The news today was that Dieter Hoeness, director general of Wolfsburg, was in Turin. And not just taking in a casual stroll at the Superga, but at 32 Corso Galileo Ferraris. Cue madness all over the Gazzetta, Sky Sport, Tuttosport, etc, etc, etc. Rumors flared up that Juventus were again interested in Dzeko, yada yada yada. At the same time, Milos Krasic comes out with his ennesimo plea to the Vecchia Signora, claiming he has agreed personal terms with the club and is just awaiting for the clubs to come to an agreement. At this point, I think Juventus could offer Krasic a hovel and a bag of dirt, and he'd say yes. Anyways, point is, being non-EU citizens unlike illustrious Italians by the name of Amauri and Diego, we can't have both. So where do we go from here?
The rumors have been picking up the last few days, as it appears this is the week that Marotta will clear roughly 1/2 the team off of the payroll. Camoranesi (tear), Poulsen, and Tiago are only steps away from signing with foreign clubs, and Grosso and Zebina may be following soon behind their steps. The club attempted to rescind Salihamidzic's contract, which he refused, but Marotta won't let him stay that easy. As they say, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And Marotta has one eye, therefore the metaphor perfectly fits. According to the Gazzetta's old salary lists, if he is successful in clearing all of this out, that's about 24mil in payroll saved over the next few years, and Grosso would really be the only one needing a replacement. And that's ignoring the 10-15mil or so in transfer fees they might bring in.
So the developments in sales has spurred interest in buys. Back on the table are Milos Krasic, and Edin Dzeko. Given Wolfsburg meeting us in Turin (although recent stories have said Hoeness refuses to budge on the 40mil price tag) it seems Krasic is the 2nd option, and that perhaps us, not CSKA, are the ones delaying the deal. Which is kind of cruel to Milos, but that's how a savvy mercato operator works, eh? Tuttosport has even gotten bored of the whole Krasic-Dzeko story, so they start throwing in names like Elia, Bastos, etc, just to keep it spicy. And there is the possibility that Marotta will pull a 180 and sign someone else, but it looks unlikely at this point.
So which player to sign? Personally, I'd rather Krasic. Our wings look decent, although I think he would add some real quality...Lanzafame makes me heart flutter, but Pepe doesn't really do the same, and Martinez, while I believe in him, is rather inconsistent. Signing Dzeko would be nice and all, but I don't see it happening without one of our strikers leaving. And it looks like Trez and Amauri have convinced Delneri enough during preseason training, and no one is going to bid for Iaquinta when he's injured, coming off a very injured season. And much as Tuttosport would like to throw Diego under the figurative VW bus, swapping a prima punta for a seconda punta (that Delneri has put public faith in) doesn't seem likely.
Is Krasic a fuoriclasse? Yes, I think so, even though they play different positions. But that doesn't matter at this point, as I think that our strikers inertia (mercato-wise, not on the pitch although that's probably a correct term for it as well) combined with Wolfsburg high-asking price means Dzeko is very, very unlikely. Krasic on the other hand isn't, he was left on the bench for the Moscow derby and now has agreed terms with Juventus, and I believe that we're holding back right now. If we ended interest in Dzeko, I think CSKA would accept our offer tomorrow. But it seems Dzeko remains Agnelli and Marotta's dream.
Should this story continue to drag-on, perhaps a key influence will be the Werder-Samp game. Should Werder prevail, we might be able to nab Pazzini, who would make the whole Dzeko transfer incredibly redundant. And that would allow us to bring Milos to Turin as well. All eyes will be on the Cassano-Ozil battle in a few weeks.