Odds n Ends On a Very Quiet Tuesday

By: Martha | December 18th, 2007

Bloody Coco •As Steven reported bright and early this morning, Palermo may or many not be in the process of arranging the summertime transfer of 22-year-old Brazilian Tulio De Melo from Atletico Mineiro. The French press are claiming the striker, who has been on loan at Le Mans, wants a move to Italy, but Palermo sporting director Rino Foschi is denying the whole thing.

•With Dejan Stankovic possibly facing surgery and two months of recovery (For an injury he’s had since August — does anyone in Serie A have a medical team that’s not utter shit?), Roberto Mancini is getting nervous about the threadbare Inter midfield, and has started talking about the need for January buys. I don’t know why, really, since he seems to like to play defenders in there anyway, and there are plenty of them. (Oh, and Patrick Vieiri is due back soon. Yippee.)

•Corriere dello Sport think Lazio are going to solve their goalkeeping crisis with Bogdan Lobont. The Romanian had a short stint in Serie A with Fiorentina — where he performed well in Sebastian Frey’s stead early last year — and is now first-choice at Dynamo Bucharest, but Lazio hope they’ll be able to get him on loan.

•As Chris mentioned in his rumor roundup today, the story about Christian Riganò, currently bottom of La Liga with Levante, making a January move to Roma is gathering steam.

•The Azzurri are going to be based in Baden, Austria during the Euros. For proper stalking, please get your hotel reservations now.

•I apologize for the constant Francesco Coco updates, but I just can’t stop. The latest is that QPR have decided they don’t want him (or, alternately, Coco doesn’t want them), and that he now may take his chances with Red Bull Salzburg, where he’d hope for some love from former Azzurri coach Giovanni Trapattoni. It was Trap who gave Coco his first Azzurri cap, and he may have a soft enough stop for the wannabe film start to give him a shot. (Or, the club could buy him, then farm him out to RBNY. Just a thought.)

[Thanks to Marco for the Coco link.]