Odds and Ends on a Slow News Day

By: Martha | August 3rd, 2007

Azzurri Amelia There’s almost nothing significant going on in the Serie A universe today. I’m thinking it’s gotten really hot in Italy, and everyone has headed out for a long weekend at a posh, Mediterranian resort. Either that or there’s another newspaper strike and there’s TONS going on but no one to tell us about it.

•The moment Milan landed Pato, the press starting banging on Massimo Moratti’s door, asking him when he was going to land a teenage superstar. Since he’s the president of Inter and not Real Madrid, rather than promising to buy Jesus himself, Morratti told the media that Inter have all the new players they need, thank you very much. Well. That’s not very exciting.

•On the other side of town, Milan are looking to land another new player before the day is out: According to Corriere dello Sport, they’ll sit down with Real Madrid in Moscow today to sort out the Julio Baptista issue. Though Baptista is insisting in the press that he wants to stay in Madrid, if Milan offer the €20 million Real are asking, it’s understood they’ll sell the player no matter what he wants.

•Valeri Bojinov is officially a Manchester City player, marking Sven Goran Eriksson’s eighth signing in three weeks. God damn that man is busy. The final fee was €8.5 million and, assuming he can get a work permit, Bojinov will sign a four-year deal with the club.

•According the English press, Sven’s next Serie A target is Marco Amelia. Far be it for me to tell Serie A clubs what to do, but I think it’s time to start hiding the players they don’t want Man City to buy in secret underground vaults — at this rate they’re going to have taken everyone by the end of August. It’s like Eriksson’s playing a video game, or something — “I want this one, and this one, and this one, and this one.”

•Inter are blocking Francesco Coco’s move to Saint-Etienne. Fuckers.

•The draw for the Champions League third qualifying round took place this morning and, despite being ranked, Lazio have to play Dynamo Bucharest, who are not exactly a walk-over. The matches will be played August 14-15 and 28-29; if Lazio come out on top, they’ll reach the group stages for the first time since the 2003-2004 season, when they were managed by a dude named Mancini.

•In UEFA Cup qualifying, meanwhile, Sampdoria (who reached this round through Intertoto Cup success) face a tough draw against Hajduk Split, who are not only good but also apparently have fanatical supporters. The Croatian club will host the first leg on August 16; the second leg will be in Genoa on August 30.

•Napoli may have missed out on Giuseppe Rossi, but the Brazilian press are reporting they’re front-runners to sign Sao Paolo’s Josue, a defensive midfielder whose Copa America performance for Brazil caught they eyes of a lot of clubs. According to Josue’s current manager, Napoli have offered the player more than Sao Paolo are willing to spend, and he’s accepted “that we are not in a position to compete with European clubs financially.” (This is the first and only time you’ll see Napoli described as a high-rolling club.)

•Just so you know, when he retires, Christian Vieri says he’s moving to New York. Oh yes, I will find him.