(Di Natale, FatRon, and a boy from California)

Boy… Di Natale’s gonna be expensive!

Regular serieAmerica visitors may remember my two posts (#1 & #2) about a Roma - Di Natale connection. Well, there’s more to report on that front. Apparently, Udinese’s sporting director, Pietro Leonardi, says that Di Natale isn’t for sale at the moment.

There are two feasible interpretations of his comments, but no matter how you slice it, Mr. Leonardi is a smart cookie: If his statement about Udinese not being willing to give up one of their “best talents” is genuine, then he obviously realizes Di Natale’s value and is wise in his desire to keep him. If it’s just talk (and I think it is), my guess is that Leonardi is attempting to dangle a carrot just out of Roma’s reach, in order to better justify an astronomical asking price for Di Natale, once negotiations actually begin.

FatRon is hurt… again.

Well, it’s the eve of Milan-Juventus (easily the most talked about match this week… to the point where it’s almost annoying), and FatRon is hurt. Again. That’s OK. FatRon would’ve been laid out by Chiellini anyway, I think. Unfortunately, Ron’s absence leaves Gilardino to get knocked around… and frustrated, I’ll bet.

On a related note, the Corriere dello Sport had an interesting headline today:

Milan, goodbye Ronaldo, hello Amauri - The Rossoneri are ready to give up on El Fenomeno and already have their hands on the Palermo hitman

Amauri, huh? That won’t be cheap. (Although the connection has been reported elsewhere, so who knows.) What’s up with the Brazilian obsession, Milan?

And introducing… The California Kid

Now this one, I can’t believe.

Apparently, an 18 year-old high schooler from California has been offered a contract with Cagliari. Yes, that Cagliari.

What does Cagliari want with a high school kid from California? Your guess is probably better than mine; I’m certainly scratching my head over it. I can’t even get over the fact that they were scouting in North Carolina. Did they make a wrong turn or something?

Anyway, this kid (David Bingham) is passing up a full ride at UC Berkley (That’s no joke, David!) for the opportunity to (possibly) have Kaka / Totti / Zalayeta / Quaglia / Gila / Rocchi / Mutu / etc. fire missiles at him. I’m not going to criticize his decision, as passing up one sweet deal for another is never easy. Remember the name Bingham; we’ll have to watch this California Kid.

Categories: Cagliari, Milan, Roma, Udinese, injuries, transfers
5 Comments »

(Again! Totò con Totti!)

About a month ago, following an interview in which Antonio Di Natale said that he was pleased to be linked with Roma, I noted that a Di Natale / Totti combination could bring Roma another Scudetto.

Well… I still believe that pairing Totò with Il Capitano could give Roma an undeniable edge [Miyagi]”If do right, no can defense!”[/Miyagi] so, with that in mind, I was pleased to see Di Natale’s name mentioned on ilRomanista.it today.

To make a long post short (because I’ve already made a case for bringing the player on board) , Di Natale’s agent says that his client isn’t going anywhere in January, but he implies that he may be ready to roll this summer. He concedes that a move would not be easy, since 1) Totò isn’t getting any cheaper, and 2) things are apparently going well at Udinese. That said, he also reiterates that Di Natale likes working with Roma’s bald-is-cool manager Spalletti, and he hints that anyone interested in Di Natale had better start negotiating now.

Do you hear that, Roma? Now!

Categories: Roma, transfers
3 Comments »

Until now, I’ve purposely avoided posting transfer rumors, since they routinely consist of smoke and mirrors, frequently served up with a side of exaggeration. In this case, however, the player - not the agent - is doing the talking, and given the names involved, I’m paying special attention:

“Obviously it pleases me to be linked with Roma. However we will talk about this later at the end of the season. All I am thinking about at the moment is Udinese,” said Zebrette striker Antonio Di Natale to the Guerino Sportivo.

“With Luciano Spalletti at Udinese we had an explosive attack with Iaquinta, Di Michele and me. The year after we found things more difficult after Spalletti left.”

While it’s true that at this point, it’s just talk - probably nothing more, definitely nothing less - the fact that Di Natale is in top form now, combined with the fact that he has worked under Spalletti before, has me dizzy with the possibilities.

Continue to the rest of this post… »

Categories: Roma, transfers
2 Comments »