All Talk…Any Action?

By: cathal | August 13th, 2009

The transfer talk is getting louder. We know it is crunch time, we know the squad needs to be altered but do we actually believe that anything is going on behind the scenes? Rumour after rumour exits the printing press and ends up splashed across a paper or website somewhere but with our squad looking identical with every day that passes by, you begin to wonder. At least tonight there will be action on the pitch as some of our guys take on Osasuna in the last of our pre-season friendlies.

There is not much to say about tonight’s game; both teams will experiment, as many players on both sides are currently on international duty. Also, it is unlikely we will field many, if any of our Supercoppa heroes. With that in mind, I am not sure how much we can learn about the side from this tie but at least some lactic acid can be burnt. I will try and find a stream for the game later and I’ll post it in the comments box.

However, the latest transfer news is more interesting in my opinion. Ledesma, Pandev, De Silvestri, Stendardo, Makinwa, Manfredini, Correa and Firmani; the majority of them have not been registered for the Europa League play-off round and neither were they selected for the trip to Beijing. Presumably, that means most, if not all of them will depart but the question is where? Fabio’s agent has confirmed that his client is looking at other clubs and Bologna have been made frontrunners. The same club are said to be chasing Manfredini and also Guglielmo. Zenit representatives are supposedly in Rome discussing a deal for Goran while Correa has attracted the attention of Brescia and negotiations are underway. Ledesma is still up for sale but once again, there are rumours suggesting he might stay. Makinwa is still being linked to Malaga although reading between the lines, that transfer has broke down and now Siena are believed to be in the hunt. The situation with Lollo remains the same; Fiorentina or Milan or nobody if you’re dubious. As you can see, a lot of ‘activity’ there but nothing concrete to get excited about.

As for incoming players, Lugano and Simplicio are the only two names of any significance. It’s between Fiorentina and us for Diego. Uruguayan media claim it will be the Viola, European media suggests Lazio, it’s a 50/50 call and normally, we don’t prevail in those. Still, all is not lost and it’s never over until the fat lady sings. Simplicio is bubbling under in my opinion and I think Palermo are now forced into letting him go. There’s two reasons why I think Fabio has yet to move to us; Cristian is still here and Baronio is being tested out. However, with Roberto catching the eye of Bari and Cristian’s future still in doubt, Lotito may just rush into bringing in the Brazilian. I think much will be revealed in the next 24-48 hours as the team is due to be presented and of course, the media will use this as an opportunity to get some answers. Forza Lazio!