did at Genoa, but during his time at Zaragoza he was definitely a good player. Good signing for you IMO...did you get additional cash as well or was it just a straight swap?

Lusitan wrote:So, seems like Miguel veloso is already in Italy, to play for Genova. We recieved Zapater in exchange plus 9 or 10 M€. Not a bad deal.

Not a bad deal at all. Zapater was pretty decent for Genoa last season... thats quite a lot of money you got on top...

Robinho maybe going to Inter, not exactly Benitez's sort of player I would have thought.

Would you be happy with that bluenine? I'm guessing not.

Murray wrote:Robinho maybe going to Inter, not exactly Benitez's sort of player I would have thought.

Would you be happy with that bluenine? I'm guessing not.

Not at all happy, if that happens.... I don't want any spoilt lazy brasilians forwards at Inter ever again... attitude wise, he is not really an improvement on Balotelli...

Rafa and Robinho? Is he going to be deployed as a left back?

Latest: KP Boateng to join Genoa, Giovinco loaned to Parma, Rafina joins Genoa, Cigarini joins Sevilla, Lazio buy Hernanes, Veloso joins Genoa, Garrido joins Lazio, Munoz joins Palermo, Balotelli joins City, Kolarov joins City, Chico joins Genoa, Ranocchia & Destro now co-owned by Genoa & Inter; Cavani to Napoli, Arevalo Rios joins Cagliari, Motta joins Juve

The Tracker for confirmed deals at top clubs: Likely signings in BLUE

Milan
IN: Yepes, Storari, [Allegri], Honda, Amelia, Fossati, Filkor, Papa
OUT: [Leonardo], Dida, Favalli, Storari, Darmian, Aubameyang, Zigoni, Oduamadi,
Inter
IN: Coutinho, [Benitez], Mascherano, Ranocchia, Castellazzi, Biabiany, Faraoni, Forlan, Kuyt, Sculli
OUT: Arnautovic, Quaresma, [Mourinho], Toldo, Fossati, Donati, Filkor, Maicon, Burdisso, Suazo, Mancini, Obinna, Balotelli, Ranocchia, Destro, Krhin
Juve
IN: [Del Neri], Bonucci, Lanzafame, Martinez, Krasic, Pepe, Storari, Motta
OUT: [Zac], Cannavaro, Giovinco, Trezeguat, Criscito, Chimenti, Caceras, Molinaro, Immobile, Almiron, Candreva, Camoranesi
Roma
IN: Adriano, Simplicio, Rosi, Guberti, Burdisso
OUT: Tonetto, Cassetti, Baptista, Motta, Lobont, Toni
Fiorentina
IN: [Mihajlovic], D'Agostino, Santacroce, Boruc
OUT: Gobbi, Santana, Kroldrup, [Prandelli], Kerrisson, Savio, Jefferson, Donadel
Sampdoria
IN: [Di Carlo], Pozzi, Curci
OUT: [Del Neri], Storari, Guberti, Mirante,
Palermo
IN: Kasami, Inler, Maccarone, Pinilla, Glik, Darmian, Guana, Benussi, Munoz
OUT: Bresciano, Simplicio, Kjaer, Cavani, Raggi, Cani
Napoli
IN: Cavani
OUT: Denis, Contini, Datolo, Bogliacino, Cigarini
Genoa
IN: Diego Angelo, Esposito, Eduardo, Ranocchia, Rudolf, Tachtsidis, Toni, Strasser, Zigoni, Oduamadi, Chico, Destro, Veloso, Rafinha, Boateng
OUT: Aleksic, Zapater, Amelia, Bolzoni, A Esposito, Ledesma, Meggiorini, Papastathopoulos

Serie A:
IN: Toni (Gen), Bojinov (Par), Paletta (Par), Eduardo (Gen), Boruc (Fio), Arevalo Rios (Cag), Rudolf (Gen), Marques (Par), A Gonzalez (Laz), Karagaunis (Udi), Muriel (Udi), Olivera (Lec), Glik (Pal), Pintos (Laz), Diego Angelo (Gen), Jokic (Chi), B Cesar (Chi), Rabiu (Udi), Vydra (Udi), Nagatomo (Ces), A Gomez (Cat), Chico (Gen), Zuculini (Gen), Veloso (Gen), Munoz (Pal), Reginiussen (Bar), Hernanes (Laz), Garrido (Laz), Rafinha (Gen), KP Boateng (Gen)
OUT: Cannavaro, Hitzelsperger, Osvaldo, Guarente, Kolarov, Kjaer, Contini, Valdes, Datolo, Carrizo, Eliseu, Molinaro, Caruso, Savio, Jajalo, Balotelli, Lukovic, Cigarini

bluenine wrote:

Murray wrote:Robinho maybe going to Inter, not exactly Benitez's sort of player I would have thought.

Would you be happy with that bluenine? I'm guessing not.

Not at all happy, if that happens.... I don't want any spoilt lazy brasilians forwards at Inter ever again... attitude wise, he is not really an improvement on Balotelli...

Id happy with it i only want robbie back if he has sorted his head out...at his best he is unbelieveable but in the epl is he isnt interested then away from home he will do very little so hopefully we can sort out a deal for Balotelli including robinho going the other way.

Sgoater1 wrote:

bluenine wrote:

Murray wrote:Robinho maybe going to Inter, not exactly Benitez's sort of player I would have thought.

Would you be happy with that bluenine? I'm guessing not.

Not at all happy, if that happens.... I don't want any spoilt lazy brasilians forwards at Inter ever again... attitude wise, he is not really an improvement on Balotelli...

Id happy with it i only want robbie back if he has sorted his head out...at his best he is unbelieveable but in the epl is he isnt interested then away from home he will do very little so hopefully we can sort out a deal for Balotelli including robinho going the other way.

He is a talent, but he is also one of the few players who I find annoying...

Still, if its a loan deal which doesn't cost too much, its worth a shot....

Jovetic is out with ligament injury for 6-7 months... poor kid.

That also means that the already slim chances we had of landing Vargas are surely over, Corvino will not budge now.

Genoa have reportedly signed Rafinha from Schalke for €8 million.

Cesc Soler wrote:Genoa have reportedly signed Rafinha from Schalke for €8 million.

It would be another great transfer done by them (after signing Veloso), and price looks decent too.

stinger wrote:

Cesc Soler wrote:Genoa have reportedly signed Rafinha from Schalke for €8 million.

It would be another great transfer done by them (after signing Veloso), and price looks decent too.

Yeah, those are two good transfers... but Genoa can be a bit scatter brained when it comes to transfers... they did so many tramsfers last season (they actually owned Ranocchia and Bonucci, and let them go to Bari!!) and still ended up only 9th!!

They have done well this year, getting decent money for the likes of Bonucci, Papa, Ranocchia, Amelia, Zapater, etc and have bought reasonaly well... Toni, Eduardo, Ranocchia, Veloso & Rafinha are all good signings. Plus they have bought all right of Criscito. Not sure how good are Angelo, Rudolf, Chico, etc but Destro is promising.

GENOA Transfers
IN: Diego Angelo (m, Nacional); Esposito (d, Livorno), Eduardo (gk, Sporting Braga) Ranocchia (d, Bari), Rudolf (a, Debrecen), Tachtsidis (m, Athens), Toni (a, Bayern Munich), Strasser (m, Milan), Zigoni (a, Milan), Oduamadi (a, Milan), Chico (d, Almeria), Destro (a, Inter), Veloso (m, Sporting), Rafinha (d, Schalke)
OUT: Aleksic (a, Crotone), Zapater (m, Sporting), Amelia (gk, Milan), Bolzoni (m, Siena), A Esposito (d, Bologna), Ledesma (m, Crotone), Meggiorini (a, Bologna), Papastathopoulos (d, Milan)

Tactically, Veloso was a awesome transfer as he can replace the aging Milanetto. Eduardo more than adequately replaces Amelia. Their defence has improved considerably this summer, they could trouble some big teams... they only problem is whether they have yet again changed too much!

I am sure they will now sell some more players, but their squad is looking quite decent:

Genoa Squad
Gks: Eduardo, Scarpi
Def: Ranocchia, Bocchetti, Criscito, Rafinha, Dainelli, Angelo, Fatic, Moretti, Vanden Borre, Chico, Tomovic
Mid: Veloso, Kharja, M Rossi, Jankovic, Zuculini, Mesto, Milanetto
Str: Toni, Palladino, Destro, Rudolf, Acquafresca, Palacio, Sculli

IMO they should switch to a 4231 now:
Possible first team:
Possible Backups:

Not bad...

Ledesma has reportedly joined Gala.

Re: Genoa

They have also signed Chico from Almeria, who is a pretty decent defensive talent.

Sculli? Why would Inter want Sculli? No disrespect, IMO he is a decent mid-table club winger, but he is not top CL level...

Maybe its Inter's way to tell Benitez that if he wants a winger (Kuyt) so badly, here you go!

Nah, maybe I'm just a bit frustated at the prolonged Balotelli/Maicon saga's, and the lack of replacement planning... Sculli may not ve the quality of Balotelli, but he will be a decent replacement as a squad player. Just that I much rather see some talented youngsters at Inter than the likes of Sculli....

wouldn't Santon be the automatic replacement for Maicon?.

Messiah wrote:wouldn't Santon be the automatic replacement for Maicon?.

With Maicon gone, we would be left with just Santon, Zanetti and Chivu as fullbacks. Considering Chivu isn't really a fb, and Zanetti is now better in midfield, we probably will need one replacement RB/LB... need not necessarily be a starter, even a talented back up will do.

The names mentioned in the rumour mills incluce Bastos, A Cole, G Johnson, Van der Wiel, Bale, Evra, Salcido, Coentrao.... basically everyone and their mother. Still have no clue who Inter will sign as a Maicon replacement...

I would not mind a talented youngster, as that would give Santon a starting role. Maybe young Crescenzi of Roma (saw him in just one game coupla seasons back, he looked good) or Contento of Bayern or even Di Silvestri.

vdw and bale might be cuptied after the next cl qualifying round so that will probably leave them out.

What is Santon's best position, LB or RB?

Calidad wrote:What is Santon's best position, LB or RB?

He is naturally a RB, but has excelled at Inter as a LB... has hardly got to play as a RB due to Maicon.

Latest: Guberti joins Doria, KP Boateng to join Genoa, Giovinco loaned to Parma, Rafina joins Genoa, Cigarini joins Sevilla, Lazio buy Hernanes, Veloso joins Genoa, Garrido joins Lazio, Munoz joins Palermo, Balotelli joins City, Kolarov joins City, Chico joins Genoa,

The Tracker for confirmed deals at top clubs: Likely signings in BLUE

Milan
IN: Yepes, Storari, [Allegri], Honda, Amelia, Fossati, Filkor, Papa
OUT: [Leonardo], Dida, Favalli, Storari, Darmian, Aubameyang, Zigoni,
Inter
IN: Coutinho, [Benitez], Mascherano, Ranocchia, Castellazzi, Biabiany, Faraoni, Forlan, Kuyt, Sculli
OUT: Arnautovic, Quaresma, [Mourinho], Toldo, Fossati, Donati, Filkor, Maicon, Burdisso, Suazo, Mancini, Obinna, Balotelli, Ranocchia, Destro, Krhin
Juve
IN: [Del Neri], Bonucci, Lanzafame, Martinez, Krasic, Pepe, Storari, Motta
OUT: [Zac], Cannavaro, Giovinco, Trezeguat, Criscito, Chimenti, Caceras, Molinaro, Immobile, Almiron, Candreva, Camoranesi
Roma
IN: Adriano, Simplicio, Rosi, Guberti, Burdisso
OUT: Tonetto, Cassetti, Baptista, Motta, Lobont, Toni
Fiorentina
IN: [Mihajlovic], D'Agostino, Santacroce, Boruc
OUT: Gobbi, Santana, Kroldrup, [Prandelli], Kerrisson, Savio, Jefferson, Donadel
Sampdoria
IN: [Di Carlo], Pozzi, Curci, Guberti
OUT: [Del Neri], Storari, Mirante,
Palermo
IN: Kasami, Inler, Maccarone, Pinilla, Glik, Darmian, Guana, Benussi, Munoz
OUT: Bresciano, Simplicio, Kjaer, Cavani, Raggi, Cani
Napoli
IN: Cavani
OUT: Denis, Contini, Datolo, Bogliacino, Cigarini
Genoa
IN: Diego Angelo, Esposito, Eduardo, Ranocchia, Rudolf, Tachtsidis, Toni, Zigoni, Chico, Destro, Veloso, Rafinha, Boateng
OUT: Aleksic, Zapater, Amelia, Bolzoni, A Esposito, Ledesma, Meggiorini, Papastathopoulos

Serie A:
IN: Toni (Gen), Bojinov (Par), Paletta (Par), Eduardo (Gen), Boruc (Fio), Arevalo Rios (Cag), Rudolf (Gen), Marques (Par), A Gonzalez (Laz), Karagaunis (Udi), Muriel (Udi), Olivera (Lec), Glik (Pal), Pintos (Laz), Diego Angelo (Gen), Jokic (Chi), B Cesar (Chi), Rabiu (Udi), Vydra (Udi), Nagatomo (Ces), A Gomez (Cat), Chico (Gen), Zuculini (Gen), Veloso (Gen), Munoz (Pal), Reginiussen (Bar), Hernanes (Laz), Garrido (Laz), Rafinha (Gen), KP Boateng (Gen)
OUT: Cannavaro, Hitzelsperger, Osvaldo, Guarente, Kolarov, Kjaer, Contini, Valdes, Datolo, Carrizo, Eliseu, Molinaro, Caruso, Savio, Jajalo, Balotelli, Lukovic, Cigarini

Ironic thing about the transfers of Papa and Amelia to Milan.... it should be the other way round!! Milan should be buying the likes of Eduardo & Rafinha, and selling the likes of Papa & Amelia to smaller clubs like Genoa!!

Amelia maybe, but Sokratis I rate. I've watched him in many games ever since he was in AEK and he has a lot of talent, plus he's young, versatile and has experience at the highest levels. He can be a reliable squad player who can cover at CB (mainly) and RB.


Actually CB is probably the only area where we have more players than we need and decent alternatives with: Nesta, Thiago, Sokratis, Yepes, Bonera, Onyewu, Kaladze and maybe Albertazzi. Getting rid of Kaladze and Gooch would have been ideal.

Red n' Black wrote:Amelia maybe, but Sokratis I rate. I've watched him in many games ever since he was in AEK and he has a lot of talent, plus he's young, versatile and has experience at the highest levels. He can be a reliable squad player who can cover at CB (mainly) and RB.


Actually CB is probably the only area where we have more players than we need and decent alternatives with: Nesta, Thiago, Sokratis, Yepes, Bonera, Onyewu, Kaladze and maybe Albertazzi. Getting rid of Kaladze and Gooch would have been ideal.

Its not that I don't rate Papa, but Genoa have replaced him with Ranocchia and Rafinha!

Papa will probably play as a RB for you guys, your back 4 has improved with him on board... and like you said, there are better back ups now.

That may not be the best in quality, but its great depth in defensive options - something that Milan ve not had for a while. If Milan get just 3-4 decent players, they could compete for the title... Milan need a DM, a CM, and a Dinho/Seedorf back up at the very least. And maybe exchange Huntelaar for a top striker...

yeah I agree, though unless Huntelaar is sold I don't think anyone will arrive in attack.

At the minumum, we need at least a dynamic midfielder(as Allegri demanded) and a full-back with attacking qualities(Papa is basically a CB who can play RB, but is not a threat going forward).

The positive is that Allegri seems willing to also integrate some youngsters into the team this season like Verdi, Merkel and Strasser.

Red n' Black wrote:yeah I agree, though unless Huntelaar is sold I don't think anyone will arrive in attack.

At the minumum, we need at least a dynamic midfielder(as Allegri demanded) and a full-back with attacking qualities(Papa is basically a CB who can play RB, but is not a threat going forward).

The positive is that Allegri seems willing to also integrate some youngsters into the team this season like Verdi, Merkel and Strasser.

Didn't ya sell half of him out to Genoa? Does he stay at Milan or Genoa?

yeah, as part of the Sokratis deal, Genoa now co-own Strasser,Zigoni and Oduamandi. Strasser and Oduamandi stayed in Milan, whereas Zigoni moved to Genoa.

according to latest rumours, we are interested in Kevin Prince Boateng and Bocchetti(this one seems a bit strange).

Boateng is good but he's not Milan good. Seems like Milan is preparing to be a top 8 side