Even though his agent Mino Raiola says nothing has been signed yet, Mario Balotelli will definitely be a Manchester City player by the end of the week. The soon to be 20 year old left with Inter for their USA tour (where they will play Manchester City in a friendly on Saturday) just to make it not obvious that he’s leaving. In the training sessions in the USA so far, the team has been working with the ball while Balotelli has been training alone in the gym and the pool. Balotelli will reunite with Roberto Mancini, who introduced Balotelli to Serie A two years ago. Love him or hate him, you have to acknowledge that Balotelli is a talent and personally I hope he fixes his head so he can finally realize his potential and become a star for Italy (especially at a time when Italy needs young talents). Am I hopeful? Not really. Balotelli is nuts. More news after the jump.

-Tomorrow the Serie A calendar will be unveiled. The same format will be used as last season (no seeding system) so it’s possible that the big teams could meet on the first day. Also the game times are a little different this season. Any team involved in a Champions League match during the week will play on Friday. Saturday stays the same with two games, one anticipo at 6 PM and a posticipo at 8:45. Sundays have changed. There will be a lunch time game like the EPL has at 12:30 pm (meaning earlier wake up times for US fans watching calcio, which stinks), followed by the other teams playing at the normal 3 PM and then the posticipo at 8:45 pm. The Lega will also experiment with a Monday night game like the EPL has, and the experiment will be used only 6 or 7 times this season. When a Monday night game is to be played, it will be the Saturday 6 PM anticipo which will be moved to the Monday slot. I don’t like this new schedule. Why did they have to change a good thing. They complain about Italian attendance records, yet they now expect people to forget about lunch on Sunday and go to a soccer game instead. Never get between Italians and food!

-Looks like Italy goalkeeper Federico Marchetti and Cagliari have decided to go their separate ways. While it’s always been known that Marchetti has had many clubs interested in him, it always looked like he would stay in Sardegna. However Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino didn’t like an interview Marchetti gave to Gazzetta dello Sport where he said he was open to leave. Cellino said Marchetti should have talked to him first. So, Cagliari have officially announced that Marchetti is on the market, and if he leaves, the starting goalkeeper will be Michele Agazzi and not Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino as some media outlets reported. For Marchetti, the most viable option right now looks like a move to England, seeing as most Italian sides have already taken care of their goalkeeping situation.

-Wondering why Sampdoria’s transfer campaign has pretty much sucked so far? Well sporting director Sergio Gasparin said their mercato depends on what happens with the Champions League qualifier. Pretty stupid, because if Samp do qualify for the Champions League group stage, that will occur on August 25th, allowing Gasparin only 6 days to to find some players before the mercato closes on the 31st.

-Gianluca Zambrotta is an optimist I guess. He says that Milan even without a few other signings is competitive already. I don’t know Zambrotta, when your entire midfield is over 30 it’s pretty hard to be competitive…

-Parma sporting director Pietro Leonardi has come out and said that Parma looking for a player with fantasista qualities. He said that Sebastian Giovinco, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Alessandro Diamanti all fit the bill and Parma is looking to get one of the three.

-Speaking of Giovinco, it was reported today that Bari has surpassed Parma and is now in pole position to get Giovinco. I don’t know how true that is, especially since Bari owner Vincenzo Matarrese came out today and said they will only sing Giovinco on loan and nothing else. They don’t want to pay money for him.

-Fiorentina will apparently close the deal with Liverpool to bring fullback Emiliano Insua to Florence before the end of the day. Let’s see if that happens.

-Eder, dubbed the “Kaka of Serie B”, was Serie B’s top goalscorer last season and is looking for a move to a bigger club. According to reports Lazio and Empoli have been discussing a deal for weeks and apparently it is very close to being done. Lotito has to spend those 18 million euro he got for Kolarov on something…

-Inter are looking to use the money received from the Balotelli sale (and maybe eventually Maicon’s) to bring in two of Bentiez’s pupils: Mascherano and Kuyt. While it is almost fairly certain that Mascherano will be joining the Nerazzurri this summer, the Kuyt deal will be a little more complicated, but could be made easier if Liverpool wind up singing Royston Drenthe.

-Roma really want West Ham and Switzerland winger Valon Behrami. They apparently want him on loan with an option to buy, but West Ham isn’t interested in that type of deal. So Roma may have to give the London club some players, and they might decide to hand over Brazilian goalkeeper Doni and young Italian striker Stefano Okaka, who spent the second part of last season in London on loan with Fulham. I wonder how the Roma fans will react to an ex-Laziale playing for them.

-Luca Cigarini was once touted as the new Pirlo, but hasn’t really lived up to the billing. Napoli spent a load of money on him last summer but once Mazzarri showed up he decided there was no room for Ciga in his starting 11. So Cigarini wants to move on, and Sevilla are rumored to be interested (where he would form an all-Italian central midfield pairing with Tiberio Guarente, and the two played together at Atalanta). Sevilla have supposedly put in an offer that is deemed too low for Napoli: 300,000 euro for the loan and then the option to buy for 6 million at the end of the season.

-Newly-promoted Brescia have done next to nothing on the transfer market, only signing goalkeeper Matteo Sereni so far. Manager Beppe Iachini announced to the press today that for Brescia to achieve salvation the squad needs some reinforcements. Brescia are looking at bringing in West Ham’s Alessandro Diamanti. That would be a great move, but I don’t know if Diamanti would accept a move to relegation zone team.

-Mauro Camoranesi has been linked with a move away from Juve since May. First it was thought he would go to Olympiakos, but the Greek club couldn’t finalize the deal. Now it seems newly-promoted La Liga side Hercules CF is interested in the Italo-Argentine, and they are willing to offer him two year deal worth 1.5 million euro a season.

-And finally, Nicolas Burdisso. The Argentinian defender desperately wants a permanent move to Roma, but the Giallorossi really don’t have that much money to spend. In addition, after Totti’s words to the press about Inter, they are not going to be the easiest to negotiate with. It’s almost a month until the start of the Serie A season, and Burdisso’s future is still unclear.

On behalf of the Italy Offside, I’d like to congratulate Ronaldinho on his pregnancy. He looks about 4 months in. Can’t wait to see him walking around the pitches of Serie A come August. Also, I’m extremely happy that the World Cup is over. Why? Because now we can completely focus on Serie A again! I’m in full Serie A mode now and can’t wait for this upcoming season to get started.

Various Serie A news from the day:

- Happy Birthday Antonio Cassano! Fantantonio turns 28 today. It sucks that he wasted 3 years of his career and is now 28 years old and has won nothing. (OK so technically he did win the 2006-2007 La Liga title) Speaking of Cassano, funny new commercial with his fat alter ego.

-Inter’s pre-season ritiro started today and Rafa Benitez had a press conference. He talked about Inter’s objectives for the coming season, the lack of air conditioning in the press conference room, and how he forgot how to drive on the right side of the road. He also said he learned Italian when he played for Real Madrid’s youth team in the Viareggio tournament many years ago.

-Benitez said he wants to get to know Mario Balotelli and see him in training before deciding whether he needs to be sold or not. Click here for pictures of Balotelli’s vacation.

-Last thing about Inter, we don’t really know the futures of Beppe Baresi and Lele Oriali. Baresi was Mourinho’s assistant the past two seasons, but with Benitez bringing along Mauricio Pellegrino to be his assistant, Baresi’s future is unknown. Apparently Marco Branca and Massimo Moratti have conflicting ideas. When Branca was asked about Baresi he said “he will coach one of the youth teams” and when Moratti was asked about Baresi he said “Baresi will remain the assistant”. Oriali on the other hand doesn’t want to be the intermediary between the team and the front office so he will most likely close his rapport with his former club. Rumors are he may join the Manchester City staff with old friend Roberto Mancini.

-Parma showed up to pre-season ritiro today with 32 players. They better be careful that’s almost as many as Lazio! Sporting director Pietro Leonardi has some work to do and sell some players. 32 players is way too much for a club only playing in one competition next season (two if you count the Coppa Italia).

-Looks like Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino was watching Uruguay’s games during the World Cup. He’s interested in signing Penarol midfielder Egidio Arevalo, who had a good tournament.

-Lecce operated a trade today, getting 22 year old fullback Davide Brivio from Vicenza and sending French striker Alain Baclet in the other direction. Brivio is an Italy U-21 international.

-Genoa and Lazio are still fighting it out for Ghana and Portsmouth midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng. Genoa is said to be the closer of the two clubs, as they have come to terms with the player but not with Portsmouth. On the other hand Lazio have come to terms with Portsmouth but not with the player.

-Lazio renewed Christian Brocchi’s contract today until 2012. The former Milan midfielder has been a stalwart in Lazio’s midfield since his arrival and got a much earned renewal.

-And one last Lazio note. Apparently midfielder Christian Manfredini got on the bus today to go to pre-season training and was told to get off! Manfredini obliged and it looks like he will be sold somewhere in the coming days. Isn’t that such a nice way to tell a player he doesn’t have a future at the club?

-A few days ago Fiorentina sporting director Pantaleo Corvino said he has signed a player with a last name ending in the letter C. That player is Celtic and Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc, who didn’t leave with Celtic on their summer tour and was made an official Fiorentina player today (pending a medical). Boruc is said to have signed for close to 3 million euro and this raises the question whether they will be keeping Sebastien Frey or selling him to make some extra cash.

-New Chievo boss Stefano Pioli held a press conference today and said Chievo’s objective next season will be to play “beautiful calcio”. Let’s hope he’s telling the truth, because Chievo haven’t even been remotely interesting to watch since their first miracle season with Delneri back in 2001/2002.

-Palermo, after signing Polish international defender Kamil Glik, have signed another defender, Milan youth product Matteo Darmian. They have acquired him in a co-ownership deal and Darmian, last season at Padova on loan, will get his first taste of Serie A. This deal was made official today but was kind of official yesterday when Palermo listed him as one of the players departing for Palermo’s pre-season training camp. Oops.

-Simone Padoin, who I consider one of the most underrated players in Italy, was being followed by many clubs after Atalanta’s relegation but Padoin put a stop to those rumors today saying he is loyal to Bergamo and will stay with the Orobici to help them return to Serie A immediately.

-Number of moves Napoli has made on the transfer market so far: 0.

-Sampdoria is preparing for their Champions League filled season and they have announced they will make 3 more signings: a fullback, a winger, and a backup goalkeeper.

-There were rumors that Milan wanted the services of Genoa’s Greek international defender Sokratis Papa-how ever you spell it-opoulos. Today Milan director Ariedo Braida said that was all talk and won’t happen. Basically he’s saying: STOP BOTHERING US WE HAVE NO MONEY.

-Palermo want Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas Pezzini and admitted they have made an official offer. Too bad Pezzini won’t be on the same team as Pazzini, that would have confused so many announcers.

-Kudos to Bologna’s new president Sergio Porcedda, who is already making moves to bring in reinforcements. He said that they will a top striker before the summer ends and already has deals in place to bring in defender Andrea Esposito and goalkeeper Cristiano Lupatelli.

-Everyday Bari manager Giampiero Ventura says the same thing to the press: “I would like Andrea Ranocchia back for the coming season. I also would like Giovinco, he would explode here.” I’ve seen this reported every day for at least the past 4 days. Let’s see how long it goes.

And finally, all over you see many “World Cup best XI’s”. Well, I’ll be different and post my “World Cup Worst XI”:

Buffon (Marchetti), Zambrotta-Cannavaro-Chiellini-Criscito, De Rossi-Montolivo, Pepe-Marchisio-Iaquinta, Gilardino.

BEST XI OF FOLLOWING THE ITALY OFFSIDE EVERY DAY:
Italy Offside Twitter
Italy Offside Facebook Page

So June has come and gone and July has arrived. The transfer market is now officially open, and pre-season training camps either have started or will be starting very soon. The non-EU regulation hasn’t gone down very well with the Lega Calcio, and the Lega is calling for it to be revoked or at least postponed to the winter transfer market. The FIGC is not budging, and saying that the ruling will stand. The mercato has been on the quiet side, basically because most teams have no money to spend. Speaking of teams with no money to spend, it looks like the Sensi family is leaving Roma this week after years of rumors that they no longer had the money to run the club. The Sensi family will leave and Unicredit bank will take control of the club. More news and notes after the jump.

-Lazio looks close to signing one of the World Cup’s most impressive players, Kevin-Prince Boateng of Ghana. The German-born midfielder was followed by Genoa too but the Rossoblu seem to have given up and left the player to Lazio, who have agreed to terms with Portsmouth but still need to agree to salary terms with the player. Not a bad signing for Lazio I want to see how he will fare in Serie A.

-Lazio made one signing official today: Australian international Mark Bresciano on a free transfer. The midfielder signed a three year deal worth 1 million euro a season.

-Roma are having trouble finding the money to sign Nicholas Burdisso permanently, and if they don’t find a deal soon they may try to get Benfica’s Brazilian center back Luisao. Burdisso’s agent said he’s waiting for Roma to sign his client but for the time being it looks like he will start pre-season training with Inter.

-Michele Paolucci, who probably hated the last 6 months of his career wilting away on the Juve bench, is being followed by Bari. Bari have to make a deal with Siena, and they are offering winger Antonio Langella.

-Giuseppe Rossi is looking to move back to Serie A and today a surprise link was reported: a return to Parma. It seems the Gialloblu are seriously looking into swooping for their former youth product and bringing him back after his more than successful stint back in 2007. It’s a hard deal though, because of both his transfer fee and his salary.

-Looks like Inter are asking the following question going into next season: Balotelli or Maicon? Reports say that Moratti only wants to sell one of the two this summer, not both. I guess it will come down to Inter and Benitez to decide. Both have similar transfer fees (Moratti said 40 million euro can take away Balotelli and Maicon’s fee is between 30 and 40 million) and both players wouldn’t have a hard time leaving. I guess we’ll have to see who they choose.

-Luca Cigarini didn’t have the season he expected. Napoli spent 12 million euro on him and under Donadoni he started but when Mazzarri came along he became a bench warmer and his season was full of highs and lows. Cigarini is still a promising player and it looks like Villarreal is interested in obtaining his services. Cigarini’s slow style of play would probably fit well in the Spanish game. A couple of weeks ago Cigarini was also linked to Espanyol.

-Although David Trezeguet is present at Juve’s pre-season training camp, he may leave before the month ends. Lots of teams are interested in the French striker’s services, including some MLS teams. Trezeguet may decide to try an American adventure.

-Edinson Cavani will be leaving Palermo, but he won’t be going to Inter. Why? Because Maurizio Zamparini says so. He said he doesn’t like how their directors work and he will be going abroad, most probably to Wolfsburg.

-Cagliari boss Massimo Cellino says that he has a star from the World Cup to sign for Cagliari’s midfield and his name hasn’t been reported in the press yet. He also said that Cagliari could try to bring back Roberto Acquafresca after a disappointing season at Atalanta and Genoa.

That day in late June has come again where sporting directors from all over Italy pile into the ATA Quark Hotel in Milan and try to resolve any co-ownership issues they have. They can either renew the co-ownership for another season, resolve it before 7 PM today, or else go to the blind auction tomorrow. Here is a list of all co-ownership deals that went on today:

STEFANO SCAPPINI: Co-ownership renewed between Sampdoria and Ravenna
MICHAEL AGAZZI: Cagliari bought the other half from Triestina and now own 100%
LORENZO ARIAUDO: Cagliari exercised the option to buy half of his rights from Juventus and now co-own him with Juve.
RADJA NAINGGOLAN: Cagliari exercised the option to buy half of his rights from Piacenza and now co-own him with Piacenza.
STEFANO DEL SANTE: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Varese
JAN HABLE: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Ascoli
ARTURO LUPOLI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Ascoli
NICCOLO’ MANFREDINI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Reggiana
EDOARDO PAZZAGLI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Prato
MARCO ROMIZI: Fiorentina bought the other half from Reggiana and now own 100%
ANDREA MORELLI: 50% of his rights sold from Fiorentina to Juve Stabia, they now co-own
MATTEO ARATI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Reggiana
N’DIAYE PAPA WAIGO: Genoa and Fiorentina go to blind auction
MARCO PAROLO: Cesena bought the other 50% of his rights from Chievo and now own 100%
SERGIO FLOCCARI: Lazio exercised the option to buy the other half of his rights from Genoa and now own 100%
MASSIMO CODA: Cagliari sold 50% of his rights to Cremonese and now co-own with them
ENRICO COTZA: Cagliari sold 50% of his rights to Alghero and now co-own with them
DOMINIQUE MALONGA: Cesena exercised the option to buy 50% of his rights from Torino and now co-own him with Torino
EMMANUEL LEDESMA: Novara chose not to exercise the option of buying half of his rights from Genoa
PABLO GRANOCHE: Chievo bought the other half of his rights from Triestina and now own him 100%
IVAN FATIC: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Genoa
VALERIO FOGLIO: L’AlbinoLeffe riscatta l’intero cartellino dal Vicenza
EMANUELE TESTARDI: Sampdoria bought the other 50% of his rights from Pescara and now own him 100%
DANILO SODDIMO: Pescara bought the other 50% of his rights from Sampdoria and now own him 100%
ENRICO ALFONSO: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Inter
MICHELE RIGIONE: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Inter
MARCELLO COTTAFAVA:Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Triestina
EZEQUIEL MATIAS SCHELOTTO: Atalanta bought the other 50% from Cesena and now own him 100% but loaned to Cesena for next season
BOSKO JANKOVIC: Co-ownership renewed between Genoa and Palermo
DANIELE MANNINI: Co-ownership renewed between Sampdoria and Napoli
MARCO MOTTA: Roma and Udinese will go to a blind auction
RAFFAELE PALLADINO: Co-ownership renewed between Genoa and Juventus
DOMENICO CRISCITO: Genoa bought the other 50% of his rights from Juventus and now own him 100%
LUIS JIMENEZ: Inter and Ternana will go to a blind auction
GIANNI MUNARI: Co-ownership renewed between Lecce and Palermo
ANTONIO LANGELLA: Udinese and Bari will go to a blind auction
PAULO BARRETO: Bari and Udinese will go to a blind auction
RICCARDO MEGGIORINI: Genoa and Bari will go to a blind auction
DAVIDE LANZAFAME: Juventus bought the other 50% of his rights from Palermo and now own him 100%
MICHELE PAOLUCCI: Juventus bought the other 50% of his rights from Siena and now own him 100%
DANIELE GALLOPPA: Co-ownership renewed between Parma and Siena
REGINALDO: Co-ownership renewed between Parma and Siena
DAVIDE ASTORI: Co-ownership renewed between Milan and Cagliari
ALBERTO PALOSCHI: Co-ownership renewed between Milan and Parma
JONATHAN BIABIANY: Inter bought the other 50% of his rights from Parma and now own him 100%
MCDONALD MARIGA: Inter bought the other 50% of his rights from Parma and now own him 100%

That day in late June has come again where sporting directors from all over Italy pile into the ATA Quark Hotel in Milan and try to resolve any co-ownership issues they have. They can either renew the co-ownership for another season, resolve it before 7 PM today, or else go to the blind auction tomorrow. Here is a list of all co-ownership deals that went on today:

STEFANO SCAPPINI: Co-ownership renewed between Sampdoria and Ravenna
MICHAEL AGAZZI: Cagliari bought the other half from Triestina and now own 100%
LORENZO ARIAUDO: Cagliari exercised the option to buy half of his rights from Juventus and now co-own him with Juve.
RADJA NAINGGOLAN: Cagliari exercised the option to buy half of his rights from Piacenza and now co-own him with Piacenza.
STEFANO DEL SANTE: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Varese
JAN HABLE: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Ascoli
ARTURO LUPOLI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Ascoli
NICCOLO’ MANFREDINI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Reggiana
EDOARDO PAZZAGLI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Prato
MARCO ROMIZI: Fiorentina bought the other half from Reggiana and now own 100%
ANDREA MORELLI: 50% of his rights sold from Fiorentina to Juve Stabia, they now co-own
MATTEO ARATI: Co-ownership renewed between Fiorentina and Reggiana
N’DIAYE PAPA WAIGO: Genoa and Fiorentina go to blind auction
MARCO PAROLO: Cesena bought the other 50% of his rights from Chievo and now own 100%
SERGIO FLOCCARI: Lazio exercised the option to buy the other half of his rights from Genoa and now own 100%
MASSIMO CODA: Cagliari sold 50% of his rights to Cremonese and now co-own with them
ENRICO COTZA: Cagliari sold 50% of his rights to Alghero and now co-own with them
DOMINIQUE MALONGA: Cesena exercised the option to buy 50% of his rights from Torino and now co-own him with Torino
EMMANUEL LEDESMA: Novara chose not to exercise the option of buying half of his rights from Genoa
PABLO GRANOCHE: Chievo bought the other half of his rights from Triestina and now own him 100%
IVAN FATIC: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Genoa
VALERIO FOGLIO: L’AlbinoLeffe riscatta l’intero cartellino dal Vicenza
EMANUELE TESTARDI: Sampdoria bought the other 50% of his rights from Pescara and now own him 100%
DANILO SODDIMO: Pescara bought the other 50% of his rights from Sampdoria and now own him 100%
ENRICO ALFONSO: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Inter
MICHELE RIGIONE: Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Inter
MARCELLO COTTAFAVA:Co-ownership renewed between Chievo and Triestina
EZEQUIEL MATIAS SCHELOTTO: Atalanta bought the other 50% from Cesena and now own him 100% but loaned to Cesena for next season
BOSKO JANKOVIC: Co-ownership renewed between Genoa and Palermo
DANIELE MANNINI: Co-ownership renewed between Sampdoria and Napoli
MARCO MOTTA: Roma and Udinese will go to a blind auction
RAFFAELE PALLADINO: Co-ownership renewed between Genoa and Juventus
DOMENICO CRISCITO: Genoa bought the other 50% of his rights from Juventus and now own him 100%
LUIS JIMENEZ: Inter and Ternana will go to a blind auction
GIANNI MUNARI: Co-ownership renewed between Lecce and Palermo
ANTONIO LANGELLA: Udinese and Bari will go to a blind auction
PAULO BARRETO: Bari and Udinese will go to a blind auction
RICCARDO MEGGIORINI: Genoa and Bari will go to a blind auction
DAVIDE LANZAFAME: Juventus bought the other 50% of his rights from Palermo and now own him 100%
MICHELE PAOLUCCI: Juventus bought the other 50% of his rights from Siena and now own him 100%
DANIELE GALLOPPA: Co-ownership renewed between Parma and Siena
REGINALDO: Co-ownership renewed between Parma and Siena
DAVIDE ASTORI: Co-ownership renewed between Milan and Cagliari
ALBERTO PALOSCHI: Co-ownership renewed between Milan and Parma
JONATHAN BIABIANY: Inter bought the other 50% of his rights from Parma and now own him 100%
MCDONALD MARIGA: Inter bought the other 50% of his rights from Parma and now own him 100%

I know, the Italy Offside has been pretty dead recently and I haven’t really added new posts. But you know this tournament called the World Cup has been going on and it’s been pretty interesting. So I’ve been paying attention to that, and let’s be honest, most people are. Sure Serie A clubs are still making moves and trying to solve things for next season, but nothing really serious is going on, and nothing big will happen until probably mid-July when this whole World Cup thing comes to an end and pre-season training begins. But, let’s just sift through some news that has gone on over the past week.

-Atalanta (with new owner Antonio Percassi, who has already owned the club once before) made some cash by selling central midfielder Tiberio Guarante, who was on the radar of many Serie A clubs. However, Guarente was picked up by La Liga side Sevilla, rejecting a move to Genoa. Genoa president Enrico Preziosi got pretty mad at losing Guarente and stated that as long as Percassi is Atalanta owner he would no longer work any deals with the Bergamaschi. However Preziosi can be happy about securing the services of Luca Toni for the next few seasons, and hopes he can be the new Diego Milito.

-Goalkeeper madness in Serie A recently. Because of Buffon’s back troubles, Marotta and Del Neri looked for a solid backup to Italy’s #1. And who better then Marco Storari, who played a big part in Del Neri’s Sampdoria success in the second part of the season. So, Juve shelled out 4.5 million euro for the 33 year old keeper (a nice deal for Milan, who picked him up for next to nothing from Messina a while back). That affected other teams, as Milan was left with only 2 goalkeepers, so they struck a deal with Genoa to bring in World Cup winning goalkeeper Marco Amelia in a loan deal with an option to buy. Amelia had a pretty disappointing season, but if he gets back into form Milan will have made an excellent deal. Both Amelia and Storari are expected to sign their contracts Monday. Those two goalkeeper moves affected Genoa and Sampdoria too. Genoa, without Amelia, now need a starting keeper for next season and have their eyes on Chievo shot-stopper Stefano Sorrentino, who has been excellent in his stint with the Flying Donkeys. The deal is supposedly as good as done. Sampdoria hoped to keep Storari but since it isn’t possible they turned towards Siena keeper Gianluca Curci, who apparently will join Samp in a co-ownership deal. That deal is also apparently as good as done. Chievo are looking to replace the outgoing Sorrentino either with Rubinho (who won’t play at Palermo because of Sirigu) or Atalanta keeper Andrea Consigli. After seeing boss Mimmo Di Carlo move to Sampdoria, Chievo hired Stefano Pioli, who led Sassuolo to the Serie A promotion play-offs this past season. Pioli had a bad experience in Serie A with Parma a couple of years ago.

-Cagliari have reportedly finally let Max Allegri free from his contract, but Allegri still has to sign off on it and he wants some payments Cellino still owes him. This is a never-ending saga. Once the Allegri saga is over, he’ll become manager of Milan and Cagliari will officially appoint Pierpaolo Bisoli as their manager, who led Cesena to Serie A promotion this past season. Allegri wants to bring versatile midfielder Andrea Lazzarri with him to Milan, and Milan will probably thank Cagliari with the full ownership of central defenders Davide Astori and Elia Legati (who was at Crotone in Serie B this season). Cagliari also made their first signing for next season, bringing in fantasista Alex Pinardi from Modena. Pinardi last appeared in Serie A for Lecce back in 2006.

-We all know Rafa Benitez is the next Inter manager (very impressed by his Italian language skills by the way), and it is very likely that Inter’s first signing of the summer will be Argentina captain Javier Mascherano, who apparently will arrive for a fee close to 25 million euro. As the days pass it looks more and more likely that Inter will sell Maicon to Real Madrid for a very large sum of money. Inter also signed former Sampdoria goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi to a 2 year deal. Castellazzi will be Julio Cesar’s back-up for the next two seasons. Francesco Toldo’s future is now unclear. He looks to be debating whether to retire, stay on as third keeper (but what would happen to Orlandoni?), or look for playing time elsewhere. Inter finally got rid of the biggest waste of money in recent years, Ricardo “Trivela” Quaresma. The fast-driving winger got shipped off to the Turkish Super-Lig with Beskitas, and he will try to trivela his way back into form.

-Palermo were frightened a little bit when an offer came in from the EPL (Birmingham to be exact) for Fabrizio Miccoli. However Miccoli showed he is loyal to the colors and announced in a press conference that he isn’t going anywhere. Palermo fans let out a big sigh of relief. Sporting Director Walter Sabatini confirmed that Uruguayan international striker Edinson Cavani will be moving on to greater pastures this summer, with the EPL or the Bundesliga seeming as the most likely destinations. Palermo signed his replacement and it’s Massimo Maccarone, who is coming off an excellent year with Siena. And if one replacement wasn’t good enough, they signed a second: Chilean striker Mauricio Pinilla, who had a superb season with Grosseto in Serie B last season, scoring goals like it was his job. Wait, it is his job.

-Juventus have been busy and Marotta is working hard to get some signings in. Pre-season training is on the horizon for the Bianconeri (July 3rd) and Del Neri hopes to have a lot of things made clear by then. After the signing of Simone Pepe, another winger was signed in Uruguayan winger Jorge Martinez who arrives from Catania. Martinez is a good player but is he Juve-quality? That remains to be seen. The Krasic deal is a million euro away from being done but Juve shouldn’t buy him just because he looks like Pavel Nedved’s brother. They are also trying to sign William Gallas but he wants 3 million euro a season instead of 2 million. Juve have a lot of work to do with selling players as well, as many players need to find new homes.

-Since Bisoli decided to leave, Cesena didn’t take that long to appoint a new manager for their first Serie A campaign in 20 years. Their choice is Massimo Ficcadenti, who was Piacenza manager last season and led them to a nice salvation. He coached Reggina in the first 10 games of the 2007-2008 Serie A season, but was sacked after some very poor results. Honestly I think Cesena made a mistake, they should have went with experience.

-Oh, and everyone should know by now that Adriano has made his return to Italy, signing for Roma. Roma fans hope he won’t be as big as the Colosseum. I think if Adriano does get his head set on straight, Roma will have made a gem of a signing. Maybe he should follow Cassano’s method and marry a 19 year old water polo player. Someone get him the number of the local women’s water polo team.

And to finish, speaking of Cassano, he finally tied the knot yesterday, so congrats to him. The FIGC gave him his wedding gift a few weeks ago when they appointed Cesare Prandelli as the next Azzurri boss.

Following in the footsteps of Fernando Forestieri and Pablo Osvaldo,  Ezequiel Schelotto is the latest South American import to be starring for Italian youth squads. Ever since obtaining his passport and being called up to the Italian U21’s in November 2009 he’s been turning heads across the peninsula. 

 The details surrounding Schelotto’s arrival from Argentina are a little sketchy and\or hard to come by. We know that Ezequiel Schelotto, born in ‘89, basically ‘’showed up” for training in Cesena- a Serie C club at the time – in 2008. The young winger with Italian heritage calcistically grew up in the famed Banfield youth ranks back in Argentina.

After FIFA approved the transfer, he played 6 games, scored a goal, helping Cesena to gain Serie B birth. 6 games were enough to convince Atalanta to sign him on a co-ownership deal, letting the player flourish in Emilia Romagna. It’s already paying off as Schelotto has scored 5 goals in 25 games so far this season.

 Obviously the comparisons to fellow Italo-Argentinean Mauro Camoranesi – World Cup winner who never played for any of Italy’s youth sides- have already started. However, the comparisons aren’t so far fetched 

Marcello – Pimpaliscious – Lippi  has described Schelotto as ”potentially, the best young right-flank player that Italy have at the moment, maybe of any nation in the world”.

He was on Sky Sport, Schelotto had just scored his 5th goal in 15 games for Cesena, maybe Marcello was drunk ? Who knows ?

Nonetheless, Ezequiel’s an all round right sided player blessed with great pace, fancy footwork, wicked crosses and  the ability to instinctively track back and defend when the situation demands it. He knows how to make Italian coaches happy, thus get plenty of playing time.  He can play well in a 4-4-2 but it’s in a 4-2-3-1 where he can really let his skills shine.

Cesena coach Pierpaolo Bisani,  (who, ironically uses the youngster as the 5th midfielder on the right flank of his 3-5-2 formation) had this to say about Schelotto ;

”L’ho sempre detto: potenzialmente questo è un giocatore da Milan, da Inter, da Juventus. So che  la Juventus è venuta a vederlo, così come il Milan, il Bologna e altre squadre

  Ha una capacità di corsa incredibile anche in accelerazione. Deve migliorare tatticamente come tutti i giovani, ma ha un involucro per una grande squadra. Ho visto pochi giocatori con la sua potenza fisica. Se lui rimane con i piedi per terra e con la voglia di migliorarsi, può arrivare a grandissimi livelli.

In serie A non so quanti riuscirebbero a farmarlo quando è lanciato in velocità. ”

 *free translation*   I’ve always said it ; he has the potential to pla for Inter, Milan, Juve… He has incredible pace, speed and acceleration. he needs to work on the tactical aspect of things, like all youngsters, but I have rarely a youngster with his strenght (’physical potency’) If he keeps his work ethic and wants to become better he can become a champion. In Serie A not many could stop him once he starts running with the ball  *free translation*

 No wonder everyone is inquiring about Schelotto. His agent spoke to the media recently :

” E presto per parlarne e prima di tutto c’è da risolvere la comproprietà fra Atalanta e Cesena. Con il Genoa abbiamo avuto ottimi rapporti, hanno dimostrato di volere fortemente il ragazzo, insieme a Palermo e Fiorentina. Per il resto, tutte le squadre di A lo hanno seguito ”

*free translation* Some say that Genoa have secured his services but everybody and Bellinzona have been seen around the youngster. Anyways, Atalanta and Cesena have to setlle this co-ownership thing first.  *free translation*
  

Let’s just not put too much weight on the youngster’s shoulders and let Ezequiel finish his Serie B season in peace. 

Can you  imagine a quicker, bigger (187 cm) smarter Mauro with better crosses and fancier foootwork ! This is why Marcello  got all excited. Schelottoclearly has the talent and potential but it seems he also has the brains. Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up in Spain like Forestieri and Osvaldo.