Melo + Moar Transfer Rumors
•Gila won something called the Versilia Prize, which is awarded annually to "a person in the world of sport or entertainment that has linked his name to that of Versilia," and has already been won by such luminaries as Sebastien Frey and Marcello Lippi. I'm sure he's delighted, and will be on hand to receive the award later today, while Alice is busy trying to make sure everything is ready for their wedding. (Everything is going GREAT so far. No, really.)
•Krol and some friends were randomly attacked in Denmark on Monday, but Krol quickly talked to the press to assure his public that everything was fine. In his badass, vegetarian monster words, "They ... hit a couple of my friends [but the blows were] so superficial ... I was not impressed." &hearts
•As of today, 16-year-old El Khouma Babacar, aka the gem of the Viola youth system, is eligible to sign his first professional contract. (He played with the Primavera side last season. AT FIFTEEN YEARS OLD.)
•Melo signed an extension yesterday, tying him (on paper, anyway) to Fiorentina through 2013. The new contract includes a recession clause that most of the newspapers think is about €25 million (another reported value is €22.5 million); it went into effect yesterday, and will remain the same for the length of the contract. There's an annual expiration date on the clause, though, meaning that it's not valid for the full transfer window each summer, and instead works only until La Viola start summer training. Which means Juve, who have reportedly already made two approaches for Melo but offered "only" €18 million, have two weeks left in which to try to land him.
•Drenthe still isn't purple, but after a bit of a panic Monday when there were rumors his agent was pulling the plug on the deal if Fiorentina wouldn't buy Drenthe now, talks are supposedly back on track now. The latest is that they're still wrangling over a couple million on the purchase price.
•The Marchionni talks, too, are still dragging along, though Samp are sticking their noses in and screwing everything up. Despite Marchionni's agent's endless negativity (about everything), though, it's being reported that both he and Juve would prefer to deal with Fiorentina. There's a meeting scheduled for next week, so if that's true, it'll be a while yet.
•Though the completely outrageous deal (two years at €2 million-plus/season) it was reported on Monday that Julio Cruz had agreed with Fiorentina was utter crap, La Viola are nevertheless still in the Cruzi hunt. He and his agent are both keeping their options open by talking up Fiorentina, and there's a meeting with Corvino scheduled for Friday -- fingers crossed it gets sorted out then. If Cruzi ends up going to Napoli or Atleti, the media's current favorite alternate vice-Gilas are Matri (still) , classy Marco Borriello, and Jose Antonio Reyes.
•The most recent list of defensive targets is all over the place, including Marco Cassetti on loan from Roma (his agent say he's not talked to Fiorentina, and Roma aren't really jazzed about loaning him for free), LDS, who has put in a transfer request but is wildly expensive (one report said he's valued at €12 million, and La Viola supposedly were willing to offer €5 million), Torino's Cesare Natali who is both good and dirt-cheap at about €2 million, Confederations Cup revelation (so they say, anyway) Siboniso Gaxa, whose agent has confirmed contact, but for whom there is a lot of competition, Andre Santos, Grygera from Juve (for a reported €3 million), and Benfica's Luisao, who was an alleged target back in January, too. Fading from view, meanwhile, are Esposito (Lecce's DS says he had some talks with Fiorentina, but that he's not heard from Corvino in a while), and Oguchi Onyewu -- it turns out the reported interest in him was actually a case of Gooch's agent approaching Fiorentina, and Fiorentina politely saying no.
•The Turkish press are all about Fiorentina these days: In addition to the interest from Fener in Vargas (who's also allegedly a target for Napoli, to the tune of €6 million + Santacroce), the Mutu-to-Besiktas stories are getting louder, though that doesn't mean they're any more likely to be true than they were when they first appeared. The latest is that everything sorted, and his agent will be in Istanbul soon to sign a contract. Sweet.
•Santana -- whose agent says Fiorentina are the priority, but if there's no extension forthcoming, they'll "look around" -- has suddenly also become very popular, albeit closer to home than Vargas and Mutu. In addition to Parma and Samp, Roma reportedly are interested in him, as well.
•Other odds n ends: Gambit, according to the Italian media, is a target for Milan and Wolfsburg (his agent denies everything), Samp really want Pubes still, and may even have worked something out for about €5 million in two payments, Napoli and Cagliari want Gobbi, the latter possibly as part of a deal involving striker-target Matri, and Papa Waigo is reportedly close to joining Atalanta on loan.
•Krol and some friends were randomly attacked in Denmark on Monday, but Krol quickly talked to the press to assure his public that everything was fine. In his badass, vegetarian monster words, "They ... hit a couple of my friends [but the blows were] so superficial ... I was not impressed." &hearts
•As of today, 16-year-old El Khouma Babacar, aka the gem of the Viola youth system, is eligible to sign his first professional contract. (He played with the Primavera side last season. AT FIFTEEN YEARS OLD.)
•Melo signed an extension yesterday, tying him (on paper, anyway) to Fiorentina through 2013. The new contract includes a recession clause that most of the newspapers think is about €25 million (another reported value is €22.5 million); it went into effect yesterday, and will remain the same for the length of the contract. There's an annual expiration date on the clause, though, meaning that it's not valid for the full transfer window each summer, and instead works only until La Viola start summer training. Which means Juve, who have reportedly already made two approaches for Melo but offered "only" €18 million, have two weeks left in which to try to land him.
•Drenthe still isn't purple, but after a bit of a panic Monday when there were rumors his agent was pulling the plug on the deal if Fiorentina wouldn't buy Drenthe now, talks are supposedly back on track now. The latest is that they're still wrangling over a couple million on the purchase price.
•The Marchionni talks, too, are still dragging along, though Samp are sticking their noses in and screwing everything up. Despite Marchionni's agent's endless negativity (about everything), though, it's being reported that both he and Juve would prefer to deal with Fiorentina. There's a meeting scheduled for next week, so if that's true, it'll be a while yet.
•Though the completely outrageous deal (two years at €2 million-plus/season) it was reported on Monday that Julio Cruz had agreed with Fiorentina was utter crap, La Viola are nevertheless still in the Cruzi hunt. He and his agent are both keeping their options open by talking up Fiorentina, and there's a meeting with Corvino scheduled for Friday -- fingers crossed it gets sorted out then. If Cruzi ends up going to Napoli or Atleti, the media's current favorite alternate vice-Gilas are Matri (still) , classy Marco Borriello, and Jose Antonio Reyes.
•The most recent list of defensive targets is all over the place, including Marco Cassetti on loan from Roma (his agent say he's not talked to Fiorentina, and Roma aren't really jazzed about loaning him for free), LDS, who has put in a transfer request but is wildly expensive (one report said he's valued at €12 million, and La Viola supposedly were willing to offer €5 million), Torino's Cesare Natali who is both good and dirt-cheap at about €2 million, Confederations Cup revelation (so they say, anyway) Siboniso Gaxa, whose agent has confirmed contact, but for whom there is a lot of competition, Andre Santos, Grygera from Juve (for a reported €3 million), and Benfica's Luisao, who was an alleged target back in January, too. Fading from view, meanwhile, are Esposito (Lecce's DS says he had some talks with Fiorentina, but that he's not heard from Corvino in a while), and Oguchi Onyewu -- it turns out the reported interest in him was actually a case of Gooch's agent approaching Fiorentina, and Fiorentina politely saying no.
•The Turkish press are all about Fiorentina these days: In addition to the interest from Fener in Vargas (who's also allegedly a target for Napoli, to the tune of €6 million + Santacroce), the Mutu-to-Besiktas stories are getting louder, though that doesn't mean they're any more likely to be true than they were when they first appeared. The latest is that everything sorted, and his agent will be in Istanbul soon to sign a contract. Sweet.
•Santana -- whose agent says Fiorentina are the priority, but if there's no extension forthcoming, they'll "look around" -- has suddenly also become very popular, albeit closer to home than Vargas and Mutu. In addition to Parma and Samp, Roma reportedly are interested in him, as well.
•Other odds n ends: Gambit, according to the Italian media, is a target for Milan and Wolfsburg (his agent denies everything), Samp really want Pubes still, and may even have worked something out for about €5 million in two payments, Napoli and Cagliari want Gobbi, the latter possibly as part of a deal involving striker-target Matri, and Papa Waigo is reportedly close to joining Atalanta on loan.