News Roundup Featuring Most of the Same Old Names

By: Martha | January 14th, 2008

Lucarelli •The Maniche deal — now done enough to be officially address by Inter functionaries — keeps getting pushed back. For a while, he as arriving last night and having his medical today. Now, while he’s supposedly in Milan, the medical and contract won’t happen until tomorrow. But he’s still joining Inter (without the must-buy clause that was in the original Atletico Madrid proposal). Seriously.

•Speaking of near things, it’s being reported that Parma and Shakhtar Donetsk have more or less sorted out the Cristiano Lucarelli situation, and the striker will be returning to Italy on loan. The price will still be the originally discussed €2 million, but if the deal is made permanent, Lucarelli will accept a drastically decreased salary, albeit one augmented by (unspecified) incentives.

•I don’t think Silvio Berlusconi has ever been a particularly reliable transfer market fortune-teller, but after the Pato-splosion yesterday, he told the media that his team have no need for Ronaldinho. They do, however, desperately need a wingback (something against which no one who saw Daniele Bonera’s first half performance would dare argue) and, Berlusconi said, Gianluca Zambrotta will arrive in June to play that role. (As we’d expect, Zambrotta is “only thinking about Barca,” and is reminding the press that his contract with the club runs through 2012.)

•That enforced, post-match handshaking thing isn’t going that well. While no one’s been punched (yet), some teams and players forgot about it entirely and left the pitch immediately after the match, while others were too pissed off to shake hands with the refs, and headed to the locker rooms despite remembering the new mandate.

•The latest on Arturo Lupoli: Going to Treviso, to get some actual, on-pitch experience. In other Viola news, Anthony Vanden Borre looks like he could be Genoa-bound, possibly in exchange for striker Papa Waigo, who would go to Empoli on loan before moving to Florence in June. Got all that?

•The desgnated Antonio Cassano Discussion window between Sampdoria and Real Madrid won’t open until June 1, but Samp are already planning to make the loan permanent, a desire greatly aided by Cassano’s apparent willingness to take a massive pay cut.

•Now down a midfielder thanks to the Maniche deal, Atletico Mardid are supposedly making a move to swipe Momo Sissoko out from under Juve’s nose, though the Old Lady is reportedly the player’s first choice.

•If Christian Riganò and Siena can work out the length of his contract — he’s prepared to take a pay cut, but reportedly wants a contract through summer 2009, while the club only want him until this June — the striker may bring his mad scoring skillz to their rescue in the near future.

•Mancini meetings in Rome this week. Everyone agrees he wants to stay, but there are “business” issues to sort out, which RomaChris tells me means either the Brazlian or his agent is asking for too much.