Amoruso? Really?

By: salvatore | May 29th, 2008

As you might have heard, Reggina talisman Nicola Amoruso is probably on his way to Lazio. According to TuttoMercatoWeb, Amoruso is done with the Calabrese team, and the biancoceleste are said to be in the middle of negotiations. All of this is news to me, and pretty much every other Lazio fan, particularly the ones who took Lotito at his word about following the “Arsenal model” of building through youth. So much for that.

Unsurprisingly, the news was met with a mixture of anger, disgust and, shall we say, “excitement” on some of the Italian Lazio fan forums (with one poster summing it up simply with, “Amoruso, fuck you and the person who bought you.”). Lotito, to put it mildly, has his work cut out for him.

It’s not that Amoruso is a bad player, you don’t score 103 goals in Serie A (and 40 in the last three years) by being shit, it’s just that he’s 34 years old, and not exactly reeking of championships and winning. Hell, if he’s anything, it’s an expert on avoiding relegation…not the kind of thing Lazio fans want to hear. Also it doesn’t help that he’s being advertised as Bianchi’s replacement, a fact that is probably causing most of the anger. Rolando might be one of the most overpriced players out there (definitely not worth his 12 million asking price), but at least with him you could sense the potential of a big future. Amoruso, not so much…which makes his 3.5 million price tag (potentially lowered by the inclusion of Baronio) that much harder to swallow.

Personally, I think he’s good pickup, though it depends on what his role will be, and what the rest of the transfer campaign will add. If he’s really being brought in to replace Bianchi in the trident, then I think we’re in trouble, and taking a serious step backwards. If, on the other hand, he’s simply the first acquisition in a summer haul that will bring in another, preferably younger striker, than I think we’re ok. Let’s face it, Amoruso is about ten times better than Makinwa, Tare and Vignaroli put together, and he’d look very good coming off the bench.

Here’s a compilation of his goals from the 06/07 season, complete with Nirvana soundtrack.