News + Rumors
•Most importantly (obviously), during Sunday's match, the fans sang to poor, broken, half-dead Jorgy several times. &hearts
•Seb had his book (which features an introduction from Baggio) launch yesterday at Florence's Museum of Football, and while there he answered a lot of questions from the press [audio|promotional video|picture], talking about his desire to be the best in the world and the third keeper to win the Scudetto with Fiorentina, wanting to score against Juve with a bicycle kick (way to set your sights high, Seb), and feeling a kinship with Homer Simpson which, for me, is easily the best part of the interview.
•On the topic of Seb one of the fan sites has a nice tribute to him up today, with emphasis on how he's grown from some punk kid with bad hair into a leader (with bad hair).
•According to a recent study conducted by Nielsen Italia (!), Fiorentina are the sixth-best supported team in Serie A, right between the two Roman teans. (Chievo are 20th, with 4800 supporters in the pool on which the study was based. Siena are 19th, with 38,500. Oh, god, poor Chievo.)
•It's expected that Cesare will field a whole lot of little-used players against Toro's first team tomorrow, including not only Osvi, Pazzo and Jojo, but also Storari (that's confirmed), and possibly Da Costa, as well.
•Corriere dello Sport is running a poll to find out whether Gila is the best Fiorentina striker ever. Reassuringly, their readers seem to be sane -- 80% of the votes so far have been for Batistuta.
•The club Christmas party was last night. There's 2:30 of it here and about 90 seconds of it from 4:30 in this video (No Mutu that I saw, but pretty much everyone else is there, and we finally get to see Osvi's mysterious girlfriend. Also: Holy crap does Papa Waigo look good.), but where are the pictures?! Please share any you find.
•La Nazione this morning gave their take on the odds the main transfer rumor subjects will be leaving. Among others, they list Pazzo's chances of departure at 95%, Osvi's at 40%, and Papa Waigo's at 90%.
•So, Pazzo. He met with his agent yesterday, and his agent met with Corvino. Rumor had it he was on his way to Palermo, until his agent came out and said he's not talked to anyone there. So this morning, the new story in Florence is that a deal has been worked out with Genoa, who wanted him over the summer, and with whose representatives Corvino had a long meeting yesterday. Reggina, also, are supposedly interested (as well as Samp), but there are financial issues being considered, too -- most of these teams seem unwilling to pay for more than co-ownership (€4-5 million), and Pazzo reportedly wants at least the €1 million/season he's earning now which, based on last season's salaries at the clubs in question, is really, really unlikely. For example, Cassano made €1.2 million last season, and there's no way they're going to pay Pazzo what Cassano makes.
•Corvino is a busy man -- he's meeting today with Osvi's agent to try to sort that situation out. While one assumes La Viola won't let both Pazzo and Osvi go, there's apparently a new Low!Low!Price for Osvi (€5 million was reported today in a Florence paper, as opposed to the €7-8 million that's being listed elsewhere), which has to tempt some teams in need of goals. The rumored destinations are pretty much the same as they've been all along: Roma (purchase, it looks like), Bologna, Cagliari and Torino (all loan).
•Also due to meet with Corvino soon is Pasqual's agent who, in talking to the press this weekend, didn't make it sound like his client is too freaked out about not playing much. It could be that they're just going to sit tight and see what happens with all the other possible departures, because if Gobbi is turned back into a midfielder on the proverbial depth chart, Pasqual will magically have chances to play again.
•There have been a ton of stories recently about Storari leaving this winter. Final negotiations about where he goes would obviously be up to Milan, but it sounds like Fiorentina would potentially be willing to terminate their loan deal (or however that works), and he's getting interest from several clubs, including Bologna and a random Russian club called Rubin Kazan.
•Genoa have apparently confirmed their interest in Pubes. It's unlikely, though, that they're going to be willing to pay the €7 million Fiorentina supposedly want for him -- one assumes they're trying to a profit out of him (wiki says they paid just over €6 million when they bought him from Chievo), but who's going to pay that much for a 28-year-old whose career has sort of stagnated? According to Gazzetta, Samp, too, are sniffing around, but if they're not willing to go higher than €4 million for Pazzo, €7 million for Pubes would be awfully unlikely.
•Papa Waigo, meanwhile, is currently (supposedly) being tracked by Reggina and Chievo (both of whom wanted him over the summer), as well as Spanish side Malaga.
•Then there's Da Costa, who the French press claim is wanted by Marseille, but who the fans sites have decided is Siena's ideal emergency CB, now that one of theirs has suffered a season-ending injury. (Not surprisingly, Siena's DS has denied everything.)
•And, finally, a few new(ish) names with whom the club have been associated in the last few days: Grenoble's Sofiane Feghouli (an 18-year-old Next Zidane who everyone wants), Valencia defender Alexis (who Melo has allegedly been pimping to Fiorentina), and Sao Paulo defender Joao Miranda (who supposedly has been put on the market for €5 million).
•Corvino's going to be in the press room on Friday, which will give him the opportunity to either give some answers or deny a whole lot of stuff. One hopes he wouldn't go before the press if he didn't have anything to say, but we'll just have to wait and see.
ETA: The team sheet for tomorrowAlmiron, Avramov, Comotto, Da Costa, Donadel, Gamberini, Gilardino, Jovetic, Kroldrup, Kuzmanovic, Melo, Mutu, Papa Waigo, Pasqual, Pazzini, Santana, Storari, Vargas, Zauri
It was supposed to be Osvi's big chance, but he pulled up with a thigh problem today and couldn't be called. ARG! Isn't this the second time that's happened to him this season?
•Seb had his book (which features an introduction from Baggio) launch yesterday at Florence's Museum of Football, and while there he answered a lot of questions from the press [audio|promotional video|picture], talking about his desire to be the best in the world and the third keeper to win the Scudetto with Fiorentina, wanting to score against Juve with a bicycle kick (way to set your sights high, Seb), and feeling a kinship with Homer Simpson which, for me, is easily the best part of the interview.
•On the topic of Seb one of the fan sites has a nice tribute to him up today, with emphasis on how he's grown from some punk kid with bad hair into a leader (with bad hair).
•According to a recent study conducted by Nielsen Italia (!), Fiorentina are the sixth-best supported team in Serie A, right between the two Roman teans. (Chievo are 20th, with 4800 supporters in the pool on which the study was based. Siena are 19th, with 38,500. Oh, god, poor Chievo.)
•It's expected that Cesare will field a whole lot of little-used players against Toro's first team tomorrow, including not only Osvi, Pazzo and Jojo, but also Storari (that's confirmed), and possibly Da Costa, as well.
•Corriere dello Sport is running a poll to find out whether Gila is the best Fiorentina striker ever. Reassuringly, their readers seem to be sane -- 80% of the votes so far have been for Batistuta.
•The club Christmas party was last night. There's 2:30 of it here and about 90 seconds of it from 4:30 in this video (No Mutu that I saw, but pretty much everyone else is there, and we finally get to see Osvi's mysterious girlfriend. Also: Holy crap does Papa Waigo look good.), but where are the pictures?! Please share any you find.
•La Nazione this morning gave their take on the odds the main transfer rumor subjects will be leaving. Among others, they list Pazzo's chances of departure at 95%, Osvi's at 40%, and Papa Waigo's at 90%.
•So, Pazzo. He met with his agent yesterday, and his agent met with Corvino. Rumor had it he was on his way to Palermo, until his agent came out and said he's not talked to anyone there. So this morning, the new story in Florence is that a deal has been worked out with Genoa, who wanted him over the summer, and with whose representatives Corvino had a long meeting yesterday. Reggina, also, are supposedly interested (as well as Samp), but there are financial issues being considered, too -- most of these teams seem unwilling to pay for more than co-ownership (€4-5 million), and Pazzo reportedly wants at least the €1 million/season he's earning now which, based on last season's salaries at the clubs in question, is really, really unlikely. For example, Cassano made €1.2 million last season, and there's no way they're going to pay Pazzo what Cassano makes.
•Corvino is a busy man -- he's meeting today with Osvi's agent to try to sort that situation out. While one assumes La Viola won't let both Pazzo and Osvi go, there's apparently a new Low!Low!Price for Osvi (€5 million was reported today in a Florence paper, as opposed to the €7-8 million that's being listed elsewhere), which has to tempt some teams in need of goals. The rumored destinations are pretty much the same as they've been all along: Roma (purchase, it looks like), Bologna, Cagliari and Torino (all loan).
•Also due to meet with Corvino soon is Pasqual's agent who, in talking to the press this weekend, didn't make it sound like his client is too freaked out about not playing much. It could be that they're just going to sit tight and see what happens with all the other possible departures, because if Gobbi is turned back into a midfielder on the proverbial depth chart, Pasqual will magically have chances to play again.
•There have been a ton of stories recently about Storari leaving this winter. Final negotiations about where he goes would obviously be up to Milan, but it sounds like Fiorentina would potentially be willing to terminate their loan deal (or however that works), and he's getting interest from several clubs, including Bologna and a random Russian club called Rubin Kazan.
•Genoa have apparently confirmed their interest in Pubes. It's unlikely, though, that they're going to be willing to pay the €7 million Fiorentina supposedly want for him -- one assumes they're trying to a profit out of him (wiki says they paid just over €6 million when they bought him from Chievo), but who's going to pay that much for a 28-year-old whose career has sort of stagnated? According to Gazzetta, Samp, too, are sniffing around, but if they're not willing to go higher than €4 million for Pazzo, €7 million for Pubes would be awfully unlikely.
•Papa Waigo, meanwhile, is currently (supposedly) being tracked by Reggina and Chievo (both of whom wanted him over the summer), as well as Spanish side Malaga.
•Then there's Da Costa, who the French press claim is wanted by Marseille, but who the fans sites have decided is Siena's ideal emergency CB, now that one of theirs has suffered a season-ending injury. (Not surprisingly, Siena's DS has denied everything.)
•And, finally, a few new(ish) names with whom the club have been associated in the last few days: Grenoble's Sofiane Feghouli (an 18-year-old Next Zidane who everyone wants), Valencia defender Alexis (who Melo has allegedly been pimping to Fiorentina), and Sao Paulo defender Joao Miranda (who supposedly has been put on the market for €5 million).
•Corvino's going to be in the press room on Friday, which will give him the opportunity to either give some answers or deny a whole lot of stuff. One hopes he wouldn't go before the press if he didn't have anything to say, but we'll just have to wait and see.
ETA: The team sheet for tomorrowAlmiron, Avramov, Comotto, Da Costa, Donadel, Gamberini, Gilardino, Jovetic, Kroldrup, Kuzmanovic, Melo, Mutu, Papa Waigo, Pasqual, Pazzini, Santana, Storari, Vargas, Zauri
It was supposed to be Osvi's big chance, but he pulled up with a thigh problem today and couldn't be called. ARG! Isn't this the second time that's happened to him this season?