Transfer Report (January 5th)

January 5th, 2012 | by: gadsby | Comments Off

"Oh, Hi girls"

In the last few days, we’ve seen the reopening of the transfer window, an occasion that is slowly and steadily becoming bigger than football itself. So far, the two most important moves for La Nazionale have been Marco Borriello’s loan switch from Roma to Juventus, and Alberto Gilardino’s transfer to Genoa from Fiorentina. While the latter seems to be one of the regular ‘change of scenery’ type moves common to midtable players at midtable clubs, the former has been rife with controversy, as Borriello, despite scoring 25,000 goals for Roma, is a figure of much derision on the peninsula for his supposedly lacklustre performances, his haircut, and his off the pitch lifestyle which may or may not be flamboyant and unprofessional, depending on whom you ask. Of course, any transfer to La Vecchia Signora that does not involve Daniele De Rossi, Sergio Aguero, Giuseppe Rossi, or the formerly maligned (”worse than Grygera!) ex-Juventus fullback Martin Caceres (currently worshipped as a saint among the Bianconeri) is condemned to be mercilessly ripped apart by the Juventus tifosi. Just ask any of Simone Pepe, Emanuele Giacherrini, Mirko Vucinic, Andrea Pirlo, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Andrea Barzagli, and Michele Pazienza, a team that despite being “useless”, “past it”, “showing a lack of ambition on Marotta’s part”, “a joke” (delete as applicable) and assembled by “an out-of-his-depth director” who is “worse than Secco”, currently sit in second at the winter break, separated from leaders Milan by goal difference alone.

It is my opinion that Borriello is an excellent signing for both Juventus and, to a greater extent, the Azzurri. Playing under Conte will surely do wonders to revitalize his career if he does indeed get a game (Borriello, we should keep in mind, was signed as a reserve to Alessandro Matri). Nonetheless, I would not be particularly worried for La Nazionale if Borriello’s move did fail to work out, as our strike options are plentiful.

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As for rumours, a Juventus clearout is speculated, with Italian’ internationals’ Amauri, Luca Toni (who Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian, then coached by the erratic genius Csaba Laszlo, once made a bid for. It was turned down.), Vincenzo Iaquinta, and Fabio Quagliarella looking to be pushed out by Giuseppe Marotta. While the destinations of the first three are, as yet, completely unknown, ex-Napoli forward Fabio Quagliarella, himself no stranger to controversial switches, has recently been linked with Inter, a move that could do wonders to resurrect his career, having been confined to the bench of late by Alessandro Matri’s magnificent form. Down in the capital, Roma talisman Daniele De Rossi has also been speculated with a move away from the Giallorossi, with Juventus, Milan, Inter, and the Manchester clubs reportedly being interested. However, the award for my favourite rumour so far undoubtedly goes to Genoa’s interest in Francesco Lodi of Catania, the rumour being that they will sell Miguel Veloso, a player last summer linked with Barcelona and Manchester United, to finance the move.

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Lastly, the chaps down at Football Italia are running this headline. If you can’t see it, the article contains a few quotes from Fiorentina’s Mattia Cassani, who claims “Amauri was the best player I ever played with”. This is why I love calcio.