Transfer Tuesdays – Volume 2

By: Francesco | June 30th, 2009

Last week I posted the first edition of Transfer Tuesdays, where every week we round up what every Serie A club is doing on the transfer market. Today is the last day of June, which means tomorrow the transfer window is officially open and you’ll see all the transfers made in the past few weeks become “official”. There have been changes since last week, so let’s round them up team by team.

ATALANTA Coach: Angelo Gregucci

Since last week, Atalanta have made 4 more acquisitions. The most important being the signing of U-21 striker Robert Acquafresca on loan for the season. The Bergamaschi now own defender Gyorgy Garics fully after 50% of his rights were included in the Luca Cigarini deal. They signed promising 22 year old midfielder Nicola Madonna from AlbinoLeffe. Madonna was on the best midfielders in Serie B last season and was actually brought up in the Atalanta youth system. The other signing they made was fully signing 21 year old midfielder Michael Cia, who was co-owned with Sud Tirol and was on loan at Triestina last season making a good impression. He’ll most probably be loaned out however. Atalanta are trying to fill that void Cigarini left in midfield with either Sergio Almiron or Simone Bentivoglio.

BARI Coach: Giampiero Ventura

Last week Bari had just parted ways with manager Antonio Conte. They replaced him with 61 year old Giampiero Ventura, who almost brought Pisa to Serie A two seasons ago but was fired mid-season last year because of a string of poor results (Pisa were then relegated). They also resolved some co-ownership issues, acquiring the full rights to top scorer Vitor Barreto, striker Vitaly Kutuzov, and defenders Andrea Masiello and Gianluca Galasso. The big signing they made was winger Antonio Langella, who had a disappointing year at Chievo last season but will be looking to make up for it at Bari. Ventura has stated he wants at least 7 signings and there are some big names that the Pugliese club is trying to attract (Franco Brienza, Alessio Cerci, Marcelo Zalayeta, Paolo Sammarco, and Nelson Rivas)

BOLOGNA Coach: Giuseppe Papadopulo

Bologna have no signings at the moment and that’s because Bologna is in a particular situation right now. The Menarini family announced that over the next few days there would be some “changes” regarding the club. So the latest rumors are that a private investor would buy a small stake into the club, hire Antonio Conte as manager (poor Papadopulo), and Luciano Moggi (yes, Luciano Moggi) would be an “advisor” to the club. He can’t officially enter the club as a director because of his calciopoli sentence but there’s no law preventing him from being an “advisor”. Bologna would hire someone of Moggi’s choice to be the sporting director and Moggi would advise him on the transfer market. We’ll see how it develops.

CAGLIARI Coach: Massimiliano Allegri

The Rossoblu completed the signing of goalkeeper Federico Marchetti (he was only on loan but Cagliari had the option to buy him), and signed Brazilian striker Nene from Portuguese club Nacional. Cagliari’s main goal is to buy a striker that will guarantee goals like Acquafresca did the last two seasons. The two serious contenders seems to be Michele Paolucci (who is now fully owned by Juventus) and Siena striker Emanuele Calaio’. If they can’t get either of those two players they may try and sign Palermo’s Davide Succi.

CATANIA Coach: Gianluca Atzori

Catania have made some signings since last week. First, they have signed Sampdoria midfielder Gennaro Delvecchio. Delvecchio is making his return to Sicily, having played for the club in 2003. Second, they are trying to find an adequate replacement for Albano Bizzarri and have signed Argentine goalkeeper Mariano Andujar from Estudiantes. Andujar was recently called up by Maradona to the national team and also played for Palermo in the past. Probably the best signing Catania made was signing 19 year old defender Giuseppe Bellusci from Ascoli on a 5 year deal. Bellusci is regarded as one of the top upcoming prospects in Italian football and will definitely be a protagonist for the new U-21 side. This signing may make them a lot of money in the future.

CHIEVO Coach: Domenico Di Carlo

The Flying Donkeys haven’t done anything of note. All they did was resolve some co-ownership issues, with Luca Rigoni, Angelo Antonazzo, Ivan Fatic, and Andrea De Falco all becoming Chievo players. They also renewed the co-ownership of promising goalkeeper Enrico Alfonso with Inter.

FIORENTINA Coach: Cesare Prandelli

Fiorentina’s only signing so far is still 19 year old Francesco Di Tacchio, but Corvino is working things out to try and find players he needs (a winger, a right back, a central defender, and a vice-Gilardino). The names being mentioned are Real Madrid’s Royston Drenthe, Juve’s Marco Marchionni, Inter’s Julio Cruz, Lazio’s Lorenzo De Silvestri, and Arsenal’s Philippe Senderos.

GENOA Coach: Giampiero Gasperini

Genoa bought the other half of Bosko Jankovic (he gave two interviews, one stating he wanted to play for Palermo, another stating he wanted to play for Genoa) and now they own the Serbian winger 100%. They also bought the other half of Italy U-21 central defender Andrea Ranocchia, but he will most probably be sent out on loan. The most important signing was probably buying the full rights to U-21 left back Domenico Criscito. Criscito said he is happy to be a Genoa player and wants to be come Genoa’s version of Paolo Maldini. Other than that Genoa are still trying to make some more signings to give them that extra edge in Serie A and in Europe. Their main concern at the moment is finding a goalkeeper, since Rubinho doesn’t want to renew his contract and they will make money on him this summer. The favorite seems to be Chievo’s Stefano Sorrentino, who had an excellent season in Verona. Genoa also want Lazio’s Lorenzo De Silvestri, and AZ Alkmaar’s Moussa Dembele but only if he isn’t astronomically expensive.

INTER Coach: Josè Mourinho

Inter haven’t made any signings other than Milito and Motta yet, but it is well known that Mourinho wants Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho and Deco. They are also very close to finally closing the deal for Twente’s Marko Arnautovic. The most surprising name to come up recently was Alessandro Diamanti of Livorno. The 26 year old fantasista was excellent last season, scoring 17 goals and leading the Livornesi to promotion and it was said many teams seemed to be interested in him (Sampdoria and Parma). It may be pure speculation but it was an interesting rumor.

JUVENTUS Coach: Ciro Ferrara

Since last week Juventus resolved two co-ownership deals. Michele Paolucci was signed fully and will probably be used as trade bait or sent on a co-ownership deal somewhere, while they lost Domenico Criscito to Genoa, who signed him fully. Some money was made on Swedish defender Olof Mellberg, who was sold to Greek club Olympiakos. For the Bianconeri the search is still on for left-back and a regista. The Gaetano D’Agostino deal is being dragged out by Udinese and Juve are starting to look at other options (Real’s Mahamadou Diarra and Lazio’s Christian Ledesma). Then in the left-back category, it seemed the favorites were Fabio Grosso and Andrea Dossena, but now it seems a new target has emerged: Brazil’s Andre Santos. Santos impressed at the Confederations Cup and Juve see him as a viable option.

LAZIO Coach: Davide Ballardini

Lazio have signed Portuguese winger Eliseu from Malaga, and are really interested in Atalanta’s center midfielder Tiberio Guarente. Lazio are said to have already made contact with Guarente’s agent. Other than that the Biancocelesti haven’t really made many moves on the market and are looking to cash in on Goran Pandev and Lorenzo De Silvestri. And let’s not forget, dealing with Claudio Lotito isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

LIVORNO Coach: Gennaro Ruotolo

Livorno have confirmed 42 year old Gennaro Ruotolo as their manager for next season. Ruotolo was the assistant manager last season and then took over for the play-offs since Leonardo Acori was sacked. It was said Spinelli wanted Mario Beretta, but his desire to bring his own staff was too expensive. So yet another young manager is at the helm of a Serie A club next season. Player-wise, they signed defender Romano Perticone from Milan after having him on loan last season, as well as the full rights to Leonardo Martin Miglionico from Sampdoria. They beat Atalanta to signing midfielder Cristian Raimondi from Vicenza. The Amaranto want to bring back Cristiano Lucarelli desperately and are also interested in Fiorentina striker Samuele Di Carmine as well as Inter defender Nelson Rivas.

MILAN Coach: Leonardo

This was “sign youngsters” week for Milan. After bringing back winger Ignazio Abate and fantasista Davide Di Gennaro from Torino and Reggina, the Rossoneri signed two more young players. 18 year old striker Gianmarco Zigoni, son of Gianfranco Zigoni and already an Italy U-20 player, was signed from Treviso, while 17 year old striker Giacomo Beretta, who is said to be one of the brightest prospects in all of Italy, was signed from AlbinoLeffe. Both players will join the first team for pre-season training but most probably will be playing for the Primavera all year. Otherwise, Galliani is still chasing Edin Dzeko (even though recent news says he is staying at Wolfsburg) and the Cissokho transfer fell through because of his dental problem.

NAPOLI Coach: Roberto Donadoni

Napoli had already signed Cigarini, Quagliarella, and Campagnaro, and have added to that right back Juan Camilo Zuniga from Siena and Italy goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis from Sevilla. Zuniga was one of the revelations of last season and Napoli beat out other teams for his signature, while De Sanctis provides experience and safe hands for the Napoli net. Napoli are also interested in Victor Obinna and Julio Cruz from Inter, as well as Goran Pandev from Lazio.

PALERMO Coach: Walter Zenga

The Rosanero haven’t made any new signings, but they are interested in entering the race for Goran Pandev. They do have Davide Lanzafame back, but it remains to be seen if Zenga wants to hold on to him. They also signed promising 18 year old midfielder Nicola Rigoni on a co-ownership deal with Vicenza, but he will stay at Vicenza another year to mature some more. At this point it’s kind of unclear what Zenga wants for next season, but I’m sure we’ll see more once the window opens tomorrow.

PARMA Coach: Francesco Guidolin

The Gialloblu made an excellent signing by acquiring the services of 24 year old left winger Daniele Galloppa from Siena. Galloppa had a good year last season and it was said big clubs wanted him, but Parma swept in and picked him up. They sent Reginaldo in the other direction. Parma are thinking big for next season and want former Italy U-21 goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano to defend their net. They are still trying to convince Christian Panucci to come finish his career in a Gialloblu jersey, and the biggest idea they have is trying to sign Udinese captain and Italy international Antonio Di Natale. Apparently the offer is 10 million euro and their half of Daniele Dessena. We’ll see if Udinese agrees but if it happens it could prove to be one of the signings of the year.

ROMA Coach: Luciano Spalletti

Roma are still faced with these ownership issues and are still waiting to see if the deal being made with Fioranelli finally comes to an end. It’s clear that the Sensi family wants to sell, but for some reason the deal just can’t come to pass. Today Roma fans were outside the Unicredit office protesting and we’ll have to wait and see what happens. As of now Roma’s only signings are winger Stefano Guberti and buying the full rights of right back Marco Motta.

SAMPDORIA Coach: Gigi Del Neri

Samp just sold Gennaro Delvecchio to Catania today and will receive Napoli winger Daniele Mannini in the Campagnaro deal. However they are still in search of wingers and the big names are Fiorentina’s Mario Santana (his injury problems may be a turn off) and Juventus’ Marco Marchionni (his high salary is a problem). There is also Fiorentina’s Franco Semioli. They are also following Ascoli’s Simone Pesce and Parma’s Marco Rossi. The good news is that the Cassano-Pazzini partnership will most probably be around for next season at least.

SIENA Coach: Giampaolo

Siena are still having problems with manager Marco Giampaolo but he will most probably stay on. They lost Daniele Galloppa to Parma but acquired Brazilian winger Reginaldo and midfielder Francesco Parravicini in the deal. They are interested in getting Michele Paolucci from Juve as well as Roberto Guana from Palermo.

UDINESE Coach: Pasquale Marino

Udinese brought back U-21 midfielder Piermario Morosini from Vicenza and the hardworking midfielder will get to show his stuff in Serie A. However they risk losing Gaetano D’Agostino and Antonio Di Natale to Juve and Parma. They are interested in Empoli’s Francesco Lodi, who has been one of the best players in Serie B the last few years. They also want Sampdoria’s U-21 midfielder Daniele Dessena and his rights could be included in the Di Natale deal. The reason the D’Agostino deal is stalled is because of the players Udinese wants from Juventus (Claudio Marchisio, Sebastian Giovinco, Paolo De Ceglie). It is highly unlikely that those three players move from Torino this summer.