Midweek Rumors and News
•The big friendly against PSG is tonight, and will be preceded by the kit presentation, something that was pushed back an hour because it's been so damn hot in Florence this week. Here's the probable lineup for the match -- no Monty cos he's not fit, and no Nacho even if he was fit, because he's broken already, had surgery this morning, and will be out 2-3 weeks. Super.
•Kuzi gave a fluffy interview to the official site yesterday [video] in which he revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup, and said he likes the people of Cortina because they're chill like the Swiss, and not like the rest of those crazy, emotional Italians. Gila, also, has revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup -- these are hard-hitting interviews, people! (And he didn't rip Amauri at all, despite the headlines that C4 and Goal.com put with their stories.)
•Donadel also had a press chat earlier this week, in which he said that there's "a pinch of magic" to this Fiorentina team. That just gave me chills to type -- from his mouth to whatever god's ears.
•It's being reported (again) that Babacar and Agyei (notice the spelling change -- it appears the fan sites were all spelling his name wrong before, we'll see if this version lasts) have both signed their first professional contracts; both are said to be five-year deals.
•The Eboué saga rumbles on, with the Daily Mail reporting today that Fiorentina have reached an agreement to pay Arsenal about €10 million for him. In Italy, though, that's being disputed, because Corvino supposedly is still offering only €7-8 million. Eboué's agent yesterday said that Corvino had actually offered €6.5 million, just over half of the €12 million Arsenal want. (LOLPANDA.)
•If Eboué doesn't work out, the second choices are LDS (for whom Lazio claim there's been no offer) and Cassetti; the latter is thought to be easier to land, particularly since Corvino would probably lowball the crap out of Lotito if he made an offer for LDS.
•Corvino was quoted extensively in the Portuguese press yesterday regarding the club's interest in Luisao. Basically, he confirmed everything, but said they don't want him badly enough to "come into madness," which is a pretty good description of Benfica's president's insistence that the player will cost €20 million and not a penny less. Away from fantasyland, Fiorentina are reported to already have an agreement in place with Luisao, and the Italian press say a deal could be sorted with Benfica for less than €10 million by the weekend.
•In the midfield, it's still all Edinho all the time; Lecce's DS said there have been many offers for him, but that there's a "an important feeling" between his club and La Viola. A new wrinkle today is that Lecce may be in search of the loan of Maritato as part of the deal, but that's really the only change since last weekend.
•If Corvino doesn't land Edinho, the backups are Guarente (of course) and, as of today, possibly Stephen Appiah, who could be had on a free and has much more reasonable contract demands than Mr. €3 Million/Season Lugano, whose salary expectations continue to render him out of reach for the defense, despite the fact that he's out of contract. (The Paddy stuff is pretty reliably crap -- his agent approached Fiorentina, and Corvino said no thanks, particularly considering he makes €5 million/season.)
•On the keeper front, Monaco's Flavio Roma has been mentioned several times this week as a possible vice-Seb.
•Samp STILL want Pubes, whose agent want them to either shit or get off the proverbial pot, and reportedly are eying Dainelli as well. Fiorentina have already lowered the former's price from €5.5 million to €4 million, but Samp won't/can't pay even that.
•For a while it looked like Da Costa might end up staying just because no one really wants him, but yesterday it was reported that both Freiburg and Nancy are interested.
ETA: Here's Fiorentina's Serie A schedule for 2009-2010; they open up against those jerks from Bologna.
•Kuzi gave a fluffy interview to the official site yesterday [video] in which he revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup, and said he likes the people of Cortina because they're chill like the Swiss, and not like the rest of those crazy, emotional Italians. Gila, also, has revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup -- these are hard-hitting interviews, people! (And he didn't rip Amauri at all, despite the headlines that C4 and Goal.com put with their stories.)
•Donadel also had a press chat earlier this week, in which he said that there's "a pinch of magic" to this Fiorentina team. That just gave me chills to type -- from his mouth to whatever god's ears.
•It's being reported (again) that Babacar and Agyei (notice the spelling change -- it appears the fan sites were all spelling his name wrong before, we'll see if this version lasts) have both signed their first professional contracts; both are said to be five-year deals.
•The Eboué saga rumbles on, with the Daily Mail reporting today that Fiorentina have reached an agreement to pay Arsenal about €10 million for him. In Italy, though, that's being disputed, because Corvino supposedly is still offering only €7-8 million. Eboué's agent yesterday said that Corvino had actually offered €6.5 million, just over half of the €12 million Arsenal want. (LOLPANDA.)
•If Eboué doesn't work out, the second choices are LDS (for whom Lazio claim there's been no offer) and Cassetti; the latter is thought to be easier to land, particularly since Corvino would probably lowball the crap out of Lotito if he made an offer for LDS.
•Corvino was quoted extensively in the Portuguese press yesterday regarding the club's interest in Luisao. Basically, he confirmed everything, but said they don't want him badly enough to "come into madness," which is a pretty good description of Benfica's president's insistence that the player will cost €20 million and not a penny less. Away from fantasyland, Fiorentina are reported to already have an agreement in place with Luisao, and the Italian press say a deal could be sorted with Benfica for less than €10 million by the weekend.
•In the midfield, it's still all Edinho all the time; Lecce's DS said there have been many offers for him, but that there's a "an important feeling" between his club and La Viola. A new wrinkle today is that Lecce may be in search of the loan of Maritato as part of the deal, but that's really the only change since last weekend.
•If Corvino doesn't land Edinho, the backups are Guarente (of course) and, as of today, possibly Stephen Appiah, who could be had on a free and has much more reasonable contract demands than Mr. €3 Million/Season Lugano, whose salary expectations continue to render him out of reach for the defense, despite the fact that he's out of contract. (The Paddy stuff is pretty reliably crap -- his agent approached Fiorentina, and Corvino said no thanks, particularly considering he makes €5 million/season.)
•On the keeper front, Monaco's Flavio Roma has been mentioned several times this week as a possible vice-Seb.
•Samp STILL want Pubes, whose agent want them to either shit or get off the proverbial pot, and reportedly are eying Dainelli as well. Fiorentina have already lowered the former's price from €5.5 million to €4 million, but Samp won't/can't pay even that.
•For a while it looked like Da Costa might end up staying just because no one really wants him, but yesterday it was reported that both Freiburg and Nancy are interested.
ETA: Here's Fiorentina's Serie A schedule for 2009-2010; they open up against those jerks from Bologna.