Maniche, Lucarelli Deals Finally Finished
By: Martha | January 15th, 2008
Both Cristiano Lucarelli and Maniche are, at long last, expected to complete their moves to Italy today, news that finally relieves us of the duty to keep talking about them.
The Maniche deal, apart from the stutter last week when Inter and Atletico Madrid disagreed on terms, has been all-but finished for several days now, and there’s nothing surprising in the official announcement. As expected, the midfielder will join the Italian champions on loan until the end of the season, and Inter have an option to buy him outright, should he prove useful. According to reports, the purchase price is set at €6 million, and will not change based on performance. At this point, given the gradual return to fitness of Inter’s broken midfield, Maniche seems mostly an insurance policy, but since Olivier Dacourt and defender Walter Samuel have both suffered season-ending injuries, having an experience body around that isn’t cup-tied is certainly reassuring.
Lucarelli’s move, meanwhile, is a bit of a surprise: Not only is he joining Parma, who only recently entered the sweepstakes for his signature, but the deal is a permanent one, rather than the loan everyone expected. The ancient striker didn’t come cheap — he’s thought to have cost Parma just over €5 million — but he’s taking a massive pay cut, dropping from €3.5 million/season down to a paltry €1.5 million for each of the next three-and-a-half years. Go Parma! Despite the fact that Lucarelli will be about 62 by the time his contract ends, his physical stature and goal-scoring pedigree should be an immediate boost for his new club, who are currently four points off the drop zone and have scored just 20 goals from 18 matches this season.
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Good luck to Lucarelli at Parma.May well ensure their safety with a view to getting into the Euro2008 squad.
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