Loony Weekend News Roundup, Or: Even More Bobo!

By: Martha | June 24th, 2007

Aw, Bobo! •One guess which English club is being connected with a Shock!Bid for a Serie A player. Yep, it’s Spurs! Again. This time, their target is alleged to be our beloved Bobo, though if he won’t go to Palermo because it’s too far from Milan, going over to London wouldn’t seem like a very plausible option. Be that as it may, the English press are reporting talks have already begun with Vieri’s agent, and will continue at White Heart Lane during this coming week.

•Giampaolo Pazzini, too, is popular in the English press this weekend: He’s apparently a target of both Sunderland and Pompey, oddly small destinations for a player whose international profile, despite his failure to blow doors off the U21 Championships, is steadily on the rise. The Viola are believed to expect about £7.5 million for the boy — an amount neither club seems likely to pay — and Fiorentina sure as hell aren’t going to let him go cheaply or on loan, what with him expected to play a major part in the team next season and all. Lies! All lies!

•And, in our final English story of the day, Udine, Roma and Torino are all said to be interested in Spurs’ (them again!) Korean international, Lee Young-pyo. Lee almost moved to Roma last summer but bailed at the last minute for undefined but, if you ask Wikipedia, possibly religious reasons. Apparently Jesus has now given the OK for more talks with Italian clubs, so we’ll see what comes of this. The defender is now 30 and, if nothing else, would probably be a hell of a lot more affordable than most of the big-name backs floating around in the market this summer.

•After a heartfelt conversation with Juve personnel, Fabio Cannavaro might make an unexpected return to Serie A this summer. Or, since there’s no way Juve can match what ~~Barca~~ Real are paying him, not.

•113-year-old Portuguese defender Fernando Couto has signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him at Parma for another year.

•Speaking of defenders, the Spanish press are acting as if Cristian Chivu is already a Barca player, though even the most optimistic rumors in Italy say talks are still in early stages, and that he couldn’t possibly be announced until early next week. What Barca would pay for Chivu is unclear at the moment: Roma supposedly asked for either €18 million or Gianluca Zambrotta, while Barca are reported to have offered €12 million plus Silvinho and Ludovic Giuly.

•Oh, and Roma are mad at Inter. As usual. Inter, meanwhile, are all like “Chivu? Pah. We don’t need that guy.”

•Despite the striker’s insistence that he wants to go back to England, Parma have made Man U a £7 million offer for Giuseppi Rossi.

•Finally, if you want to sleep in the same bed as Marco Materazzi, it’ll cost you €119. Granted, Matrix won’t be there, but come on people — what do you take him for? Apparently people are flocking to the hotel in which the Azzurri stayed during the World Cup last summer, and the Matrix Room is by far the most popular destination. (Take that, Canna.) Or, as our brilliant friends at Google translate chose to put it, The bed of Materazzi pilgrimage place. Man. What wouldn’t Bobo give for a headline like that?