Roundup of Rumors and Other Assorted Nonsense

By: Martha | June 26th, 2007

Birthday boy

•Fact: Roma’s money ~~guy~~ girl has flown out to Barcelona for a “supper” of negotiations. Multinational rumor (tracked by our own, never-sleeping, Roma-obsessing Chris): Cristian Chivu will be a Barca player by morning. Stay tuned.

•Catania just signed themselves a pair of Argentines: Albano Benjamin Bizzarri and midfielder Cristian Ezequiel Llama. What, were Inter asleep or something?

•Navarra University’s Economics Department has, through meticulous, surely government-funded researched, determined that Ricky Kaka is worth exactly €55 million. In a rare attempt at humor, the Milan website responded to the study by saying “Thank god this is not the The Price is Right TV show!” And those crickets you hear are why these moment of “humor” are few and far between.

•Milan keeper Christian Abbiati is preparing to spend his third consecutive season out on loan, this time as cover for Leo Franco at Atletico Madrid.

•If Barca decide not to keep Samuel Eto’o, Milan will swoop in with a tidy bid of £22 million. Not content with just courting one new striker, however, the Rosaneri are also reportedly tracking 17-year-old Brazilian prodigy Pato Alexandre, in preparation for a possible January swoop. (Of course, he’s also reported to be seconds from a move to Arsenal, so take that little tale with a grain of salt.)

•Yesterday was Gennaro Ivan Rino Gattuso Day in Canada! Of course it was. My only question is why it took this long.

•As usual, Juve are all over the papers with continued interest in Real Zaragoza’s Gabriel Milito, as well as Benfica pair Fabrizio Miccoli and Luisão. As you may recall, Juve own the former, but the Portuguese club are reportedly making a last ditch effort to keep him, sending a representative to Turn in later this week. Regarding the latter — who earned his way onto the Brazilian national team while at Benfica — the Portuguese press insist the Old Lady is officially interested and may offer as much as €12 million his services, though there’s not been a peep in Italy. (I swear the Benfica stories exist, I just can’t find them in the online editions of the papers.)

•Oh yeah, and it’s Paolo Maldini’s 39th birthday today, something everyone should be celebrating no matter what team they support.