What say pana? Sign him up? Now?

29/12/2007 10:07


Napoli Want Messi To Be The New Maradona - Report


Napoli are preparing to break the bank to persuade Lionel Messi to join them and become the new Diego Maradona, according to an outlandish report in the Spanish press.

The Italian club are attempting to find the finances to make a mega-offer for the Argentinian superstar as they believe that he could bring back the club's glory days.

Amzaingly the claim has been made by Barcelona-biased El Mundo Deportivo at a time when speculation surrounding Ronaldinho's future is already affecting the club.

What started as an idea amongst a group of wealthy supporters has now snowballed and if the finances materialise then Barça could receive an offer at the end of the season.

Rich Neapolitans are wiling to chip in and it is stated that the city will open its arms to welcome Messi, in the same way that they did for Maradona in 1984.

El Mundo Deportivo believe that the player already knows about the interest from the club, presided over by Aurelio De Laurentis, but is not keen to leave Barça.

Maradona left Barcelona when Terry Venables said he could go and he went on to help the Serie A outfit win the league in 1986/87 and 1989/90, as well as to lift the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Italian Super Cup.

Messi is seen by many as El Diego's heir at international level, but he does not want to follow in his hero's footsteps by moving to the Stadio Dan Paolo.

Having broken into the first team at Camp Nou in 2006, Messi was rewarded by the board with a first-team contract as he was moved up from the B side on a permanent basis.

The buy-out clause in his contract stands at €125m but, according to El Mundo Deportivo, that has not scared Napoli off, although they know that persuading Messi will be the key,

His loyalty to Barcelona is well-known as the club brought him over from Argentina and gave him the medicine he needed to grow, while honing his skills on the pitch.

99% pure fiction, but it would amazing, really,..to have a great Napoli back in the Serie A. Or better, to have a great, enjoyable Serie A back.

Lazio, Pandev incedibile



30.12.2007 19.31 di Redazione TMW Contatta Redazione TMW    articolo letto 71 volte

"Goran Pandev è incedibile e continuerà a giocare per la Lazio". Lo ribadisce la società biancoceleste di fronte alla notizia riportata dal sito inglese Skysports.com di una disponibilità del giocatore di accettare offerte del Bayern Monaco. "In merito a notizie totalmente prive di fondamento diffuse in queste ore - precisa la Lazio - la società S.S. Lazio ribadisce che il calciatore Goran Pandev, in forza di un contratto in essere a lungo termine è incedibile e continuerà a giocare per la Lazio. La S.S. Lazio diffida chiunque a propagare notizie destabilizzanti e prive di fondamento". Secondo quanto riportato dal sito, Pandev avrebbe ammesso contatti tra la società tedesca e i suoi procuratori e che nei suoi confronti ci sarebbe anche stato l'interessamento di Liverpool e Valencia.

Volpi Dismisses Inter Link

Sampdoria captain Sergio Volpi trashed rumours linking him to Inter and admitted he is not a fan of the current league leaders either.


The fans of Sampdoria can take a sigh of relief: the team's midfielder and captain Sergio Volpi will not be leaving the club during the January transfer campaign.

The link connecting him to Inter had already weakened in the past few days, which means that it's highly probable the player will remain with the Blucerchiati for the time being. Inter are on the lookout for a new midfielder after a series of injuries which hit the squad in that department.

In an interview given to a local newspaper, the Sampdoria captain silenced the rumours going around about him and confirmed he is staying in Genoa.

"Me to Inter? I really don't think so, but they still might want to sell me, I'm kind of old you see," the 33-year-old joked.

Asked about his opinion of Inter, he unexpectedly bashed the Nerazzurri somewhat: "I'm not an Inter fan. I'm from Brescia, so I'm a Brescia fan. But if I had to choose between the two Milanese teams, I'd pick the other one."

Like inter has class that all of the teams in Serie A are in awe off

Inter Enquire About Schweinsteiger  Inter are reportedly interested in young Bayern Munich star Bastian Schweinsteiger and have already enquired about the possibility of signing him.

Coach Roberto Mancini is highly attracted to the idea of signing Schweisteiger from Bayern Munich even though this could prove to be a difficult operation.

The German attacking midfielder's contract expires in 2009, therefore if he does not sign a new deal with his club by this summer, then Inter can try to make their move as Bayern Munich will not want to lose him on a free transfer the following year.

Thus Schweisteiger would be a possible summer transfer for Inter, but so far they have not received any signs on whether the German star will renew his Bayern Munich deal or opt to try a new adventure away from the club.

For the time being Inter will have to wait for new developments, but if the news is positive, they will be in the driver's seat when the summer arrives.

Isn't Schweinsteiger injury prone ?!

Bayern won't sell him.

Like inter has class that all of the teams in Serie A are in awe off

Goal.com

Ohh but inter will win the title for 3 years straight

I'm glade he sees the light 

^^^ me too

It's reported that Juventus have a deal for Van der Vaart!?? I would by greatly disappointed if it came through!

Now really, van der Vaart is a guy for Milan above all,..

Now really, van der Vaart is a guy for Milan above all,..

Inter To Extend Lucrative Nike Deal



Serie A leaders Inter's economical future has been given a boost by the news that the deal with Nike will earn the club even more money after 2009.

If anyone was wondering how long Inter's winning cycle will last, latest news regarding their sponsorship deals suggest that, in any case, their economic future is already assured.

The club's contract with Nike, which previously ran until 30 June 2009, was worth around 9 million euros a season. The next one will run ten years, and it will be worth more than any other contract ever agreed between the American sports brand and a football club (not counting the Brazilian national team).

It should be an amount between 12 and 14 million euros a season, which in total would earn the club around 140 million euros. With an increment of about 50 percent compared to the current contract, Nike sees president Massimo Moratti's club as a brand of the future and the right one to invest in to generate good business through football.

This means that currently Inter are considered an important and strategic brand to invest in as much as the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Juventus.

GOAL.com

Liverpool Want €15m For Sissoko

Liverpool have lowered their asking price for Mohammed Sissoko, as Juventus prepare an official offer for the midfielder, according to a report.

Everything seems to point out towards a smooth negotiation between Liverpool and Juventus for the transfer of the defensive midfielder, Italian daily sports newspaper Tuttosport states.

With the Reds willing to sell the player in January at a price of €15m, the Bianconeri are set to send director of sports Alessio Secco to England in the coming days to finalise the deal.

However, before doing so, the Old Lady is still looking around to see what other players are available, as the club has a budget of €20m for this transfer window, and will therefore search for other deals before going for Sissoko.

The main problem is that if the transfer of the Mali international does not go through in January, the value of the player might increase or that Liverpool make him unavailable if Rafa Benítez were to leave the club.

Thereforen, Juventus will have to be extra careful not to lose out another on player in the transfer market following the latest setbacks.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=539018

Calcio Debate: Are Juve’s Calciopoli Exiles Traitors?

Reports in Spain yesterday suggested that Gianluca Zambrotta was on the verge of a shock return to Juventus. Carlo Garganese asks whether it is correct to describe the players who left the Bianconeri after the Calciopoli crisis as “traitors”…

Following the infamous Calciopoli (or Farsopoli depending on your viewpoint) scandal in the summer of 2006, Juventus were relegated to Serie B with a 17-point penalty.

In the subsequent weeks following the announcement of the punishments, a whole host of world class and top-class players left the Old Lady.

The most prominent to depart were World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta, World Cup finalists Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira, as well as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Emerson.

These players were immediately denounced by many Juventus fans as “traitors”, despite all the success they had helped bring to the club during their time in Turin.

Meanwhile, the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero were embraced as symbolic heroes after choosing to stick with the club in Serie B.

However is it correct for the exiles to be regarded as “traitors”?

First of all it must be remembered that financially the Calciopoli crisis badly crippled the club. The loss of Serie A and Champions League revenue, sponsorship money and other endorsements is almost impossible to estimate.

It was clear that some top players would have to be sold in order to recuperate some of this lost income, and if you look at Juventus’ first-team from 2005/06 virtually 75 per cent of the line-up was world class. Thus it was inevitable that some big stars were going to leave.

Then of course there is the age situation. I have total sympathy for Cannavaro, Thuram, Zambrotta and Emerson wanting to leave the club.

All four players, in particular the former two were moving towards the end of their careers and had very little time left at the very top.

Cannavaro, although he has struggled at times for Real Madrid, has still maintained his top levels for Italy. However 18 months down the line, the 36-year-old Thuram and the 31-year-old Emerson are a shadow of their former greatness, and are clearly past their best.

All four of these players have also never won the Champions League, indeed in the case of Cannavaro, Thuram and Zambrotta, it is the only real major honour that is lacking from their trophy cabinets.

If they had stayed at Juventus, it would have been until 2009 until they had another chance to win the competition, by which time they would be 35, 36 and 32 respectively, and once again would all clearly be past their best, and possibly not even in the team.

Thus it is completely understandable that they should wish to leave the Bianconeri in order to present themselves the only hope remaining of winning Europe’s premier club competition.

Even more importantly, and Juve fans often forget this, all four of these players moved to Spain. By signing for Real Madrid and Barcelona, the quartet were not strengthening a potential Italian rival, and given Juve’s absence from the Champions League for two seasons, as well as the age of the players again, they were not strengthening a European challenger either.

With regards to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira things are different, and there can be no doubts whatsoever that the two players are certainly “traitors”.

Although Vieira has been injured for long spells, Ibra has been a huge factor, probably the most important reason why Inter are now such a dominant force in Italian football.

The pair not only seriously weakened Juve by leaving, but they provided Inter with a strong backbone from which to build such a powerful and governing machine.

The truth is that Ibrahimovic and Vieira could have said no to the Nerazzurri, and like Cannavaro and Co., signed for a Spanish team.

Real Madrid for instance were, and still are, huge admirers of Ibrahimovic, and launched a multi-million pound bid for the Swede in the summer of 2005.

Some reports suggested that they were prepared to pay more than the world record €76m fee they forked out for Zinedine Zidane back in 2001.

However in the end Ibra signed for Inter for a paltry €24m. Are you telling me that they suddenly were no longer interested in signing possibly the world’s best support striker for a third of the sum they were prepared to pay 12 months earlier?

And furthermore can it be possible that Juve would rather sell him to Inter, a club that he is likely to stay at for the next five or six years, rather than ship him off to Madrid or Barcelona where as mentioned above he will have no direct influence on them.

Something certainly doesn’t add up.

Nevertheless whatever the reasons, it is clear to me that Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Thuram and Emerson should be appreciated and thanked by the Juventus supporters for everything they did at the club, while Vieira and Ibrahimovic deserve to be tagged as “traitors”.

Finally if there is any possibility of Zambrotta returning to Turin, Juve fans should work together to ensure that this happens.

The 30-year-old is one of the best wing-backs in world football, and would help take the Bianconeri on to the next level. For Juve supporters to protest against a possible transfer would be a huge mistake.

Bernard Tapie (French) has a willingness to buy an Italian football team and AC Milan are one of them:


Former owner of O Marseille Bernanrd Tapie dreams of a big comeback into the world of football. For he was the man behind the making of the great OM of the 90's, which conquered the CL (which up till this day is questionable) against Milan amongst other trophies.

"Italian football is of a latin brand, and that type of football is what appeals to me. And that is what leaves you passionate, just like my Marseille, which remains a big club despite the fact that it hasn't won a lot since I left."

Tapie states that he doesn't have any concrete link in the Italian society, still his focus is clear of which teams he has set his eyes on: "There are many teams, but there are three of which I am very interested in and of which I can lead to success the way I lead O Marseille. The teams are Milan, Inter, and Juventus, there also are other teams which I could start off from scratch, such as Torino, Parma, Napoli, and Genoa for these teams have a great past with a big fan base."

Tapie's goals don't stop there, he wants glory and for that he wants world class players: "Pirlo and Gattuso I would want in my team, and also Karim Ben Zema but this player I'll wait until he develops his game more and gains experience"

^^^Well, the were also involved in that big scandal under and got relegated under him.

Thats what Wiki would say

But it ain't the whole story right there .. (Let alone our CL which they stole ) .. All things aside, he did turn Marseille into a force in the Europe. IMO, he'd be a great figure for any of the sides he;s been paired with (obviously not the big three, but of the other historical teams) ..
We'll just have to wait and see how things develop

that's the main thing I remember from OM back then.

What's the whole story?  I don't think Italian football needs someone with his track record.

Well, for one, it seems as though he took OM to such heights by breaking the rules.

When, in fact, he pumped so much into OM. Mmm, let's just say he did more than Abramovic did to Chelsea (as a recent example). He gave the French club identity and made a team out of nothing basically.

More than Abramovic did for Chelsea? You can't compare between them. Roman made mediocre + club into a great one and transformed them in every level (infrastructure etc...) spending enormous sums and he's there only 3 years. 

Tapie brought them the CL (after 7 years of presidency)  and build maybe the greatest french team ever, but it took OM almost a decade to fully recover from the damage afterwards. The guy was investigatedfor some other thins too.

Now ur making Roman into a hero and Bernard into a villain, misha  

Roman not only pumping money into them. He's trying to make Chelsea a healhty organitation that in case of his departure, the club won't go down. Of course it will take some time to do so but he's investing for a long term.

I'm not denying he build a fantastic team.

Elkann expects Sissoko swoop   
Thursday 10 January, 2008  Channel 4

Juventus shareholder John Elkann is confident that the Old Lady will complete the signing of Liverpool midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.

The Cadetti champions are looking to replace disappointing summer arrivals Tiago Mendes and Sergio Almiron and Sissoko seems to have his heart set on relocating to Turin.

“We will strengthen,” Elkann insisted. “Juve are having a good championship and are aiming at securing a place in Europe next term.

“If we are to compete on that stage we will need to reinforce the squad, but it is difficult to say who we will bring in with any certainty.

“Sissoko certainly could be the first element. But we tend towards the school of thought that you should never assume anything when it comes to buying and selling.”

It is believed that Juve will pay around £7m for the Mali international who was set for a switch to the Stadio Olimpico last summer but a £10m price tag derailed the deal.