Waiting for his chance to get off the bench…

One of the worst-kept secrets of recent weeks has been that Giovinco would be going to Parma. Marotta has confirmed Gio would be leaving, Andrea D’Amico (Gio’s agent) said Gio likes Parma. And Parma’s director has now said that the deal is done. Giovinco moves to Parma on a semi-complicated formula that benefits all involved: €500,000 for a one-year loan, and Parma has the right to sign him on co-ownership at a currently undisclosed price. So Parma get a guarantee that Giovinco won’t up and leave next summer with them receiving nothing, and Juventus and Giovinco get a little more assurance of playing time.

“Giovinco is now a Parma player and we are very happy,” general manager Pietro Leonardi told Sky Sport Italia. “It is a loan with the right to buy up half his contract. There will be no need to negotiate with Juventus next summer, as the buy-out price has already been decided.” He will be presented to the fans at the Stadio Tardini this evening ahead of a friendly match with Racing Santander, read a statement on the club website. [Which is currently down, probably from Parma fans checking if it's true] The ‘Atomic Ant’ had also been heavily linked with Bari, who publicly courted the trequartista.

“Our Coach Pasquale Marino is enthusiastic about this player, but never wanted to say so publicly,” [Ahem Ventura] continued Leonardi. “We wanted to work in the shadows while possible, as he really will improve our squad a great deal. I’ve known him for some time and I’m sure he’ll do some remarkable things here. Both Alessandro Diamanti and Hatem Ben Arfa are good players, but considering the characteristics of the side, Giovinco was the absolute best we could want. I think that with Giovinco we can say our transfer market is effectively closed.”

It’s a very good deal. I understand a lot are disappointed Giovinco isn’t staying, but Marotta was right a few weeks ago. Basically, he said that Gio’s development has been derailed for the last two seasons thanks to Ranieri, Secco, Blanc, and Ferrara. There’s nothing Marotta can do to erase the past, so the best thing to do is for Gio to leave and get a season of 30+ games under his belt. Can we guarantee that? Probably not, even if Gio is better than most of our wingers, should he fall into poor form or whatever, we’d have to bench him. He needs somewhere he can be in the XI with a virtual guarantee. And Parma looks like a good place, it has assembled an impressive frontline with Bojinov (who Gio knew back in Serie B), Crespo, and young-gun Paloschi. Parma has given Paloschi and our Davide Lanzafame plenty of opportunities to impress at the Ennio Tardini stadium, so Gio should have every chance in the world, especially considering the fans, coaches, and directors enthusiasm.

In bocca al lupo, Gio…torni presto!!

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.

Though recently, it looks like Giovinco is heading to Parma, Bari fans have made their voices heard. They want Giovinco.

Being March and Juventus having a piss-poor season and all, the mercato rumors for next year have been in overdrive, for every position. A brief rundown-

The man is always impeccably dressed.

ALLENATORE: There is a possibility of Zaccheroni staying, and if he does well, he very might well get a longer contract. I don’t think he’s the way forward, but he’s a good coach to get us on our feet again. The front-runner, of course, is Cesare Prandelli of Fiorentina, who we are playing this weekend. He’s also been hotly tipped to succeed Lippi with the Nazionale. There’s no doubt that Prandelli is a fantastic coach, though one observation how Calcio is funny- Had Fiorentina lost one or two games in the CL and missed the knockout stages, their season would be an unmitigated disaster for Fiorentina. His pros of course is he’s a good tactician, and even better at bringing out the best in players. A bit of a hit-or-miss record with developing youth. Big question, of course, is does he want the Nazionale job? If not, would he be willing to cross the Fiorentina-Juventus divide and potentially become hated among his former fans?

Alternatives include Benitez, Conte, Capello, Lippi, Gasparini, and in some circles, Allegri of Cagliari. To me, there are only two I’d like; Lippi and Allegri. Benitez I do not like at all- he’s an excellent tactician, but a piss-poor man-manager, even worse at picking transfers, and has an awful record of developing youth. Plus, he is very whiny and would come on a huge salary, no thanks. Conte is better than Ferrara, his success with Bari last year proved his coaching talent. Atalanta was in a dreadful situation when he arrived, he marginally improved the team, I’d like to see him get more Serie A coaching under his belt first. Capello and Lippi, obviously I would prefer Lippi far over Capello, but I’d rather move to the future…I think these guys are in the past. Gasparini’s work was hailed over the last two seasons, and he has hit a bit of trouble, but I think that’s more due to Genoa selling their best players and having significant turnover.

Which brings me to the last mention, Massimiliano Allegri, Mr. Cheerful. I really like this guy, and I’ve been very impressed particularly over the last few months. Having coached Sassuolo to a historic Serie B promotion in 07-08, he was hired as Cagliari’s coach to replace Ballardini, who everyone agreed had performed miracles to save Cagliari that season. To replace him with a coach who had never coached Serie A or B, was pretty nuts and I thought Cagliari had guaranteed themselves relegation. Critics of Allegri were seemingly justified, as he opened his Serie A career with 5 straight losses to open Serie A 2008-2009. Everyone thought Allegri was too green, and that Cagliari’s owner, the notoriously impatience Cellino would sack him soon. Credit to Cellino, he held off, and Cagliari went on to be one of the surprises of the season. This season, they also opened in relatively poor form and I wondered if Allegri was like fellow ex-Cagliari manager Marco Giampaolo, who managed Siena to an impressive finish and was sacked the next year. Cellino stuck again with Allegri, and they are in a solid 8th place, only 5 points behind 4th. Numerous players have exploded under his management, ie- Cossu and Matri, who are having excellent seasons. He plays attacking football, he’s tactically savvy, a good man manager, and he’s ambitious. What’s not to like?

He looks a lot like Candreva in this picture.

New Azzurri training scheme?

DIFENSORI:

Today, Genoa owner Enrico Preziosi confirmed that Juventus had asked for a valuation of both Ranocchia and Bonucci. This led to a few headlines that we were interested in both, but it’s a pipe dream- we’re simply asking both in case one is unavailable, we can pursue the other. I personally think Ranocchia has more potential than Bonucci, he’s shown more maturity, he’s a bit of a better player now, and he’s capable of playing well alone, whereas Bonucci seems to be the type of player that needs a strong player by his side. The other advantage of Ranocchia is Genoa owns him in full, whereas Bonucci is co-owned by Bari and Genoa so negotiations would be a bit more complicated. The downside, of course, is that Ranocchia is likely out for the season, whereas Bonucci may be going to South Africa.

I’d be pleased with either of them, though, and I think we can strike a deal. We have decent relationships with Genoa, as of two years ago 1/2 of their squad was former Juventini, and we still have co-ownership in Criscito and Palladino that could be used as makeweight. I’d be willing to give up both, even though I like them- Criscito is a great player, but I think De Ceglie is just as promising, and ditto for Palladino and Giovinco. Zaccheroni seems to have put a decent amount of faith in De Ceglie, benching Grosso for him, which absolutely delights me. Negotiations won’t be easy, though; Inter’s interest in both of them is also well known, Inter made a superswap for Motta and Milito last year and have Suazo on loan, and before us Juventini and Interistas forget, Genoa has an interest too. Their defense has been terrible this season, and so they very well might want to keep one, if not both of the players.

Back to Cagliari, we have Ariaudo on loan who is playing fairly well, a few weeks ago he was named in Goal.com’s XI of the week, which surprised me because I didn’t even know he was getting regular playing time. Back a year ago, Ferrara (when Ranieri was still coach and Ferrara headed up the youth sector) gave a nice interview to the Gazzetta, describing Giovinco, De Ceglie, and Marchisio’s progress with the first team. Added at the end, although younger and still largely in the Primavera, was Lorenzo Ariaudo, described as having the technical talent but also the humility to know his place in the team. Will he be recalled for next season? Hard to say. Cagliari have the right to sign him in full, though Ariaudo of course has the right to turn down Cagliari’s offer. We might see him sold on co-ownership to Cagliari for next season.

Clichy of Arsenal has also been linked to us, which is a nice story, but very unlikely. The club has an option to sign Cannavaro for next season, but I don’t see it happening. We will have to settle Molinaro’s situation, of course, though it seems pretty clear he won’t be returning. His agent said it’ll be decided after Easter, but basically confirmed Stuttgart wanted to take up the option for full ownership.

CENTROCAMPISTI:

D’Agostino wants to go anywhere that’s not Udinese, and his agent says there are 3 clubs interested in him, none of which start with J. Likely Napoli, Lazio, and Palermo. The big rumors recently have involved Franck Ribery, of Bayern Munich. Depending on which paper you read, either San Gigi or Diego is going to go to Munich as part of a down-payment. Laughable. There are a lot of reasons why I don’t want Ribery at Juve- He’d cost far too much, he’s injury-prone, he’s a locker room cancer, etc, etc, etc. No thanks. Other laughable rumors include Felipe Melo going to Arsenal in exchange for Cesc Fabregas. Don’t I wish!

Limped off injured against Spain.

ATTACCANTI:

Only one strong rumor over the last few weeks, and that’s of Kevin Kuranyi, who I have already addressed, and responded with a resounding “Blah.” Oh, and supposedly Van Persie for Melo. Ha.

He likes to complain.

Evidently, so does his twin.