Money isn’t everything in football, that’s what probably Inter Milan’s defender Nicolas Burdisso had in mind after reports stated that he would only choose Roma as his destination despite having bigger offer from Juventus.

Burdisso who was loan by Roma last season, look set to stay at the capital club permanently this season and leave his current owner, Inter, that doesn’t really have any intention in keeping him. However, the negotiation hasn’t had any breakthrough as there’s a huge numerical margin between the two clubs.

During that difficult negotiation time, Italian press stated that Juventus have just place a bid higher than what the Giallorosi manage to provide. The move certainly brings a big concern for Roma  as should Inter decide to accept the Bianconeri offer, there will be nothing that the capital club can do to outbid the Turin giant.

Fortunately for last season serie A runners up, it seems that the player has his heart set only for them as according to his agent, Fernando Hidalgo, Burdisso only wanted to play for Claudio Ranieri side and hoping that Inter would allow him to move to the capital. Despite the economical gap that stands between Roma’s offer and Inter’s asking price, the agent is confident that both clubs can sort things out and fulfill his client’s wish.

“The player has also made his choice, which is Roma. At this point, I hope that tomorrow’s meeting between the two clubs is decisive, even if I know that there is an important gap between them.” Hidalgo stated, “I hope that Inter understand the situation. I want to be optimistic.”

It would be interesting in witnessing the end of this transfer process as the negotiation has actually started a while ago, with Inter keep on playing hard ball and won’t soften things up for Roma. On the other hand, the capital club, which has been publicly sold, doesn’t really have enough cash to pay the ransom for Burdisso as the Giallorosi’s effort in raising money by planning to sell some of their players isn’t going well either.

photo credit: batrax

Roma are up for sale for 150 million euros, according to reports in Italy, after one of the club’s creditors took up the option to find a buyer.

Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that the Sensi family, who have owned the three-times Serie A champions for 17 years, will have to sell the club after their other main business fell into the hands of banks two weeks ago.

Roma, who were surprise runners-up in Italy last season, have struggled with financial troubles for the last few years due to problems with president Rosella Sensi and her Italpetroli oil company.

Italpetroli, valued at 325 million euros, were taken over by Italian bank Unicredit, who now hold 51 per cent of the shareholding, with the Milan Bank owning the rest. It is Unicredit that is trying to force a sale of Roma so that they can get paid.

This was the statement released by Italpetroli:

“Italpetroli communicates, at the request of the Consob, that a negotiation deadline has been set with Unicredit for July 20, 2010, for a more defined agreement to sort out the financial debt of the Italpetroli group. In regards to AS Roma, the accord states that the club will be led by a consortium called Newco Roma, with the Sensi family and Unicredit involved with their respective holdings. Newco Roma will be composed of three representatives: one indicated by the Sensi family, one Unicredit representative and an independent party, professor Attillo Zimatore. Newco Roma has the main objective to proceed with the negotiation of the sale. AS Roma will continue to be governed and guided by Rosella Sensi.”

photo credit: prettyfriendship

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Juventus captain and club icon Alessandro Del Piero inspired the Bianconeri to a 2-1 friendly win over French champions Lyon on Saturday. The Turin outfit went down early in the first half when Giorgio Chiellini unfair play in the 6 yard box resulted in a penalty for Lyon.

Ederson successfully converted to put the visitors in the lead. In similar fashion, on the 26th minute, Juventus were handed a penalty after a Amauri was brought down in the penalty area. Del Piero stepped up to score his 199th goal for the Bianconeri.

Contrary to what many people thought, Juve’s forward line of Diego, Del Piero and Simone Pepe linked up exceptionally well. If this is a foretaste of what we can expect from Juventus in the new season, then i can hardly wait for the games to kick-off.

Apparently, Inter and Roma have worthy competition for the scudetto next season. Until Milan moves to acquire some new players, then they do no stand any chance of posing a real threat for the title.

Juve’s win albeit be in a friendly is significant nonetheless. Coming off a bad 09/2010 campaign that saw the finish the league in 7th place, the Bianconeri failed to secure qualification for Europe’s elite club competition- the UEFA Champions League.

Saturday’s win also helped to prepare them for next week’s third round Europa League third qualifying round against Irish side Shamrock Rovers. Like i mentioned earlier last week, Juventus might just be the surprise of the season.

With such a convincing win over one of Europe’s big club’s, Juventus no doubt sent out a strong message to all their opposition in the Serie A in the new season.

Photo credit: from salvatoregiambelluca

AS Roma midfielder Simone Perotta claims that the Giallorosso are second only to Inter in the league. Well, with all that is happening in the transfer market, that could be true. Apart from major Signings Adriano and Fabio Simplicio, Roma has largely remained in tact with most of their players who featured in their campaign last season staying with the club.

As you would probably guess, one of the major keys to achieving success is remaining consistent and maintaining the status quo (that is if it is working) Roma have done just that. The Giallorosso are the only top four team to have not changed their coach. Inter, Milan and Juventus will all start the season with  new coaches.

A new coach means change in tactics and coaching style. This eventually means that the players will need time to adapt to the new strategies used by the coach. This can prove to be costly especially in the early days of the new season. We all know what a good start can do to a team’s confidence and campaign.

So in that respect, i agree with Perrotta’s assertion. Speaking to Romanews, a confident Perrotta talked about the Giallorosso’s scudetto ambitions.

“The group is united and we are very relaxed at this early stage of pre-season,” Perrotta declared toRomanews.eu.

“The objective now is to continue improving. After pushing Inter to the wire last term we must try not to gift the opposition a head start next season.

“Inter are still one step above us, but after the Nerazzurri we are right up there.”

With Milan looking less and less serious about bolstering their squad for the new season, Inter and Roma are still the favourites for the scudetto. However, the Bianconeri under Luigi Del Neri can not be underestimated.

Photo credit: from .SVT.

It looks like As Roma’s plan in strengthening their squad next season has hit a stumbling block after their plan in purchasing Nicolas Burdisso’s  from Inter Milan isn’t heading for the right direction. Reports from Italy suggested that both teams still fail in agreeing the fee for the Argentinian as Inter won’t seem to budge from their 10 million Euro price tag while the Giallorossi only wants to give 6 million for the versatile defender.

This hold up isn’t something that the Roma’s coach, Claudio Ranieri, would’ve like as he is very keen in getting Burdisso’s service again for the coming season and wants the Argentinian international to stay longer at the club. However, despite the ongoing negotiation that has been started as soon as the 29-years-old returns from his loan spell, things just not getting any good for the Giallorossi especially the fact that they don’t really have lots of money for transfer.

As a bid to sign Burdisso, Roma reportedly will try to sell some of their players such as Cicinho, Doni, Mexes and Baptista, however until today there hasn’t been any concrete deal regarding those players. Should the capital club fail to sell the players they have listed, it would be difficult for them to acquire Burdisso or any other players on the market as most of them will be out of the Giallorossi’s reach.

So far Roma have already added some reinforcement for next season, which are Adriano Leite and Fabricio Simplicio who were brought on free transfer to the capital club. However, the club surely needs more reinforcement if they still want to have a shot at competing for any title next season and Burdisso is among the target that Ranierri believes important for helping the team achieving their goals next season.

Now Roma’s hope in acquiring Burdisso would probably lies on the player’s personal wish as the Giallorossi would probably hope that the Argentinian international would push Inter to finally sell him as he’s not really needed by the club. The versatile defender is still having a vacation after his involvement in the Argentina 2010 World Cup team, he is expected to return from his leisure time on July 29 and by that time Ill Lupi hope he already set to join the team’s training camp.

photo credit: batrax

With 145 goals scored, and more than 5760 minutes of football played across 10 different venues, the world’s biggest sporting spectacle came to an end last night at Jo’burgs Soccer city Stadium with the crowning of a new champion.

Spain beat the Netherlands by a single Andres Iniesta goal deep in the second half of extra time to hand his side their maiden World Cup victory. As celebrations continues the world over, attention is gradually shifting towards the new European season scheduled to start in a couple of weeks.

In that respect, i would like to keep you up to date with some very important dates that every die hard Serie A fan should mark on their calendars.

The FIGC (Italian FA) announced earlier last month that the 2010/2011 Serie A season will begin on the weekend of August 28th and 29th and end on Sunday May 22nd 2011.

In addition to that, there will be 4 mid week rounds scheduled for 10th November, 2nd February and 2nd March. Next season’s winter break will run for 3 weeks from December 19th to January 6th.

A week before the league officially begins, that is on August 21st, AS Roma and treble winners Inter Milan will lock horns in the SuperCoppa Italiana 2010 or the Italian Super Cup 2010. The match will be played in Inter’s famous San Siro stadium.

This match will precede the Uefa Super Cup fixture between Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid that will be played on Friday August 27th at the Stade Louis-II in Monaco. This another very important date to mark.

Now to some other pre-season fixtures that are equally exciting. Inter’s arch rivals AC Milan travel to London to take on EPL outfit Arsenal on July 31st in the Emirates Cup. Just in case you do not know, Milan’s longstanding shirt sponsorship deal with European betting site bwin ended last season and as you would guess, the Rossoneri will now have the Gulf Based airline Emirates very famous brand name Fly Emirates printed on their shirts. This match will be played in Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. The following day, Milan play Olympique Lyon at the same venue.

While Arsenal and Milan will be battling it out in the Emirates 60,000 seater capacity stadium,  some thousands of miles away, Inter Milan will play another EPL club-Manchester City in Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.

The Nerazzurri will wrap up their North American tour with a game against the LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center in Carson on August 7th.

These are definitely some fixtures to get you excited about the new season which i know will be very competitive.

Photo credit: from norvegia2005sara

Following my latest news about As Roma’s possible sale, finally everything gets crystal clear as the Italian media confirmed that the Sensi family have agreed to put their beloved asset on the market. The family that have owned Roma for 17 years, have agreed terms with UniCredit to hand over the capital club and let the bank find a buyer for last year’s serie A runners up.

As it was reported earlier due to the debts their having, the Sensi family have been offered to let go some of their assests to UniCredit including Roma who currently being valued around 120 million Euro. However, until a new owner is found Rosella Sensi will still be in charged of running the club as it is necessary to keep the ship steady as leaving the club that the society and city loves without people managing it would cost a big problem for the team.

The interesting part will surely begin to occur soon as interested people would be knocking on the Roma’s door offering their cash and vision as a bid to acquire the club, especially with the fact the capital club is an interesting investment in football. Now with the Sensi family having no ultimate control on the selling, would foreign investors that previously been rejected by the family takes another again shot this year. From Rosella Sensi’s statement, I can pretty much sense that her family wants whoever that buys the team must have a true passion about the team’s history, affection to the city and the fans that have supported them all of this years.

“This agreement has been reached with the consensus of all parts, but specifically in the interests of protecting Roma which belongs to the city and something we all hold dear, Rosella Sensi stated about the decision of selling Roma.

Now, Roma fans will be nervously waiting for the sort of changes that will come to their club, will the be a new spending force in Italy or will they crumble due to mismanagement from an incapable owner. Until that happen at least they can still hold their breath as the Sensi family will still lead the team and would probably uses their influences in getting the best leader for the Giallorossi.

photo credit: kingpenguin1029

The course could set to change for As Roma after the latest news in Italy suggesting that the capital club could be changing owners soon as the Sensi family have been offered to let go of the team by a banking firm UniCredit. The Sensi family, who have been leading the club for about 17 years owes the firm 325 million Euro, so now UniCredit offers a solution in order to clear out the debt, which is asking Rosella Sensi and co to sell their assets including Ill Lupi.

The press stated that the solution to resolve the issue should be revealed soon, although the media are sured that Roma will be brought to the market by the Sensi family as it would be the wisest thing to do. The club have been struggling with financial issues in the past few years, especially after Rosella’s dad, Franco Sensi, passed away and hand over the Giallorossi’s ownership to her. Despite the financial difficulties, the team have courageously compete in the Serie A managing to finish behind Inter last season.

It would be interesting to witness Roma’s future if Rosella do decide to let go his father’s heritage and allowed the team to be owned by someone else. Until now there hasn’t been any concrete rumors regarding the possible owners for Ill Lupi, although not long ago there were whispers that some foreign company are interested in acquiring the capital club. With the fact that money has been such a problem for the Giallorosi, selling the club to a strong financial force might help them to compete more with Inter Milan and also other giants such as Ac Milan and Juventus next season.

However, should they fall into a wrong glory hunter owners, the long term future of Roma could be in danger especially if the new boss only uses the club for his own personal fun or marketing tools. Giallorossi could just see some of the problems that happens to English clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester United, both teams are the perfect examples of how incapable new owners can cause more damage in the long term leaving the clubs in more crisis than ever. Now, the whole Italy can only hope that Rosella Sensi would take the best step regarding Ill Lupi’s future and should she decide to gave them up, it should be for to the ones who really cares for the club.

photo credit: kingpenguin1029

Roma’s new Brazilian striker Adriano has once again exhibited actions that cost him dearly while his was with Italian champions Inter Milan. Adriano has not yet reported for Roma’s pre-season training camp in spite of agreeing to the club’s terms and conditions.

This time however, Adriano has a good reason for his actions. Apparently, he could not get his son’s paperwork in order by the time he was due to leave for Rome and this eventually forced him to push back his departure for Italy by one day.

Adraino was however quick to inform the club of his little problem. Adriano has been in fantastic form for his former Brazilian club Flamengo and despite him gaining extra weight, the striker is still considered as lethal as ever. In light of this, the Giallorosso have come up with a special training programme for Adriano to help him get back in shape.

This is exactly what Ronaldinho did before joining Milan back in 2008. Out of shape and favour with Barcelona, Dinho returned to Brazil and enlisted the services of a personal trainer to help him get back to form. Putting his personal problems behind him, Adriano will be looking to replicate his goal scoring form with Roma.

Meanwhile, as Roma await the arrival of their star player, News has broken out that the club’s owners-the Sensi family, are in talks to hand over ownership to Unicredit. With a massive debt of 325 million Euros, Rosella Sensi, Roma’s chief executive is looking to avoid court battles and save her other businesses from collapsing.

Rosella has run the club since 2008 after the passing of her father.

Photo credit: from nikefutebol

Having a co-ownership deal can give some disadvantages for clubs, especially when the loose a talented player because of blind auction and that’s what pretty much happens to AS Roma after they loose half of the contract of talented Italy youngster, Marco Motta. The capital club, who co-owned Motta’s contract along with Udinese has to surrender the Italian under 21 international ownership fully to the Bianconeri after loosing the auction.

Both club have to enter the blind auction in determining Motta’s future after they failed to strike an agreement regarding what will happen to the young player next season. Because they can’t decide anything until the co-ownership deadline arrived, Roma and Udinese have to let the blind auction decide everything and the result of the auction is that Udinese now have full ownership of the young defender.

Udinese acquired Motta’s full contract after they placed 1,5 million Euro on the sealed envelopes while Roma only came up with 1,3 million Euro, meaning that the right back will return to the Udine based club. Personally I think it’s a loss for the Giallorossi as they would need to find a new player in place of the talented youngster, which would be a little bit difficult task due to Roma’s financial condition.

For those who doesn’t know the process of blind auction, it is the condition when both teams that co-owned a player fails to make an agreement about the player’s future until the deadline, have to place a bid into a secret sealed envelope. The club who has the higher bid, will eventually own full rights of the co-owned player’s contract and get to keep him at the club and decide his future, whether they’ll keep him or sell him.

Meanwhile, after loosing the young player, Roma reportedly is actively looking for a replacement, the latest rumors stated that they are after another Udinese player, Mauricio Isla, who is playing very well with Chile in the World Cup. As for Motta himself, the media also predicted that the right back is on his way to Turin joining the Italian giant, Juventus next season. However, the player himself isn’t very keen on the idea as he actually wanted to stay and fight for a place at the capital club.

photo credit: kingpenguin1029