Palermo Selling (But Not the Brazilian — Yet)

The rumors about Amauri going to either Juve or Milan continue to float around, but for now the only person Palermo are selling is Franco Brienza, who is expected to join Reggina later today.

The 28-year-old has been with Palermo since 2000, when they were still down in Serie C1 and, if Wikipedia is to be believed, he is (or rather was) the only man left at the club who remembers those days. He’s only appeared in seven matches this season, though, and was probably eager to move, particularly since he didn’t play much under Francesco Guidolin last year, and seemingly stayed at the club over the summer only because of Guidolin’s departure. (Not remembering, clearly, the craziness of Maurizio Zamparini, and his attachment to the manager.) So Brienza is finally free, and is on his way to sign a rumored three-year deal with Reggina (neither his price nor salary have been revealed), where he’s expected to be in the team — possibly as a starter — for this weekend’s relegation six-pointer against pitiful Cagliari.

On the Amauri front, meanwhile, La Gazzetta are busy teasing a move to Juventus, claiming Palermo sporting director Rino Foschi (may have) met with opposite number Alessio Secco yesterday in the first step of negotiating the Brazilian’s transfer. As Zamparini has told us many, many times, it won’t be easy, because Amauri is going to cost whoever gets him a pretty penny — no less than €25 million, though some of that value could come in the form of players. When it comes to those players, Palermo are allegedly after promising attackers Raffaele Palladino and Paolo De Ceglie, who’s currently playing for co-owners Siena. As there’s no mention of the forbidden word “Giovinco” in the rumor, Juve supporters probably won’t completely melt down about this story, but there’s a whole lot of time for the names involved to change between now and then, and it’s hard to imagine that of the pint-size magician won’t be throw in there between now and June.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: Juventus, Palermo, Rumors & News