Mercato Preview: Inter

Inter have been making transfer moves early in the transfer window as they look to put behind a disappointing season.

 

2014-2015 in Review

After a disappointing start to the season, Walter Mazzarri was sacked in November after just four wins in 12 games in the league. Thohir brought back former manager Roberto Mancini who in a previous spell at the club won 3 Serie A Championships and 2 Coppa Italia’s.

Despite bringing in Xherdan Shaqiri, Lukas Podolski and Davide Santon in the January transfer window, Mancini was unable to turnaround the club’s poor start to the season. Defeat to Wolfsburg in the Europa League ended the Nerazzurri’s slim chance of a Champions League place for next season, and with that Inter finished the season in eighth place.

If there’s one positive you can take from last season it would be the arrival of Mauro Icardi. The Argentine scored 24 goals last season, with 22 of those goals coming in Serie A in which he was the joint capocannoniere with Luca Toni.

Who stays? Who goes?

The loan signings of Davide Santon and Xherdan Shaqiri back in January will be made permanent this summer at a total cost of 18m euros. Lukas Podolski returns to Arsenal after a miserable 6 month loan spell at the club where he scored just one goal in 17 appearances.

Jeison Murillo will be joining the club after Copa America duty with Colombia, after Inter and Granada agreed to a fee of €8m back in February.

A total of 25 players will be returning to the club after loan spells last season, with Italian U-21 trio Cristiano Biraghi, Lorenzo Crisetig and Francesco Bardi among the notable players to rejoin the black and blue. These three youngsters could be summoned by Mancini for the 2015-16 campaign as weekly contributors.

Another one of those players is Ricardo Alvarez who spent last season on loan at Premier League club Sunderland. After the Black Cats avoided relegation, this triggered a clause in the contract where the loan deal would be made permanent for a fee of 11m euros.

The signing of the highly rated defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia was announced earlier in the week for a club record fee of €35m beating their rivals A.C. Milan to the signing.

With that signing, the former treble winners need to offload a few players to help balance the books, one who has been linked with a move away in Mateo Kovacic. Mancini has said in the past that he sees the Croatian number 10 as the future of Inter but that hasn’t haulted rumours of a 25 million euros bid from Liverpool.

Other players who could potentially leave this summer include Juan Jesus, Marco Andreolli, Fredy Guarin, Zdravko Kuzmanovic, Yuto Nagatomo, Joel Obi and Hernanes.

One player Interisti wish to retain for years to come is last season’s top scorer Mauro Icardi, who recently signed a new four year deal till 2019.

Club needs to be addressed

Roberto Mancini’s side will be looking to play a 4231 system next season, with Jeison Murillo already signed and the imminent arrival of João Miranda. These two additions sure up the defensive pairing for next season for a club in need of a retooling.

The full-back positions are also a cause for concern, with D’Ambrosio, Jonathan, Dodo and Nagatomo all having injury-ridden seasons. Davide Santon has arrived on a permanent deal but that won’t stop Mancini from exploring other options in the market.

Xherdan Shaqiri is the only wide player in the squad currently and with that Inter has been looking at Mohamed Salah and Ivan Perisic as potential signings.

Investment

With no European football this season, Inter will have to be smart with their transfer market dealings this summer. Spending 35 million euros on one player was a surprise to many people and with that Mancini knows he will have to sell players in order to bring more players in. With just over 60m euros spent already, we could potentially see the Nerazzurri spending 100m euros like their rivals Juventus as they look to challenge for UEFA Champions League qualification.

Conclusion

A return to the Champions League football is the minimum target set by Mancini next season and with the signing of Kondogbia, it shows the intention of the club to push forward. Can they achieve that target with the current squad in place? No, but they are only 2-3 more signings away from having a squad not just built to compete for the Champions League places but to challenge for the Scudetto with Juventus.

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Has Juventus strengthened their attack force?

Juve’s transfer market this year is lining up to be one of the most interesting since the Conte revolution of 2011.

The (premature) return of Carlitos Tevez to Boca Juniors is a given, along with Alessandro Matri‘s “return to sender” despite an egregious year at Allegri’s court in which the Lombard forward provided superb performances that led to the conquest of Juventus tenth Coppa Italia.

Tevez’s scoring prowess (29 goals in all competition in 2014-15) will be tough enough to replace, but his contribution to Juve’s game ought not be underestimated. Tevez often came deep to pick up the ball and carry game play up the field.

These departures have left Juventus with the likes of Fernando Llorente (also likely to part ways with the bianconeri), Alvaro Morata, and Kingsley Coman in the forward department.

However, CEO Marotta and his collaborators have not stayed idle, readily buying out Palermo’s wonderkid Paulo Dybala. The Argentine is not yet 22 years of age, but has taken Serie A by storm in 2014-15 as the first player to record double-digit figures for goals and assists, finishing at 13 goals and 10 assists. It’s no surprise that Juventus was forced to make the most significant investment of the Andrea Agnelli era: €32 million plus an additional €8 million in bonuses to the Sicilian club. Dybala doesn’t come with Tevez’s experience or leadership, but he’s likely the Apache‘s most natural replacement in terms of pedigree, size, and technical characteristics.

Another addition made official this week has been Croatian international Mario Mandzukic. The 29 year-old arrives at Juventus under similar circumstances than Tevez did: he’s in his late 20’s, has been known to have a temper, has Champions League experience, and a great goalscoring repertoire. In fact, the former Atletico Madrid forward has recorded a near 50% scoring rate in Spain and at Bayern Munich. Of course, his physical and game play characteristics make him very different from Tevez, and more so a likely replacement for (or dare I say improvement over) Llorente.

Juventus brass have been sowing the seeds of the best Italian talent and it seems that harvest season is here. The acquisition of Dybala and Mandzukic will likely see the addition of Sassuolo’s striking duo Simone Zaza and Domenico Berardi. Zaza has had quite the “alternative current” season, coupling great performances to some rather flaccid ones. However, at 25 years of age and two Serie A seasons under his belt in which he scored 20 goals in 68 games, he seems ready for a jump as Juve’s 4th choice striker.

Domenico Berardi, on the other hand has had a superb season. Like Dybala, the Calabrian has registered double digit goals (15) and assists (11), albeit he’s unlikely to be the eventual penalty shot taker at Juventus. The future of Berardi is, at the time of writing, uncertain with the likelyhood of one more year at Sassuolo being the rumoured outcome. His future is at Juventus, however, as the bianconeri have reached an agreement with the Emilian club that will grant them the sporting rights.

So, is Juventus stronger in attack? Yes, but spread over multiple players. As far as raw talent, Dybala, Berardi, and even Zaza are very positive and powerful players, but it must be said that the forward department is left with players with little Champions League experience, with the likes of Mandzukic and Morata (and Coman to a limited extent) to be the only ones who have featured in the foremost European club competition.

Does Marotta have an ace up his sleeve to round out Juventus’ attack?

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The Ageless Assassin – Should Luca Toni have been in the Italian national team?

AT THE AGE OF 38, THE HELLAS VERONA HITMAN BECAME THE JOINT-CAPOCANNONIERI IN SERIE A. OUTSCORING YOUNGER ITALIAN STRIKERS AND THE LEAGUE’S TOP FOREIGN IMPORTS. THUS, IT BEGS THE QUESTION, SHOULD LUCA TONI HAVE BEEN IN THE ITALIAN NATIONAL TEAM?

By: Peter Nicolaides

The career of Luca Toni may resemble that of a fictional character from something similar to Roy Of The Rovers. A career filled with ups and downs, filled with success and disappointment. A model-example for many players who ply their trade in the lower-leagues of any footballing nation that there is a path to the very top.

 

The story of Luca Toni features early beginnings in Serie B and Serie C; winning a World Cup in 2006; winning a domestic treble with Bayern Munich in 2008; being the scapegoat for Italy’s disappointing Euro 2008 campaign; disappointing spells at Roma, Genoa and Juventus; a stint in the Middle East; a resurrection at Fiorentina and a two-season spell at Hellas Verona that has left as many people speechless as it has left others running out of adjectives to describe the amazing story of a 38-year-old striker who became oldest ever Serie A’s Capocannoniere.

 

The question is simple. Should Luca Toni have been in the national team for the games against Croatia and Portugal?

 

Toni even had several supporters last year for the idea of the former-World Cup winner being included in Cesare Prandelli’s squad for the 2014 World Cup. Perhaps the heat, conditions and short recovery-time between games in international tournaments didn’t suit footballers in their mid-thirties, but Italy’s disappointing campaign may have proven that the young guns weren’t any better.

 

Since the World Cup, most Italian strikers and forward-options had poor 2014-15 seasons. Ciro Immobile, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli became nothing more than occasional substitutes at their respective clubs. Giuseppe Rossi, Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Insigne had seasons filled with injuries (Rossi did not play a single game for Fiorentina). Alessio Cerci’s big move to Atletico Madrid was a disaster, with a loan spell at Milan being less than convincing. Seba Giovinco and Dani Osvaldo ended the season playing for clubs outside of Europe whilst Antonio Cassano ended the second-half of the season without a club.

 

Only Graziano Pelle, Simone Zaza, Dominico Berardi, Antonio Candreva had successful seasons, with Alessandro Matri’s 2014-15 being up for debate. As a result, Italy resorted to the Oriundi by bringing in Eder, Franco Vasquez and Daniel Caligiuri to play for their adopted-nation with the hope that Paulo Dybala, Lucas Vietto and Rodrigo De Paul may do the same in the future.

 

Yet, the player 42 goals in 72 league games couldn’t get a game for Italy? Italy needed to beat Croatia or Portugal to ensure a top-seeding in the World Cup qualifiers for Russia 2018. They drew against Croatia and lost against Portugal.

 

Toni’s age may have been a sticking point as would his lack of work-rate regarding defending, but Hellas Verona has proven how to utilize Toni in a way that ends with over twenty goals a season for back-to-back campaigns.

 

The competition itself may be Antonio Conte’s one and only event in charge of the national team should a major coaching job open up at club level, it would make sense for Conte to pick Italy’s forwards for a squad for two games based on nothing more than current-form than long-term benefit. One can hardly claim that the former-Juventus manager is building for the long-run. Having Toni along with four or five other forwards who were unique and beneficial in their own way and playing style would have led to greater tactical versatility for both games. Luca Toni coming off the bench to close out games or to grab a late goal would not have been worst option in the world, especially in the friendly against Portugal when Italy went a goal down.

 

If a player is scoring more goals than his countrymen who are younger than him and play for clubs with more skilled attacking players around them; if a player is scoring more goals than the players who’ve adopted Italy as their team to represent at international level; if a player is scoring more goals than the top foreign players in his own domestic league; then surely he warrants a call-up to his own national team on merit alone, not being ruled-out because of his date-of-birth.

 

 

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OFFICIAL: Juventus exercise the buyout option for Pereyra – The Financial Details

 

Juventus has officially exercised the buy-out option for Roberto Maximiliano Pereyra from Udinese. The versatile midfielder is thus confirmed as a Juventus player.

Juventus Football Club takes up the option to sign #Pereyra on a permanent basis from Udinese: http://t.co/VE4d20yesg http://pic.twitter.com/sOVXFcaLhg

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) June 23, 2015

In keeping with the agreement struck with the Friulian club last July, the Turin giantswill pay Udinese €14 million in three installments. Juventus had paid €1.5 million in July 2014 for the loan with an option to buy.

The value of the acquisition could rise by €1.5 million depending on the achievement of certain sporting objectives during the course of the contract.

The player will continue to earn a base salary of €1.5 million, on a deal he signed last year that expires on June 30, 2019.

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Mercato Preview: Lazio Must Learn From Liverpool’s Mistakes

Having secured a spot in Europe, Lazio’s top brass must now dig deep to prepare their matchday squad for a three-cup calendar.

Liverpool’s Lesson

The Rome club’s remarkable rise must now be inevitably hampered by their biggest challenge yet: to put up a challenge on European and domestic fronts.

Their enviable finishing position (3rd), their attacking flair (only one goal off Juventus’ 72) and their sought-after superstar (Felipe Anderson) recall a similar situation this time a year ago, but at a different club: Brendan Rogers’ league runners-up Liverpool.

Liverpool, too, had made full use of a season without even Europa League; they, too, had upset the league’s established forces by leaping from outside of the top six into the top three. Forced to cash in on Luis Suarez – just as Lazio may be letting go of Anderson – and with the influx of cash from a high finish, they went and bought: Balotelli, Lambert, Lovren, Lallana, Can, Moreno, Markovic. €110m.

In the space of three months, Rodgers’ men went from the most exciting attacking side in the league to the most frustrating: with Sturridge sidelined, the remaining strikers could only muster eight goals between them all year. Lovren proved to be a pig in a poke; the rest of the defence was as leaky as an industrial colander. They ended sixth after a late surge, but crashed out of both cups.

Now Lazio must take from Liverpool’s fate one lesson: that to plunge into Europe without a Europe-ready squad is as detrimental to your continental campaign as it is to your domestic one.

Galling though it may be, Lazio will also want to look across the city for an example. Roma fleshed out their squad with a few canny low-cost deals last summer, though strangely nearly lost it all only once they had been relieved of Champions League duty. Whether the giallorossi’s season can be considered a success or not, Lazio would surely rather emulate that than follow in Liverpool’s footsteps.

What Lazio can learn from their neighbours is that the season after a boom should be seen primarily as an opportunity to build, not win. Time after time, clubs around Europe have demonstrated that it is far easier to succeed domestically when that is your only focus; to do so while putting up a fight on the continent is a far more difficult task.

Therefore Lazio’s priority should be looking to consolidate their place in Italy’s top four teams, laying down the foundations now for a competitive decade and using their explosion this season to begin a more stable upwards trajectory.

Strategy: Quality and Quantity

In order to increase the squad’s depth, sporting director Igli Tare will be looking to bring in both quantity and quality.

Quantity, because reserve players are an invaluable asset with three fixtures a week. The inevitable onslaught of injuries which every good manager must reckon with can only be absorbed with reliable older faces who are happy to sit on the bench, or promising young names ready to work hard for manager Pioli’s nod.

Youngsters such as Onazi and Cataldi may be fighting to fill the gap left by Biglia, the World Cup finalist wanted by Real Madrid. To add to a talented pool of midfielders, Tare is working on bringing in Jose Mauri from Parma or two names who caught the eye in Rio: Jordy Clasie and Granit Xhaka of Holland and Switzerland respectively.

Replacing Felipe Anderson, also sought after by big clubs, could be Guingamp’s Claudio Beauvue, Liverpool’s Fabio Borini or even Dani Osvaldo, whose entourage has reportedly been contacted. Keita Balde, already on the roster, will hope to make the step in quality that Lazio fans have been waiting for to fill Anderson’s boots.

In the defence, Luca Caldirola of Werder Bremen and  Dória of Marseille have been suggested but the only figure likely to alter the current back four would be Wesley Hoedt of AZ Alkmaar.

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Where do Milan go from here?

Geoffrey Kondogbia already long gone to Inter and Jackson Martinez slipping away as rumors link the Colombian to Atletico Madrid. What is next for the Rossoneri?

After Bee Taechaubol’s arrival a few weeks ago, optimism spread like wildfire across the Milan universe as perhaps significant financial investment was in sight. Links to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jackson Martinez, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Mats Hummels took over Twitter, leaving Milan supporters dreaming of a red and black revival for 2015-16 and beyond. Fast forward two weeks and all four seemingly slip out of the grasp of Adriano Galliani as Kondogbia rejected Milan in favor of Inter, while Martinez inches closer to a La Liga move with Atletico Madrid. Where do the rossoneri go from here?

A club ridden with holes and desperate for reinforcement, the 7-time Champions League winners find themselves scrambling around. With a new week comes new rumors and today, it was no different. Former target, Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Axel Wistel, has been rumored once again as a primary target for the club, according to several reports out of Italy. Giannelli Imbula (Marseille), Andrea Bertolacci (Roma/Genoa) and José Mauri (Parma) have also been linked with a move to the San Siro outfit, the latter (Mauri) reportedly very close to a free transfer to the red and black. However, if you are a proud supporter of the club, it would be wise hold off on the celebration as we are accustomed to losing targets in the final hour of negotiations.

The needs of the Rossoneri couldn’t be more clear, it’s the intentions of the management that are foggy. Milan could start their summer by re-signing Nigel de Jong to a two-year deal and bringing back what seemed to be the only consistent player the club had last season. From there, a large sum of money needs to be invested into a solid striker, additional midfield depth that can inject creative juices to an area so thirsty for it and legitimate central defenders capable of improving on one of the worst defensive displays in the club’s history.

As Italian clubs improve their squads for next season, it is Milan who remain the quietest of all. The good news, if there is any at this point, is that it’s June. Galliani, Berlusconi and Mr. Bee have ample time to prove that their heart is in the right place with the club. But can we trust in the higher-ups to prove to the millions of supporters that they care about significant improvement for 2015-16?

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Parma’s Mauri inches closer to Milan

After whiffing on Monaco’s Geoffrey Kondogbia, A.C. Milan appear to be on the verge of adding 19-year old midfielder José Mauri from Parma

With French midfielder and primary midfield target Geoffrey Kondogbia already an Inter player, it appears that the rossoneri have set their sights on alternatives, one being Parma’s young teenage centrocampista José Mauri.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport’s Carlo Laudisa, the 19-year old is ready to join Milan, with an agreement in place to keep the starlet under contract until 2019. In addition to this report, Gianluca Di Marzio has confirmed that the player will sign with the club on a free transfer, due in large part to the issues that lie with the gialloblu. 

Mauri has been on the radar of many clubs across Italy but has been linked with Milan for what seems like months dating back to the middle of the season. The player was one of the lone bright spots to an otherwise disappointing and sad season for Parma, making 33 appearances, scoring 2 goals and assisting two.

Parma, who declared bankruptcy, have officially been demoted to Serie D, Italy’s fifth division. Because of this, many of their players will become readily available to those clubs at little to no cost. If Milan do manage to bring in Mauri on a free transfer, it’ll be a nice place to start for the club who had high expectations just days ago with Kondogbia before Galliani and Doyen Sports CEO Nelio Lucas failed in their efforts to secure the prized 22-year old.

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