Transfer Tuesdays – Volume 6: Eto’o has arrived, another American will arrive

By: Francesco | July 28th, 2009

Before we dive into Serie A transfer news, I just want to report on a transfer from Serie B that as fairly important, which was Torino’s Alessandro Rosina signing for Zenit St. Petersburg. Nobody expected a player with Rosina’s talent to stay in Serie B, but the move to Russia seemed a little surprising, however it makes sense. Last season Rosina was terrible. Too egoistic, always trying to carry the team on his shoulders when in actually he was hurting them. He didn’t score a single goal from open play. His 5 goals were 4 penalties and 1 free kick. His last season really showed sporting directors around Italy that he was not the player everyone thought he would be when he exploded onto the scene in the 2006-2007 season. Nobody wanted to take a risk on a selfish ball-hog with above average technical ability. So the move to Zenit could help Rosina, he has to skill to stand out in the Russian Premier League and he gets to play in Europe so he’ll get some more exposure. Maybe he can finally start to live up to his potential.

ATALANTA Coach: Angelo Gregucci

Atalanta looks pretty much set how it is. Don’t expect many moves from the Bergamaschi, as they seem satisfied with the squad they have. Honestly I think they lost a bit and should be looking for another reinforcement or two but their the professionals right?

BARI Coach: Giampiero Ventura

Looks like the Serie A honeymoon is over for Bari. Last year in May 2008 the club was up for sale and was almost sold to former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz. However the deal fell through and the club stayed in the hands of the Matarrese family who the fans seemed to loathe. With the club having that outstanding season last year the fans seemed to have absolved the family, but now it seems they lost enthusiasm again and are looking to sell the club again. Vincenzo Matarrese said they are in negotiations with a group of investors at the moment. We’ll see if the deal goes through this time.

BOLOGNA Coach: Giuseppe Papadopulo

Albanian oil magnate Rezar Taci has successfully bought 80% of the club. He is now the majority shareholder and will be club president. The Menarini family, who own 20%, will still be consultants but Taci will have the power. He said he will unveil his plans for the Rossoblu on August 3rd and is ready to spend 60 million euro to strengthen the squad.

CAGLIARI Coach: Massimiliano Allegri

All slow on the Cagliari front. Allegri still wants 2 signings and is pushing for Chievo midfielder Simone Bentivoglio. Otherwise it is really unsure as to who the Rossoblu are targeting however we all know that president Massimo Cellino could always spring up a surprise here or there.

CATANIA Coach: Gianluca Atzori

Catania are another side that seem to be content with what they have, but are still pushing for center back Francesco Pratali. They are also waiting for Adrian Ricchiuti (who has offers from Cagliari and Frosinone too) to decide on his future.

CHIEVO Coach: Domenico Di Carlo

It was rumored today that Chievo were interested in Sampdoria midfielder Daniele Dessena (who played under Di Carlo at Parma) and then a few hours later his agent confirmed the rumor. However the deal is complicated since Dessena is owned by both Sampdoria and Parma and deals must be worked out with both clubs. However he could just go on loan.

FIORENTINA Coach: Cesare Prandelli

Rumors were saying that Fiorentina were really close to signing Lazio’s Lorenzo De Silvestri, but Claudio Lotito said they were only rumors and that no deal was taking place. An interesting name rumored was Patrick Vieira, but his salary may be a little too high for Fiorentina’s budget. A center-back will probably arrive soon, rumors are either Benfica’s Luisao or Sao Paulo’s Miranda.

GENOA Coach: Giampiero Gasperini

Rodrigo Palacio is officially a Genoa player. The Argentine striker will now form a nice attacking trio with Hernan Crespo and Sergio Floccari. Genoa also signed young Lecce defender Andrea Esposito, who was called up to the national team by Lippi in June. If he could be the new Salvatore Bocchetti that signing will be a success. Enrico Preziosi is also known to take risks on players (Thiago Motta) to re-launch their careers, and recently its been reported that Genoa may sign former Juventus midfielder and Ghana captain Stephen Appiah who is currently out of contract. If they could re-launch Appiah’s career that could be another signing of the season.

INTER Coach: Josè Mourinho

Looks like Mourinho got his central defender (Lucio), trequartista (Alexander Hleb), and striker (Samuel Eto’o). But is Inter’s transfer campaign over? Maybe, Maybe not. The newspapers still say Inter really want Antonio Cassano, but Samp say he’s not leaving. They also still need to get rid of the players Mourinho doesn’t want anymore (Burdisso, Rivas, Vieira, Mancini).

JUVENTUS Coach: Ciro Ferrara

Juventus’ summer spending looks to be done, although reports still say Barca defender Martin Caceres will arrive soon. And if Ferrara is still unhappy with his left-back depth, Fabio Grosso may be called in to save the day.

LAZIO Coach: Davide Ballardini

Lazio are currently working with a 35 man roster. That is borderline ridiculous at this point of preseason training. Especially since the Biancocelesti have to play the SuperCoppa on the 8th. The roster needs to be shed and rumors are Lazio may bring in another striker, with the new name being Valeri Bojinov.

LIVORNO Coach: Gennaro Ruotolo

Interesting news for USA soccer fans today, as Livorno have officially signed US international and Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark. Clark will join in January however because of the MLS season. I don’t really think Clark has what it takes for Serie A but that’s another story all together. They are also rumored to be interested in Landon Donovan, but his salary could be a stumbling block. Livorno also want 4 Napoli players: Nicolas Amodio, Samuele Dalla Bona, Michele Pazienza, and Francesco Montervino.

MILAN Coach: Leonardo

After the World Football Challenge tour in the USA, it was made pretty evident by Leonardo himself that the team needs a striker and a full-back. The Rossoneri have been linked with every striker in every league in the world but they can’t sign one. With the full-back situation, it seems Milan want Wales and Tottenham left-back Gareth Bale.

NAPOLI Coach: Roberto Donadoni

Napoli closed the Morgan De Sanctis deal and the Italy international will defend Napoli’s net next season. They also concluded a surprise deal in the wee hours of the night, bagging Austria international and Rapid Vienna striker Erwin Hoffer. The 22 year old played for Austria at Euro 2008. Napoli and Liverpool have agreed to terms for left-back Andrea Dossena, all that is needed is for the player to put pen to paper and sign the contract.

PALERMO Coach: Walter Zenga

The Rosanero exchanged keepers on loan, sending Albanian keeper Samir Ukjani to Novara to be first choice and getting Giacomo Brichetto in return to be the third keeper in Sicily. The Rosanero also announced today that they could not work a deal for Boca Juniors defender Gabriel Paletta. They are still pushing Torino for Blerim Dzemaili however.

PARMA Coach: Francesco Guidolin

The Gialloblu are searching for a striker and it is reported that tomorrow they will meet with Valeri Bojinov’s agent to discuss a move. After years of being injured, if Bojinov can return to Serie A and stay healthy and return to his old self, Parma will have made a great deal. Ghirardi also said that Parma will not be signing Christian Panucci after Panucci took too much time to give them a straight answer.

ROMA Coach: Luciano Spalletti

Promising Primavera striker/winger Marco D’Alessandro was sent on loan to Grosseto. Defender Federico Erba was sent on loan to Cesena. Roma are still hoping for Julio Cruz and if a big offer from Liverpool comes in for Alberto Aquilani they will probably take it.

SAMPDORIA Coach: Gigi Del Neri

Sampdoria signed goalkeeper Matteo Guardalben (worked with Del Neri at Palermo) to be a backup to Castellazzi. Samp also want Empoli’s Nicola Pozzi to be Pazzini’s understudy and then we still don’t know how truthful the “Cassano will stay 100%” declarations are.

SIENA Coach: Giampaolo

Nothing new from Siena, but they still want a defender. Nelson Rivas, Michele Ferri, and Marco Di Loreto are the rumored names.

UDINESE Coach: Pasquale Marino

Udinese’s priority right now is to shed the roster. At least the good news is that it seems the Gaetano D’Agostino interest has finally subsided and he will most probably stick around next season.