Giant News Roundup As Global Warming Really Kicks In

By: Martha | January 8th, 2008

Hello, ladies. •Holy crap, Alberto Aquilani made it through a match! Quick, wrap him and cotton wool and put him away until the weekend.

•As Jeremy reported this morning, Cagliari are doing their level best to convince themselves (and anyone else who cares) that Pasquale Foggia isn’t leaving the club. As long as his thugs keep their hands to itself, anything’s possible.

•Pierluigi Casiraghi has got big dreams for his three over-age Olympians: He wants “heroes like Pippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero, [and would] also like Gigi Buffon and Luca Toni.” Wow. (The 2004 old men, apart from Andrea Pirlo, were Matteo Ferrari and Ivan Pelizzoli — Casiraghi’s a little more ambitious than Claudio Gentile was.)

•Flamengo VP Kleber Leite insists Ronaldo is still a going concern for the club, and that he’s meeting with the striker’s representatives on this very day for more talks. Can you stand the excitement? For his part, Ronaldo made it through 45 minutes of Milan’s fiendly with UAE without getting hurt or having a limb fall off, both of which are progress.

•In other Milan news, Kaka ran into Yoann Gourcuff in training and hurt himself, and everyone has lost their minds over Pato: The official website is reporting on the kid’s every move, and Pato himself has announced he’s going to scored twice against Napoli this weekend. Fantastic — forget everything I’ve said about him having a remarkably good head on his shoulders, please.

•LivornoMarco’s got the lowdown on Marco Amelia’s latest rumored destination: None other than a little club called Barcelona, where he’d be their favorite second-choice keeper.

•In a radio interview today, Liverpool’s Momo Sissoko described the deal to bring him to Juve as “close to conclusion.” Nothing, he said, has been signed yet, but things are well underway, and he’s basically sitting by the phone, waiting to hear from his agent. If the deal goes through, the midfielder is expected to cost Juve about €15 million.

•Antonio Cassano is not crying today. Instead, he’s declaring his heartfelt love for Sampdoria, revealing his ambition, and practically begging the club to make his transfer from Real Madrid permanent. Of course, if that does happen Real will stop paying the great bulk of his salary, and since Samp would never pay him what Real were, it’s going to mean a serious cut in pay. See? Such are the sacrifices he’s willing to make for the club he (now) loves.

•The same day he scored a brace against Betis Sevilla’s B team, Palermo’s Franco Brienza is being associated with a possible loan move to Parma.

•According to Brazil coach Dunga, “Florence is the ideal place for all players, but for a Brazilian player it’s the best possible place.” Wow. Really? Sweet! Based on the available evidence — namely the fact that there’s not a single Brazilian in the senior team right now — this truth is not well-known, but since Dunga is using it to urge Diego to move there, I’m not going to argue with him.

•Speaking of the Viola, word on the street is that they’re about to do what they do and beat Inter, Milan and Juve to half-ownership of 19-year-old Arezzo defender Andrea Ranocchia; the pricetag is said to be about €2.5 million.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: AC Milan, Azzurri, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Juventus, Palermo, Roma, Rumors & News, Sampdoria, Serie A

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Martha

Nolan and ursus, you ain't lyin -- I don't even want to think about it. (I assume it's a long, long, long shot, but maybe he's really, really into following Dunga's advice?)

Hana the over-aged players things is a cool idea, but I have to wonder how interested players will be in doing it right after the Euros, whether they made the team or not. If ADP or Pippo don't make the Euros squad, will they want to play in the Olympics to show how great they really are, or will they not want to because it's humiliating?
Steven

I'm going with KJ 20000 on the Pato-thing. I hope his first meeting with Napolitani will be remembered by the oncoming studs of Cannavaro's boots.

And it's a shame Brienza has to go. He's not our best player, but he's been around for ages and he has done a lot for the club. Shame.
ursus arctos

Diego would look marvelous in Viola, wouldn't he?

Though Corvino did a "chat" with the Gazzetta website yesterday and seemed to think it was at best a long shot (assuming he isn't willing to take a significant chunk of his salary in Tod's, Hogan and Fay).
Nolan

Oh my god the thought of Diego playing for Fiorentina just made my life suddenly better.
Mike

im calling either a hat trick for him, or nothing.

also, YESSSSSS for alberto getting through a match. i cannot wait to see him in action again. :-D
Hana

wow, now im really hoping he kicks ass.
KJ Ventimiglia

I hope that pimple-faced Pato piece of brazilian shit gets the snot kicked out of him.. I don't have to hope, it will happen. 2 goals my ass!!
Hana

muahaha, love the giantness of the roundup. =]

hope ricky's okay. he hardly ever gets injured (ronnie, take note), so i hope he'll bounce back quickly. hahaha, you were not kidding about the milan site stalking pato...they have times, places, everything. is the whole "im super awesome and will score 2 goals against napoli" statement wise? maybe not, im still pretty impressed with how chill he's been. this weekend will reveal all...but im rooting for him. aww, i missed watching football.

um, yeah, okay cassano. we'll see how long that love lasts.

i also think its really interesting that you can leave 3 spots for plays not under 23, never knew that. but wow, would having buffon be unfair to the world, or what...