We’ve Got Transfer Rumors Coming Out of Our Ears!

By: Martha | March 22nd, 2007

De Rossi •Though we’ve not heard anything about him in these parts since the end of the last year, it seems as if the perpetually unsettled Franck Ribery is still hoping to play in Serie A next year, with Turin his most likely landing ground. If the ownership of Marseille stays in its current hands through the summer, the club are reportedly likely to accept an offer from Juventus for the winger, who is valued at about £14 million.

•Flachi, Flachi, Flachi. Yep, his second sample was positive, too. Shocking, right? He’ll have a hearing sometime in the next two weeks, and could be suspended for a long as two years. He ain’t young, either.

•The lust between Italian and Spanish clubs goes both ways, apparently: Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport has reported that Barcelona are readying a €25 million bid for Roma’s Daniele De Rossi, who is said to be one of their primary summer targets. In addition to offering a mint, Barca are also prepared to include any combination of the following players: Edmilson, Motta and Belletti. No matter how much value is involved in the deal, however, it seems awfully unlikely that De Rossi, who is Roma born-and-bred, would ever the leave the club on his own free will. Similarly, the odds of the club dumping one of their precious home-grown boys are slim indeed. That said, that’s a hell of a lot of money to turn down out of hand.

•Have Milan already made an offer for Frank Lampard? Unlikely, but that’s what cleverly named Spanish newspaper Sport is reporting today. (Take that, Juve.) There’s no word on the size of the offer, nor on how Jose Mourinho is taking the news. Maybe he’ll like the offer so much that he’ll come along to Italy, as well.

•Christiano Lucarelli has had enough of Livorno, and he wants out. He’s fighting even more than usual with owner Aldo Spinelli, and apparently thinks that, no matter how much he loves the club, it’s time to stop fighting and start getting paid. Elsewhere, obviously.

•Though they’re not saying where Mourinho is going, La Gazzetta della Sport today are reporting that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is looking to Italy for his new gaffer, in the form of Marcello Lippi and Gianluca Vialli, who had a stint at the club several years ago. Vialli would be brought in as Lippi’s assistant, apparently, though Lippi denies he’s had any contact with Abramovich or his club. Of course, he’d say that even if the move was imminent, so who the hell knows.

•And, finally, some website news: Roberto Baggio is chilling in Argentina as we speak (he feels sure we would enjoy it), and Matrix’s personal site just launched. Woo hoo! Sadly, the shop is not yet open — I can’t wait to see the headbutt tshirts he’s sure to be peddling.