Monday Odds and Ends As We Count Down the Minutes

By: Martha | August 20th, 2007

Hopin for some Serie B action. •In what is surely the biggest joke of the day, Roma’s Simone Perrotta is being suspended for this weekend’s season-opening match against Palermo. Why, you ask? Well, because he was sent off for saying something mean to the linesman in yesterday’s Super Cup match, before even entering the pitch. Sigh.

•Cicinho may or may not be about to end the drama of his will-he-or-won’t-he transfer saga and sign with Roma. Keep an eye on the Roma corner of The Offside for updates on that one.

•Less than 10 minutes into his first match for Manchester City, Valeri Bojinov damaged a knee and is expected to be out between three and five months. Jesus, what a nightmare.

•The Deco-to-Inter rumors have come back with a vengeance over the past few days, with the Italian side reportedly prepared to pay about £10 million for the Portuguese playmaker. They face new competition, though, from Newcastle United, who are allegedly offering Emre and an unspecified amount of cash in exchange; both teams are sitting around now, waiting for Barca to decide if they want to deal or keep Deco on their bench this season, just in case.

•Roberto Donadoni is already teasing the possible return of Antonio Cassano to the Italy side. Breathe, people. Breathe.

•Palermo’s Fabrizio Miccoli, meanwhile, is busy teasing his own awesomeness. Which, given his success during the preseason, is probably understandable.

•Vikash Dhorasoo hasn’t been dumped by Livorno after all! Woo hoo! Of course, since he seems to have come within a hair’s bredth of being thrown on the scrap-heap (again), he probably shouldn’t expect a whole lot of first-team action, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

•If the Italian press is to be believed, Stefano Fiore might have found an escape from his solitary training at Valencia: He’s reportedly about to join Serie B side Mantova. Since Mantova are looking for reinforcements to finally get them over the promotion hump this season and Fiore is trying to get his career back, this may well be a match made in heaven.

•Giampaolo Pazzini finally signed the extension he agreed to about a month ago; he’s now tied to Fiorentina through 2011.