Final Moves as Mercato Closes

Nothing notable today but all in all about 35M€ we’re spent during the January window. Italian style round up after the break…

Inter sends Mancini to the other side of town on a loan deal, the Rossoneri have an option to pick up 50% of Mancini at the end of the year for 8M€ if ever the Milan lab miraculously regenerates his stepovers of yore.

After brushing off the arrival of Fabio Simplicio(rumoured to everyone, no deal confirmed), as expected, Inter officially pick up Parma’s Kenyan midfielder McDonald Mariga, given to Man City throughout the week, to replace Mancini’s departure. With this Inter officially end their month long negotiations with Lazio over Ledesma, thank god.

Lazio get to keep Ledesma and have him cut the Olimpico grass I guess. The roman outfit have added 31 year old, Sao Paulo defender Andre Dias for 2.5M€ also acquiring Giuseppe Biava from Genoa as well as young Israeli trequartista, Golasa, from one of the many Maccabis

Fiorentina have sold veteran midfielder Martin Jorgensen to Danish club AGF Aarhus and picked up Keirrison, from Barcelona, via Benfica to replace Adrian – I randomly pop my wife’s pills – Mutu.

Livorno swapped second choice keeper Benussi with Rosanero Rubinho. Palermo picked up a pair of barely post pubescent players shopping in Washington for DC United’s 17 year old Ghanaian midfielder Afriyie Acquah and Verona where Chievo’s Ionut Florin Radu, 18 year old defender, leaves the city that inspired Romeo & Juliet for the one who inspired The Godfathers (I and II as Sicily denies anything to do with the god awful # 3) Meanwhile, Chievo grabbed Italian U21 midfielder Tommaso Bianchi from Piacenza and a Chilean known to me only as Pinares.

Cagliari announced an agreement with Albinoleffe over Italian international goalkeeper Federico Marchetti. The vice-Buffon is completely Cagliaritano.

Bergamo outfit, Atalanta, known for their flirting with relegation signed Henri Toivomaki, a defender on loan from Finnish side Lahti. Another team thinking about boffing relegation, Siena, convinced Torino to sell them veteran defender Francesco Pratali, claiming they owed them after helping Inacio Pià go their way. Torino picked up Ahmed Barusso on loan from Roma or Brescia or Rimini…They also sent starters Davide Di Michele and Massimo Loviso to Lecce…I guess to make their Serie A comeback hopes even dimmer.

Parma, after Hernan Crespo, snatched Serbian teenager Nemanja Covic from Proleter. Roma have sent Adrian Pit to Triestina, Mauro Esposito to Grossetto and Stefano Okaka Chuka to Fulham, all loan deals.

Bari didn’t manage to get Alessio Cerci from Roma, as they so desperately wanted since last summer, borrowed midfielder Alessio Sestu from Vicenza on loan with the right to purchase outright at the end of the campaign and you Hungarian Andras Gosztonyi from Mtk Budapest.

Those who went nowhere ;

Uruguayan striker Marcelo Zalayeta stays in Bologna, rather than move to Livorno or Siena… Jeremy Menez, The Falling Frenchman, stays in Rome after PSG saw their last minute bid denied by Roma…Cristian Ledesma and Roberto Baronio also stay in Rome, on the baby blue side, KJH is still in Milan and Toto Cassano won’t go to Fio ;

Fiorentina sporting director Pantaleo Corvino said he called many clubs to find a quick replacement for Mutu, including a failed bid for Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi ; “I found myself in an emergency situation. We thought of Cassano,” Corvino told Sky TV today.

However, Antonio Cassano called it off ;

” On Saturday, the chance of a transfer – albeit on a temporary basis – to Fiorentina was offered to me by my agent. A great club and a wonderful team asked for me to be part, from now until June, of an ambitious project with the opportunity to play in the Champions League. Fiorentina offered me an extraordinary opportunity but my history and my footballing life today and tomorrow are and will be here, at Genoa with my Sampdoria.

In a few hours, however, Genoa and my people really swamped me with expressions of love and affection without equal, unthinkable even to me who wasimmediately tied to these fantastic fans and this environment in a really intense way. They were demonstrations which touched me and really moved me. It was above all for this that I decided to remain here. I’m staying for my people and my team-mates but also, and above all, for me. I’m staying, although I cannot deny that for a moment I felt far away from all this and from that which over the past three years has literally changed my life”

Is this a sign of Cassano growing up or just listening to the right people ? Oh wait, those two usually go hand in hand…

Category: News