A Roundup of Your Non-Figo News

By: Martha | December 28th, 2006

Collina •If Corriere dello Sport is to be believed, we should add the perpetually unsettled Franck Ribery to the novel-length list of Juve transfer targets. Though the paper insists Didier Deschamps is currently engaged in talks to bring the player to Turin, the fact that Ribery has been linked with pretty much every club under the sun since his impressive performance in the World Cup suggests that ordering a Juve shirt with “RIBERY” on the back would be jumping the gun just a bit.

•This one is a struggle to translate, but it looks as if Pierluigi Collina is back. He’s not officiating (thanks to Italy’s moronic, forced-retirement rule), but he’ll have his hand back in Serie A as a consultant to the newly honest Italian referees’ association. Don’t worry that Collina will disappear from TV, though — in a press conference yesterday, Collina assured everyone that the time required to clean up all of Italian football will in no way affect his work for Sky. Whew.

•File this one under WTF: Apparently Serie A clubs are pursuing the already ubiquitous Freddy Adu. After training with Man U for a while, the American teen came home, signed with world power Real Salt Lake, and pronouncing himself tickled to bits at the chance to continue plying his trade in an average league. (Not in so many words, but you could tell what he meant.) Now, though, he may be headed to Italy for trials with Udinese, Genoa and Torino, all of whom are looking for either a bit of publicity or a wee youngster with a lot of promise but not much high level success under his belt.

•According to new Milan signee Leandro Grimi, the club have just bought themselves a new Paolo Maldini. And yes, he’s referring to himself — the kid is 21 and in Italy for the first time in his life but lack of confidence, clearly, is not a problem.