The Vancouver Whitecaps have finally admitted it. They want to sign Owen Hargreaves.
Prior to a friendly versus Manchester City on Monday night, Whitecaps co-owner Jeff Mallett
confirmed rumors of interest in Hargeaves, saying that the oft-injured midfielder knows of the
club's desire to sign him.
Serie A Weekly club previews continue with Palermo, written by our resident Rosanero master,
Lorenzo Vicini. 2010-2011 Recap A roller coaster ride that truly defined the Palermo colors of rosa
and nero summed up the previous season for the Sicilian side. Palermo stayed in the race for
Champions League football up until February when things came crashing down.
It seems the bidding war has come down to its final hours, with both CFC and PSG in frame to
secure the young Argentine's signature. More after the jump:
Kicking into gear shortly?
Welp, color me surprised. This isn't exactly coming out of left-field mind you, but it does
somewhat surprise me that we're actually in line to sign a legitimate budding superstar, and an
Argentine at that.
This is another news type article, just wanted to ask you guys how often you would like to see
them. Maybe daily, or every two or three days, let me know.
La Gazzetta dello Sport are reporting that Chelsea's Andre Villas-Boas is interested
in Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi.
Some exciting news out of Italy today points to Ricardo Alvarez becoming Arsenal's first major
signing of the summer. Tuttosport (in English courtesy of Google Translate) has reported that
Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini revealed in ...
Late May the news hit the internet and other media outlets that Arsenal had signed Velez
Sarsfield winger Ricardo Alvarez. The story soon became muddied by talks of other clubs
interested in the player; the story continued that Arsenal executive Richard Laws had visited
Argentina but broke off talks once the figure of £12M was mentioned.
"I prefer to close out the season, remembering that, according to what we've said to the president,
I will surely remain at Palermo next year as well." These were the words spoken by Palermo starlet
Javier Pastore towards the end of last season. Naturally, the talented trequartista was continually
asked throughout the entire season whether or not he would be moving on, and each time he.
Once the final whistle blew in the Coppa Italia final loss on May 29th, Palermo have set out to
answer many of the question marks surrounding the team this offseason. Despite leading the Rosanero
to success in the past two seasons, Delio Rossi and Maurizio Zamparini mutually agreed to go their
separate ways.
According to the Telegraph, Tottenham made a bid for Palermo
striker Abel Hernandez that was rejected. The bid is rumored to be around
£8.9million. Hernandez's agent Vincenzo D'Ippolito told
calciomercato.it:
Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini thinks that the in-demand Javier Pastore would be best
suited to Real Madrid if he finally decides to leave Palermo to some other big club in Europe. The
reasons he has cited are: Real Madrid need him more than any of the other Elite Clubs Jose Mourinho
likes Pastore a lot [.
According to the Telegraph, Chelsea made a bid for Palermo
midfielder Javier Pastore that was rejected. Palermo president Maurizio
Zamparini told the Spanish press,
"Chelsea was a club that we had a major offer from .
There was a time, back in the summer of 1991, when Massimiliano Allegri was "the other guy" in a
deal that took Frederic Massara from Pavia to Serie B Pescara. As then-Pescara sporting director
Pierpaolo Marino wrote last March in a column for Italian website Tuttomercatoweb, the Pavia
owners had already promised Massara to Venezia (then owned by Maurizio Zamparini, the current
Palermo chairman), but adding another player and valuing him at nearly half a million lira would
increase the total value of the transfer and thus allow Pavia a good excuse to back away from the
verbal agreement with Venezia.
Over the past month and a half, Palermo have gone through a coaching carousel. The club president,
Maurizio Zamparini, sacked Delio Rossi and appointed Serse Cosmi in his place only to fire Cosmi
four games later and put Rossi back in charge. Yet, recent allegations made by Serse Cosmi
involving Zamparini have perhaps revealed a crisis beyond coaching.
On February 27th, Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini told the press that only if he saw the
Madonna appear to him in a dream would be spared from a sacking after the team's 7-0 loss at home
to Udinese. Unfortunately, there was no vision and the following day Delio was sent home. The fiery
patron brought in the famous caretaker and motivator Serse Cosmi to shake up the squad.
The Scudetto Race? It's on. Fourth Place? No one cares about it. Stereotypes? Demolished... and
possibly upheld. Giornata 31 in Serie A taught fans quite a few things, perhaps none as prominent
as the following six as Julian De Martinis explains. Napoli can bounce back, in more ways than one,
and are genuine contenders.
Non è tanto comico Serse Cosmi, al quale, malgrado questo cognome che ben si abbina al libro di
Italo Calvino "Le cosmicomiche", auguriamo di vivere serenamente questa sua nuova avventura ma, la
comicit ed il ridicolo sono stati raggiunti da Maurizio Zamparini quando ha esonerato Delio Rossi
dalla guida tecnica del Palermo in Serie A.
Some people are just never happy. Take Jose Mourinho, for instance. He's hired solely by the
richest clubs in the world, has a ton of money to spend every transfer window, and still complains
incessantly about the refs, about how Italy hates him, about how he's handcuffed. You think a man
with that many trophies would be above it all.
What's bugging Zamparini about Palermo now? is a post from: Just Football
And is it really all Delio Rossi's fault? David Swan reports:
Things are never easy at Palermo, even in a season where they are performing
well. Much of that is down to President Maurizio Zamparini and the countless number of his
eccentric outbursts many a coach has had to endure.
Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini is a superstitious old soul. Before Wednesday night's game at
the Stadio Renzo Barbera against Juventus, he did what he always does when his nerves get the
better of him jumped straight in his car and drove around the city unable to face watching his team
in action.
It's a known fact that Maurizio Zamparini is the craziest owner in all of Serie A. The
supermarket mogul bought Palermo back in 2002 from the Sensi family and brought the club from being
a decent Serie B side to an excellent Serie A side. Zamparini has always had a fiery character, and
it extremely outspoken and always talks to the press telling things like it is.
To put the Sussex County League in the proper context, it's so far down the English league
ladder that according to Wikipedia, promotion is determined by "a committee". Imagine that sort of
thing in Italy.
So no, it's not meant to mirror the Prem in any way, shape or form. But there are basic rules
and an etiquette to firing employees in any profession.
The Sicilian region of Italy currently possesses the next Zinedine Zidane.
That is the view of Palermo's owner Maurizio Zamparini who is marveled by the potential and
brilliance of Javier Pastore.
The young Argentinean gave a scintillating account of himself during the clubs epic 3-1 victory
over Juventus in Turin midweek where he opened the scoring and continued to influence his team's
cause leading to a man of the match performance.
As August approaches the excitement and anticipation grows as the time when Mr. X will be finally
revealed edges closer. Milan's transfer campaign, once it comes to an end, will be remembered for
the club's ever elusive hunt for this Mr. and maybe we could remember it as ‘The Summer Hunt for
Mr. X'.
"You can't have my goolies, Zamparini, you hear me"
Can Arsenal have a straight transfer story for once? Football's groundhog day is surely the
inevitable summer ritual of Cesc Fabregas's "will he won't he this time around." Now, we have the
story of Velez Sarsfield winger Ricardo Alvarez suiting up in Arsenal kit.
Palermo have suggested they are expecting bids from a number of English clubs including Liverpool,
Manchester United, and Chelsea for midfielder Javier Pastore in the summer, according to
reports.
Sources close to the Sicilian club have been quoted in the Italian press, suggesting the three
Premier League giants are set to go head to head to sign Pastore, 21.
Continuing with Interview Day, we have Xavier Hernández Creus, commonly known as Xavi.
I like Xavi. Judging by the internets and award lists, a lot of people like Xavi too. He's a
rarity in this, the modern football game, as he dominates a game not with pace, but with an
unparalleled ability to read the game and a lethal passing foot.
