I think once we acquire a bigtime midfielder and defender this season Im going to take a month off, all of these rumors and speculations are getting insane. As crazy as it has been lately I truly love doing this and sharing with the readers what information I feel is interesting and thought provoking about my beloved Juventus. It is also my job to weed through the ridiculous stuff like the Lampard, Ricardo Olivera, Buffon to Necaxa and other rumors so that we can stay sane. Lately I've enjoyed the feedback from the readers, Sofia from Canada always well spoken, Marcello, and now fellow met fan Michael from NY, to all the others I appreciate your kind words and interest in my reporting. Michael I did not make it out to Shea this friday busy with work, but im hoping to go see the Binghamton team this week since they are in CT.
Now we've missed out on Frings, Metzelder, and Lupoli and now to add insult to injury we've lost out on another great talent. In our weakest position central midfield, we lost out on Brazilian phenom Lucas Leiva to Liverpool. The under 20 captain is said to be the heir to Emerson and Gilberto Silva in the Selecao midfield. This one is brutal for me to swallow, I've been tracking Leiva since this winter and kept thinking to myself this is a perfect addition from the South American crop of young stars. In high profile stakes all the top clubs have dipped into the market to scoop these stars up, Milan with Kaka recently added Grimi, Real Madrid with Robinho, Gago, Diogo, & Higuain, Arsenal - Denilson, Barcelona - Messi, Liverpool with Paletta & Mascherano. Now Leiva is only 20 but posses great skills for his age at such a difficult position and is behind Gerrard, Masherano, Xabi, and Sissoko on the Liverpool depth chart. Now im sure he will be loaned out to gain experience but why why WHY did Liverpool win over this youngster. Even if Sissoko leaves he is behind 2 of the best players in the world at the position, instead if our management would quit playing with themselves we could have had the start of a beautiful midfield. And no im not saying we need to sign South American's, if it was my way it would be mostly an Italian team, but where there is talent available you must throw your money. Plus we havent scouted south america since the Gladstone experiment in the summer of 05. Unless we are in for Pato I wouldn't expect anyone from south america coming this summer, no problem with me. The problem is missing out on Leiva, oh well.
Ravenna, currently in Serie C1/B have earned promotion to Serie B next season and are already looking to reinforce their squad. Now why does anyone care about this? because their team will probably tinted Bianconero next season, like Siena of 05-06' (Paro, Guzman, Gastaldello, Molinaro, Volpato, Legrottaglie, Mirante, Tudor). The Serie B newcomers are interested in the services of Paolo De Ceglie, Dario Venitucci, **Sebastian Giovinco**, Michele Paolucci, and Rey Volpato. Ravenna sporting, Giorgio Buffone director said that it is still premature to put out the names because so many other teams are interested in loan deals for the upcoming stars. Ravenna are already on good terms with Juventus as this season they have defender Stefano Dicuonzo, midfielder Matteo Cavagna, and striker Francesco Volpe all members of Juventus' Primavera on loan. For me give them Venitucci and De Ceglie, I'd rather loan the others out to Serie A clubs for better experience, send them all to Siena again!
3rd quarter losses - According to Forbes, the Bianconeri club lost 4.5 million euros this 3rd quarter compared to a 6.6 million profit last year. No need to break this one down.
Fernando Menegazzo- According to L'Equipe the Brazilian midfielder currently with Bordeaux is being linked with Juventus. No thanks, give me Mavuba.
Livorno- President Aldo Spinelli would like to deal with Juventus this offseason for some loan deals, they want youngsters Francesco Volpe (mentioned above on loan at Ravenna), midfielder Antonio Nocerino (loan at Piacenza), midfielder Viktor Boudianski (loan at Ascoli), and primavera striker Ricky Maniero. I cant stand Livorno, so if you ask me I say no to all of it, they had Palladino last season thats all the business I'd give them. This just tells us one thing, most of our youngsters are in very high demand, so now we must distribute wisely, which im all for so they can gain experience. In Serie A continue the loans at Siena, send some to Reggina, and thats it for A. In Serie B you can distribute them throughout, as long as Ascoli and Crotone get some.
Ondrej Mazuch- ??? well im wondering the same thing, no clue who he is all I know is he has played for the youth ranks of the Czech national team and that he is a very promising defender and that we have signed him. He is compared to a younger version of Grygera, so I guess we are getting 2 different age versions of the same Czech defender, whatever floats your boat, could be a nice investment. wow I actualy managed to navigate the FC Brno site which is in CZECH! to find Mazuch's profile, here ya go
Im sure you heard the Iaquinta rumors, im not realy spreading the word because im skeptical but I guess it would not be fair if i didnt. He's a good player, but he would not get space to play here at Juventus. Im not going to go in depth into this because nothing is official yet.
More big news, one of my favorites Sebastian GIOVINCO! is getting his Serie B chance next season with........... (drum roll)............. VICENZA. They are a lucky squad to have this youngster available, personaly I was hoping he'd be loaned out to a lower level Serie A squad but oh well. Sampdoria is asking for Paro, and Udinese for Nocerino. Boy im exhausted from all of this stuff
Chuckle of the day not that funny but hey its a wednesday
special thanks to Ascoli's Settembre Bianconeri for their lovely video I used to show my displeasure with Livorno...