Transfer Tuesdays – Volume 5: Arrivederci Ibra?

By: Francesco | July 21st, 2009

So the big transfer news in recent days is the deal between Inter and Barcelona to swap Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o. The deal is expected to be finished by the end of the week, and after a 4 hour meeting today it seems the stumbling block is the wage demands of Eto’o (wants 10 million euro a season, Inter want to give him only 8.5). So we are sure to hear about this more as the week progresses. Full transfer round-up after the jump.

ATALANTA Coach: Angelo Gregucci

No new signings for Atalanta, but the Bergamaschi are still looking to strengthen their midfield. The newest idea is Napoli’s Uruguayan midfielder Mariano Bogliacino. They are also still looking at Juve’s Sergio Almiron, Reggina’s Emanuele Cascione, and Chievo’s Simone Bentivoglio. They gave young midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura on loan to Padova, and Daniele Capelli looks closer and closer to Bari.

BARI Coach: Giampiero Ventura

Bari acquired promising 19 year old striker Armando Visconti from Avellino. Visconti is an Italy U-20 international. They also loaned the trio of Gianluca Galasso, Francesco Caputo, and Giuseppe Statella to Salernitana. Meanwhile the search continues for a defender and a winger. With Roma looking more and more stubborn regarding Marco Andreolli and Alessio Cerci, Bari will have to start looking elsewhere for reinforcements.

BOLOGNA Coach: Giuseppe Papadopulo

News around Bologna is that Albanian oil magnate Rezart Taci is ready to buy 80% of the club from the Menarini family. The Menarini family will still own 20% and half a say, but Taci will be the majority shareholder. It is said that if Taci buys the club the first signings made will be Croatian striker Nikola Kalinic from Hadjuk Split as well as Reggina midfielder Luca Vigiani. Bologna also want Brazilian defender Rafael Santos, who plays for Atletico Paranaense.

CAGLIARI Coach: Massimiliano Allegri

Cagliari strengthened their defense with the arrival of Milan youth product and former Italy U-21 international Lino Marzoratti. Marzoratti is a good player and will add some quality to the backline. After saying they were interested in Daniele Dessena for weeks, Massimo Cellino announced that he deal will not happen, because Dessena does not fit into Allegri’s technical plan. Cagliari are interested in bringing South Africa international right back Sibonisio Gaxa to Italy, and have a new interest for Rimini fantasista Adrian Ricchiuti. The Rossoblu may also be interested in bringing Udinese’s Nigerian international Christian Obodo to Sardegna.

CATANIA Coach: Gianluca Atzori

The Sicilians have completed the signing of Argentine attacker Gonzalo Bergessio and are still waiting to complete the deal for Torino defender Francesco Pratali. They are also interested in Adrian Ricchiuti and are waiting for the player to decide where he wants to go.

CHIEVO Coach: Domenico Di Carlo

Chievo now own midfielder Giampiero Pinzi 100% after he was on loan last season from Udinese. Otherwise, it seems Chievo’s transfer market is in a period of confusion at the moment, with no real targets and no real interest in any players either. Who knows what the Flying Donkeys will do.

FIORENTINA Coach: Cesare Prandelli

After the arrival of Marco Marchionni, Corvino finally found his vice-Gilardino. The chosen one is Jose Ignacio Castillo, who was at Lecce last season and will wear the number 9 shirt. Castillo won’t mind sitting on the bench as this is the opportunity of a lifetime for a player who only a couple of years ago was playing amateur football. Fiorentina also renewed left back Manuel Pasqual’s contract until 2012. Even though it seems the Viola haven’t had the greatest transfer campaign, Corvino knows what he’s doing and expect a surprise or two before the window ends.

GENOA Coach: Giampiero Gasperini

Enrico Preziosi said today that they are interested in signing Lecce’s promising defender Andrea Esposito. However the big news is that the arrival of Argentinian striker Rodrigo Palacio from Boca Juniors is pretty much official (we have to see his rat-tail in Serie A now). Besides that, it seems the Rossoblu are done spending this summer, but maybe a hardworking midfielder will be brought in before the end of the market.

INTER Coach: Josè Mourinho

So we know the Ibra saga. It had seemed he would be staying this season, but then Barcelona came and broke the harmony. The only thing blocking this deal is Inter’s reluctance to give Eto’o 10 million euro a season. Inter would also get a significant amount of cash as well as the free loan of Belorussian midfielder Alexander Hleb. We’ll see how it pans out. Also, Sampdoria director Beppe Marotta was spotted outside of Inter’s office in Milan yesterday. He said he was there “for deals”. It is reported they talked about the possibility of Amantino Mancini making a move to Genova, but who knows if they discussed the availability of Antonio Cassano.

JUVENTUS Coach: Ciro Ferrara

With the arrival of Felipe Melo, Juve’s spending seems to be done. However it seems they are really interested in bringing Barcelona’s Uruguayan defender Martin Caceres to Torino. Caceres is said to be the heir to Paolo Montero, and is still young at 22. The Bianconeri loaned out Swedish midfielder Albin Ekdal to Siena.

LAZIO Coach: Davide Ballardini

The Biancocelesti still have an extra-large roster and need to make some sales before they get stuck with this roster for the upcoming season. They are discussing a possible Emilson Cribari-Nico Pulzetti trade with Livorno and are still looking for clubs that are willing to shell out high fees for Goran Pandev, Christian Ledesma, and Lorenzo De Silvestri.

LIVORNO Coach: Gennaro Ruotolo

Just like I said last week, even though the deal with Cristiano Lucarelli fell through, the number 99 was going to wind up with the Amaranto again. And I was correct. Parma and Livorno worked out a deal, it is a one year loan with an option to buy. So Lucarelli will be back in Amaranto next season. Livorno are also trying to work with Parma on a Grandoni-Budel swap, but Budel doesn’t want to leave the Gialloblu. They are pushing Lazio for the Nico Pulzetti-Cribari swap, and are inquiring with Atalanta about Diego De Ascentis and Maximiliano Pellegrino.

MILAN Coach: Leonardo

Who knows what Milan wants anymore. Galliani said they are not changing their offer for Luis Fabiano and if Sevilla don’t want it then Luis Fabiano will stay at Sevilla. Andrea Pirlo is still around despite the rumors linking him with a move to Chelsea. There were rumors Milan wanted Mirko Vucinic, but Galliani negated those too. The one thing Galliani did say however is that there’s a pretty good chance David Beckham returns to Milan in January of 2010.

NAPOLI Coach: Roberto Donadoni

The Victor Obinna deal collapsed and the Morgan De Sanctis deal is on the fence all because of image rights. Obinna was not willing to give up his image rights to Aurelio De Laurentiis and therefore he’s not coming to Napoli. De Sanctis is willing to work out a deal and that will be settled soon. Napoli are still interested in Empoli striker Nicola Pozzi and it seems Donadoni is trying to find a cost-effective solution to the left-back problem by trying out new signing Juan Zuniga on the left for now.

PALERMO Coach: Walter Zenga

After the signing of Javier Pastore, it seems that Palermo will be a little quiet on the market at the moment but we know Zamparini always has surprises up his sleeve. Zamparini really wants Torino’s Swiss international Blerim Dzemaili and would send striker Davide Succi as trade bait, but he’s waiting for Torino to make space for Succi.

PARMA Coach: Francesco Guidolin

Parma found their goalkeeper for next season, securing Sampdoria goalkeeper Antonio Mirante on loan for the season. They loaned defender Marco Rossi to Sampdoria as well. With the departure of Cristiano Lucarelli, Ghirardi has said that Parma will need to sign another striker. The big names are Empoli’s Nicola Pozzi and Torino’s Rolando Bianchi, with an outside shot for Julio Cruz.

ROMA Coach: Luciano Spalletti

The news you hear about Roma recently mainly focuses on the departure column. It is rumored that Roma wants to sell some players to generate some cash. It was reported that a Liverpool official came to Rome to discuss the transfer of Alberto Aquilani. Matteo Brighi, Marco Cassetti, Jeremy Menez, and Julio Baptista may also be sacrificed.

SAMPDORIA Coach: Gigi Del Neri

Sampdoria secured the services of former U21 international Marco Rossi on loan (interestingly enough rivals Genoa also have their own Marco Rossi). They are still searching for wingers. Franco Semioli has been rumored for weeks, now the name of Mauro Esposito has surfaced. The dream is Amantino Mancini, but it remains to be seen if the Brazilian would accept a transfer to Samp. And if Ibra leaves for Barcelona, who knows if the Nerazzurri may be interested in Antonio Cassano again. Marotta said yesterday that Cassano would be 98% staying this season, but that percentage was 99% just a few days ago…

SIENA Coach: Giampaolo

The Tuscan club secured the services of Albin Ekdal on loan from Juventus, and sent some of their youngsters on loan. They would like to sign Inter’s Nelson Rivas and still are trying to work out a deal for Genoa’s Anthony Van den Borre.

UDINESE Coach: Pasquale Marino

The Friuliani bought promising 19 year old Venezuelan goalkeeper Rafael Romo and Turkish midfielder Ergun Berisha from Swiss club Grasshopper. However this is another club that has an extra large roster and it needs to be cut down, especially since they will not be playing in 3 competitions this season.