Weekend Roundup of Wildly Exciting News

By: Martha | August 5th, 2007

Saint Moggi •The latest on poor, unloved Antonio Cassano is that he’s either going to Inter this winter (in exchange for Adriano, of course — even Inter can only handle one out-of-form headcase at a time), or will end up in England, with Bolton or, if god has a sense of humor, West Ham, where he would form a dream tantrum team with the one and only Craig Bellamy.*

•Luis Figo is leading MLS on like nobody’s business. I’m going to pretend that particular interview never happened.

•Rather than Inter standing in the way (as was previously reported), the real reason for the collapse of Francesco Coco’s loan to Saint-Etienne may in fact be the defender’s lack of fitness. Which, if it’s true, is pretty sad — he’s been in camp since the beginning, albeit with the youth team. How could someone go through double training sessions for that long and not be fit? Coco, meanwhile, is feeling disrespected. Poor lad.

•Armando Pantanelli, Mattia Biso and Gianluca Falsini are all suing Catania for putting them up in a hotel (granted, a different one from the rest of the team, but still), paying them to train (apart from the team), and letting them rest during matches. Oops, sorry, I mean for “bullying and discrimination.” Good luck with that, fellas.

•There was apparently some sort of vaguely violent unpleasantness between West Ham and Roma fans after their match yesterday. Nice to see the supporters are all in mid-season form, even if the teams aren’t there quite yet.

•Once again, Luciano Moggi is claiming he was hard done by in the Calciopoli debacle. (Apparently he’s got some sort of alarm in his head that goes off every couple months, and when it does he goes to the press with a little righteous indignation.) This time, the whole thing was a conspiracy hatched by Inter, apparently so they could land Zalatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira. While it sounds good, I’m not sure Massimo Moratti is capable of thinking that many steps ahead.

•Inter are supposedly tracking Brazil’s U17 captain Lulinha (Oooooh, another one-name boy wonder!), who they hope to sign next summer. Needless to say, in Moratti’s mind Lulinha is a billion times more talented than that Pato hack.

*Thanks to Lisa for the EPL tip.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: AC Milan, Catania, Inter, Juventus, Roma, Rumors & News, Serie A

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Martha

Chris, I think you're reading too much into it. I'm just a grumpy person who tends to project my reactions on everyone around me.
chris

1. Rickard's partially right, but I think that's how most of Serie A works. In fact I'm sure of it.

2. They do have fairly good overseas (Brazil) "scouting". Meaning word of mouth from the old boys like Falcao.

3. Roma's youth scouting is insane. So if they want to focus their assets on the younger generation in order to produce more Tottis, De Rossi, Aquilanis, Okakas...then by all means, do so. The Roma youth system is considered the best in Europe, likely the world.

4. Martha, I've noticed you use 'indignant' a lot. Quite a lot, actually. I've tried to figure out if that's just your style or it has something to do with covering Italia. I think it's a little of both.

5. Mexes was sought by the entire Prem (rumored heavily to go to 'Pool at the time), and much of Europe.
Martha

Hmm. So if someone could, say, get to Doni, they could conceivably sent Roma on all sorts of expensive wild goose chases? Interesting ....
rickard

I'm in the Roma camp so I'm just being smug about these methods, like when they grabbed Mexes under Fergie's big whiskey nose. Ok not so smug about the repercussions then but hey... still it would be nice to have some scouts watching South America, unless you count "ask Doni and Julio Sergio who they like" as scouting.
Martha

Rickard the thing about the chef turned up in some English-language press (though of course I can't find it now) right when the deal was announced -- there were some other perks there, too, though of course I can't remember there. Is it possible his dad went with him, or something? (If so, that makes me like Lucarelli even more.)

And Ooooh SNAP! regarding Roma's scouting. If Chris sees that, he's going to get all sorts of righteously indignant on you.
rickard

Just read on a non-English blog that Lucarelli has an Italian chef as well as weekly access to the Shaktar club president's Learjet so he can travel home pretty much when he wants. Along with the obvious big paycheck for his retirement years, him choosing to play football in Donetsk makes a little more sense now.

It's the blog of one of the talent scouts that brought Juan and Berbatov to Leverkusen. Does Roma have any talent scouting apart from the "let's find out who Milan and Fiorentina are after and try to poach them"-method?
Martha

Well, you could always go Flashdance style, and do some cutting in order to get it over your head. Add some legwarmers, you'd be golden!
chris

I was honestly sitting here thinking "I'm 6'3, 195lbs with a fairly broad chest - could I fit into the Girly XL?"

Ultimately I went with 'Maybe', and decided I'll wait about 17 hours to see if they email me with a confirmation on reprinting it. If not, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Martha

I know your pain -- when I discovered it, I had the same problem. Sign up for an email when they reprint them, I'm sure they'll do so sooner than later, since it's tied (with this one) for the best shirt they ever printed.
chris

Btw Maartha, I really hate you for sending me the link to that 'Communist Party' t-shirt when they're completely out of stock.

That's bullshit. I need that shirt.
Martha

Rickard, no Boro yet, but surely it's only matter of time.

Nolan, are you talking about Cassano or Coco? Poor Coco definitely seems to need to move on, but I'm still holding out hope for Cassano.

Chris, yet another brilliant idea. Though I think your upper body needs to be a lot more jacked than Cassano's in order to make it past the first Cirque de Soleil interviews. But we know he loves to train on his own, so surely he'll meet their standards soon. Oh, wait.

Maybe he's drinking and sleeping with dozens of loose women, Lisa? You know, just to remind himself that he's A Star?
Lisa

Aw, come on, Rickard. Surely you see the entertainment value in Craig Bellamy and Antonio Cassano on the same team? (Yes, as far as the football it probably woudn't be the best idea. But imagine the dressing room bustups.)

If Coco isn't fit, then that's the saddest thing I've ever heard. What else does he have to do with himself other than get and stay in shape?
chris

I think maybe it's time for Cassano to join Cirque du Soleil. He's unbelievably athletic gifted and he's also a clown, which would allow him to fit in perfectly.

Also, I saw Corteo recently which is about an Italian funeral. So it wouldn't need to many script alterations to become a current depiction of his career.
Nolan

I'm not sure if Inter would be any better for him. Maybe its time to find a new career.
rickard

Cassano to Bolton or West Ham would be a tragedy. You sure the rumors didn't mention Middlesborough too? I mean he could hang out with Mendieta, Fabio Rochemback and Robert Huth in next season's exciting battle among big clubs to end up as #10-16 in the PL.