Juventus director general Beppe Marotta has discussed the club’s transfer plans in a revealing interview with the Corriere dello Sport.
Having won the Scudetto this season, the Turin official is now working on building a team to challenge in the Champions League.
“There are powerful owners in England, while the Germans depend on entrepreneurship and management,” Marotta said.
“Having lost our leadership from the 1990s, the only solution open to Italy is to focus on organisation and culture. The gap remains though, especially in revenue terms.
“We are looking to increase the size of our squad. That is a necessity because we’ll be facing the prospect of more games. Read more... (517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)
Inter Milan have signed Rodrigo Palacio from Genoa for around 11 million euros.
“Palacio is an Inter player. We’ve reached an agreement.” Genoa President Enrico Preziosi confirmed the deal when speaking to Sky: “We’ve had a troubled season and lots of players have asked to be sold. There was some friction between Palacio and the fans at Novara and the day after we had made certain of our Serie A future next season he asked to be sold. And he’s already been sold, to Inter. We have an agreement in place. Inter have been keeping an eye on him for the past two years. His sale was a good deal for both clubs and the player has doubled his wages.” Read more... (288 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)
The agent of Thiago Silva insists the player wants to stay at AC Milan despite reports linking him with a move big money to Manchester City or Barcelona this summer.
“Neither I nor Thiago have had contacts with Manchester City or Barcelona,” Silva’s agent Paulo Tonietto said to www.calciomercato.it.
“His preference is certainly Milan.
“Only the club executives of Milan can decide whether to sell the player.
“Right now the rumours circulating regarding his future are simply media speculation.” Read more... (222 words, 1 image, estimated 53 secs reading time)
Last summer Wesley Sneijder was the subject of one of the most drawn out transfer sagas in football with rumours linking him to Manchester United not materialising to anything despite an entire year of speculation. Although I still think that is Eto’o had not been sold to Anzhi that Sniejder would have gone to United.
But anyway, the transfer talk seemed to unsettle Sneijder at the beginning of the season. Gian Piero Gasperini’s system did not help matters, no real place for Sneijder, as he did not seem to fit into Ranieri’s preferred style either. Combine that with ongoing injuries and Wesley Sneijder was a major disappointment last season. Read more... (234 words, 1 image, estimated 56 secs reading time)
The second game of AS Roma’s US tour this summer and Roma will play Poland’s Zaglebie Lubin on July 22 at Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field.
This Chicago match will actually be the opening match of Roma’s preseason tour, as it had previously been announced that they would play Liverpool at Fenway Park in Boston on July 25th.
Roma is expected to add a third game to its schedule, in New York after the Liverpool game. Considering that they will be playing their first games at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, what are the odds on the New York game being at CitiField or Yankee Stadium? Read more... (185 words, 1 image, estimated 44 secs reading time)
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri hailed the “extraordinary” efforts of his side after they ended Juventus’ bid for an unbeaten campaign with a 2-0 Coppa Italia final win.
An Edinson Cavani penalty put Napoli ahead after 63 minutes, with Marek Hamsik ensuring victory seven minutes from time at the Stadio Olimpico as Napoli won their first silverware since claiming the Serie A title in 1990.
“I am delighted, because it seemed impossible to beat Juve this year as they had never lost,” Mazzarri told reporters.
“The whole team has done something extraordinary in this period. Read more... (201 words, 1 image, estimated 48 secs reading time)
Napoli ended a 22-year wait for silverware by beating Juventus 2-0 in the Coppa Italia final on Sunday, a defeat which ruuned Juventus’s shot at an unbeaten season and domestic double.
An Edinson Cavani penalty put Napoli ahead after 63 minutes, with Marek Hamsik ensuring victory seven minutes from time at the Stadio Olimpico.
Juventus started Del Piero is his 705th and final game for Juventus, but their was no fairy tale ending for the Juventus legend and Napoli were worthy winners. Read more... (386 words, 1 image, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)
The betting scandal in Italy just took a blockbuster twist when Siena midfielder Filippo Carobbio accused current Juventus boss Antonio Conte of being ware of match-fixing during his time in charge at Siena.
According to quotes in La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Carobbio told prosecutors about two games that Conte knew that match was being fixed.
The first match was played on 30 April 2011 and Carobbio is quoted as saying: Read more... (561 words, 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)
Bit of a surprise to hear that Lucio has decided to leave Inter. Lucio’s agent Sandro Becker is quoted as saying today:
“He had three excellent years at Inter and feels it’s time to make a change,”
“We have been working on this since last week and resumed talks on Wednesday. We put in a transfer request and Inter have agreed. Now we have to find him a new club.
“Considering the man he is and the player he is, Lucio only leaves friends behind everywhere he goes. The decision to leave came from us, but Inter understood it. This has been entirely amicable. Read more... (276 words, 1 image, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)
AC Milan have confirmed the signings of Bakaye Traorè and Riccardo Montolivo on Bosman transfers.
Both midfielders, Traorè arrives from French club Nancy and Montolivo has joined the Rossoneri after his contract at Fiorentina expired.
Traore has signed a deal through June 2015, while Italian international Montolivo has signed through 2016.
That Toure ended up at the San Siro is not a surprise after his radio interview earlier this month when he said:
“I am happy to finally announce that I’m going to sign for Milan. It’s an incredible sensation,” he told RMC radio. Read more... (219 words, 1 image, estimated 53 secs reading time)
Juventus director general Beppe Marotta has discussed the club’s transfer plans in a revealing interview with the Corriere dello Sport.
