Serie A, Meet La Liga. La Liga, Meet Serie A. I Think You’ll Get Along Just Fine.

By: Martha | June 25th, 2007

Such a big mistake, Antonio. The papers this morning are chock-full of stories about Serie A teams lusting after La Liga players, and Spanish clubs eyes boys who play in Italy. Why, whatever did we do before the La Liga season ended?

One pile of names comes from our beloved La Gazzetta dello Sport, who this morning gathered together a trio of highly paid “transfer market consultants” (How these people are different from the ones who make up rumors for free I have no idea.) and asked them for their predictions about the major moves ahead of us this summer. Among other things, they seem convinced that Inter will get Antonio Cassano (who, you may recall, said over the weekend the Nerazzurri were the only club with a chance of luring him back to Italy), that Milan will buy either Samuel Eto’o or Ronaldinho, and that Roma “will take to at least others two players to me of good level,” a prediction that makes these people sound more like fortune-tellers than market observers. So, make that what you will — keep in mind, however, that these people are experts. It says that on their business cards, so you best listen.

Opposite those who are paid to fantasize, meanwhile, are those who do so for political reasons: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ramon Calderon, and his unending, increasingly grand pursuit of Ricky Kaka. As Pat rightly pointed out last time we talked about this story, Calderon’s got both eyes on his re-election as Real Madrid president, and if he can make people believe he just might land Kaka someday, that hope can score him a lot of votes. To that end, he’s making noises about offering (Ready?) a world-record €80 million for the Brazilian genius, despite the fact that even his own manager knows Milan aren’t going to sell.

And, in other Spanish-Italian news:

•Real are poised to gum up the works of the Chivu-Inter-Barca love triangle, but only if Fabio Capello isn’t fired in the next 48 hours or so.

•Milan, just like every other club with any modicum of intelligence, want Gianluca Zambrotta. The difference is that Milan can afford him.