Who Would You Want?
The trial against Juve has started and prosecutors are pressing for a drop to Serie C. Many of the players have "relegation clauses" and will be on the market this summer. Gooner has suggested that most of the Italian players might stick around in the lower divisions, but there is still plenty of talent on offer. Take a look at the current squad and let us know who you're team should pick up:
1 Gianluigi Buffon G 6-3 203 28
22 Landry Bonnefoi G - - -
32 Christian Abbiati G 6-3 203 29
2 Alessandro Birindelli D 5-9 157 31
3 Giorgio Chiellini D - - -
6 Robert Kovac D 5-11 172 32
7 Gianluca Pessotto D 5-8 148 35
14 Federico Balzaretti D 5-11 170 25
15 Domenico Criscito D - - -
21 Lilian Thuram D 6-1 172 34
27 Jonathan Zebina D 6-3 185 28
28 Fabio Cannavaro D 5-9 165 32
4 Patrick Vieira M 6-4 183 30
8 Fereira da Rosa Emerson M 6-0 181 30
11 Pavel Nedved M 5-10 154 33
16 Mauro German Camoranesi M 5-8 163 29
19 Gianluca Zambrotta M 5-11 174 29
20 Manuele Blasi M 5-7 148 25
23 Giuliano Giannichedda M 5-10 157 31
60 Claudio Marchisio M - - -
9 Zlatan Ibrahimovic S 6-4 185 24
10 Alessandro Del Piero S 5-8 161 31
17 David Trezeguet S 6-2 165 28
18 Adrian Mutu S 5-11 163 27
24 Ruben Olivera S 6-0 181 23
25 Marcelo Zalayeta S 6-1 187 27
posted by gatorbob @ 10:40 AM
8 Comments:
OK, up the Ashburton Grove we'd love to see Cannavaro and Zambrotta in a red shirt with white sleeves.
But I wonder if the Italian guys are really going to flee the country if Juve are severely punished? I think they'd have a damaging record because once Juve have ploughed through Serie C and then B in two years, the younger guys will want to return to Italy to play. They love that home-cooking as much as the Germans and the Spanish.
I think that the famous Italians might stay or at most, go out on loan for a few years. It's the foreigners that I would guess that will leave. So under that theory, I'll take a chance on Zlatan returning to form, finally pick up Trez after so many years of the rumor that he's coming, and to take the heat off Thierry as a hate figure, "Paisean" Mauro Camoranesi. He'd be a replacement for Le Bob's more outrageous claims for a penalty.
Okay, realistically none of these flash bastids is coming anywhere close to Elland Road in the near future. But since we're dreaming, I'd take:
*Buffon - I suspect he might just nudge Neil Sullivan out of the #1 role.
*Zambrotta - He impressed me more than any of the other Italians with his overlapping, shooting and general work rate.
*Robert Kovac - He's a bit long in the tooth, but might have a couple of good years in the Coke in him. He's the kind of big, strong defender needed in those away games at Preston.
*Ibrahimovic - Always seems to create things in the box with his gangly awkwardness.
Prague Barbie should move to Real Salt Lake!
Bob, isn't Pessotto the bloke that's in a coma over this Juve scandal? He might be a little quiet on the pitch for the Elland Road faithful.
Yeah, it's not Pessotto that I'm after; he's retired and, as you say, recovering from an apparent suicide attempt. It's Zambrotta, who's listed here as a midfielder but played at right back for the Italians during this World Cup and scored a corker. He'd fit in nicely at Elland Road, just nudging Gary Kelly out of the way.
http://wc2006.telegraph.co.uk/Document.aspx?id=6A4A5341-B18D-4033-9597-87405AF04CA7&DCMP=EMC-spo_12072006
Cannavaro apparently would prefer the Galactico Circus rather than Les Rouges des Ashburton Grove. Shame.
Zambrotta, Camoronese, and Trez still in play though.
As if you couldn't see this coming.
File this under everything terrible in football begins in Italy.
From the Telegraph this morning...
"No doubt sensing the mood of the nation, the verdicts on Juventus, Fiorentina, Lazio and AC Milan, not to mention the two dozen referees, club and federation officials who stand accused, was put on the back burner for a few days."
"Chairman of the judging panel, Cesare Ruperto, said nothing officially but privately lawyers for the clubs and the federation were told not to expect a decision until Friday at the earliest."
"Although the Italians must declare their Champions League and Uefa Cup entrants for next season by July 27, Italy coach Marcello Lippi is still to be interviewed by the judges over his links to agent son, Davide's, role in the scandal."
"So too are the judges who are considering an appeal by the federation's prosecution lawyers to relegate Juventus to the Third Division and Lazio, Fiorentina and Milan to Division Two. To have announced their decision yesterday might have also looked insensitive on the day Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro and Juventus team-mate Gianluca Zambrotta took the World Cup trophy to the Turin hosital where their former team mate and recently appointed team manager Gianluca Pessotto is recovering after his suicide attempt. "
"In an effort to fill the vacuum caused by the delay, pressure from politicians was growing last night on the federation to declare an amnesty in the case."
"Clemente Mastella, the justice minister, repeated calls for the clubs to be let off. "Let's do what they did in ancient Rome: whoever has given us prestige and dignity should be treated differently," he said."
"Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister who owns AC Milan, said that his team, alongside Juventus, formed "the spine" of the national squad, and should therefore be excused. "We cannot penalise the fans," he said."
"Even the normally staid Piero Fassino, a senior figure in Romano Prodi's government, asked the tribunal for "clemency". Yesterday, Prime Minister Prodi said Italy's World Cup win had restored dignity to Italian football."
Y'know when I heard about the delay yesterday, I thought, "not a bad decision." My fear was that after Sunday's win they'd completely whitewash the affair. This gives them a few days to wallow in the WC win before coming back crashing to the earth. Sure, Prodi is going to ask for clemency - politicians always like to play the footie popularity card - but I don't see the court going for that. Juve will have to be relegated and thrown out of the Champion's League at a minimum. I'd be shocked if they weren't. It would throw Serie A into even more disrepute than it already has.
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