Lumezzane president a little bitter about Balotelli
By: Francesco | August 15th, 2008
So as we know by now, 18 year old phenom Mario Balotelli finally received his Italian citizenship at a ceremony at the town hall in Concesio, near Brescia. Everyone is happy, or at least most people are happy. One person who is not on the jovial side is Lumezzane president Renzo Cavagna. For those of you not familiar with Lumezzane and are currently staring into space with a puzzled look saying “Lume-what?”, Lumezzane is a Lega Pro (formerly Serie C) club from the town of Lumezzane, near Brescia. This is the club that discovered SuperMario as a youngster, and promoted him to the first team at 15 years of age, giving him his debut against Padova in 2006, making him the youngster player ever to debut in Serie C1. Fiorentina and Inter both tried to sign the young phenom, but the Nerazzurri beat out the Viola and added Balotelli to their youth ranks, first on loan, and then signing him on a nominal fee. Balotelli was promoted to the Primavera squad as a 16 year old, and he led Inter to a Scudetto victory. Cavagna is angry because he was not invited to the ceremony. He also said he has contacted Moratti saying that Inter should of given a little more “help” ($$$$$) to Lumezzane for the work they did discovering the striker in 2001 and allowing him to grow into the player he is. Moratti never responded to Cavagna, and Cavagna said that they did not even offer his club one Inter Primavera player on loan. Just a little bitter?
Category: 
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Francesco, I don’t know the degree of “courtesy” that takes place between “big” and “small” clubs in such loan instances, but I will give you something to ponder.
In 2005, when Gigi Buffon got injured (by Kakà) during the Trofeo Berlusconi, AC Milan graciously accepted to let Christian Abbiati join Juve on loan (in compensation). Pretty honorable thing from their part, and remember we are talking about two rival clubs here (which despite their rivalry always maintained, and to my knowledge continue to maintain, amicable relations).
Now granted, not the same situation here with Balotelli, but I don’t think an invitation to the citizenship ceremony was too much to ask. Then (again and as you suggested), perhaps the Lumezzane president would have been more interested in cash…
Posted from
France
-
I personally think Mario is already to big headed and annoying.. Just my opinion.
Posted from
Austria -
Juve and Milan not only have a rivalry between them but also a mutual respect
Posted from
United States -
Moratti is a piece of garbage for not at least lending some players to this team, since they pritty much did everything and brought Mario through the ranks, this is just as bad as Man U plucking Petrucci from Roma
Posted from
Austria -
Why am I not watching over buys beat the shit out of Belgium now……
Did I stay up till 6 for NO REASON AT ALL?
Posted from
United States -
I have some questions about the article and comments here.
Why isn’t Fiorentina’s owner a “piece of garbage” for trying the same thing?
What if Balotelli didn’t pan out… as so many prospects don’t? Does Moratti get his money back, does he get more players in compensation, or would it be just the price of doing business?Oh and just so we are clear, ManU was luring players for a pittance and giving NOTHING to the clubs in return. Then they would sell the players away for profit without really playing them. It is a disservice to the club they got the player from, and the player.
The exact opposite happened here. Moratti paid the club, paid the player and played the player.
The real problem here is that Cavagna is greedy and regrets not asking for more.
But hey, I guess for some, a greedy, grasping, idiot crying for more is a hero as long as someone can bash Inter, right?Someday, someone can tell me how Milan gets 17 year old da Silva (called Pato), pays a third party talent agency for him (They gave nothing to the “parent” club– no players, no money– the club gets a fraction of the money paid to the agency) and Fester/Berlusconi doesn’t get called a “piece of garbage” and doesn’t get an article here written about it.
Posted from
Austria -
In all fairness, after reading the Times article again, I can’t definitively say that Pato’s fee was shared between a club and a third party investment group, even though he was named as an example of European teams getting Brazilians in an article about third party agencies.
But I think that my example above is still valid, since I still have seen no evidence of Milan sending players to Internacional to offset Pato’s loss.
Posted from
Austria -
Except the club received real compensation.
The whole 3rd party ownership is fucked up, on a tangentially related topic, but it’d b e impossible to eliminate in South America.
Posted from
United States -
Cavagna had four teams, all top flight, from three countries (Italy, Spain, England)– at least– bidding on Mario. If he wanted more money, players, whatever… all he had to do was build it into the deal.
Inter was bidding on a player in the C1 and Pato was already in Brasiliero Serie A. They are both young, they both come from “lesser” leagues and both parent clubs received all cash. The relative amount paid was commensurate with their current positions.
Posted from
Austria -
Francesco Salernitana plays today in the late game. Make sure you are cheering for them. Forza Granada
Posted from
United States -
francesco it was 3-1 salernitana so we have lecce next. Watch out Thomas!
Posted from
United States -
JoeC/Francesco can you guys take Molinaro back to Salernitana? Thanks.
Posted from
United States -
Molinaro rulez. :P He’s actually from Salerno (Moio della Civitella), did you know that? :P
Posted from
France -
Then send him back home!
Posted from
United States -
Balotelli already has gotten sooo carried away, he thinks he is the next coming of Christ based on his statements.
He thinks he should be in the Azurri squad… what the hell, I hope he gets called to the under 19 team so he becomes more humble…
Posted from
El Salvador -
Strikers humble? I really try to stay away from what players say and their personal take on anything so I can’t say I know what the deal is with Balotelli. What I will say though is regardless of his age, if he improves on last year’s form then he deserves a call up to the Azzurri. Period. Punto e basta!
Posted from
United States
Comments are closed
Home 
