Brocchi and Moti

By: salvatore | August 29th, 2008

After a week and a half of talk and rumours, the Cristian Brocchi deal has finally gone through, with the midfielder arriving in Rome yesterday, and presented to the media today. Right from the top, let’s be honest, this is not a glamour pick-up. There wasn’t a crowd to meet him at the airport, and there won’t be any queues forming to get jerseys with his name on it. He’s just not that type of player.

What he is though is an underrated midfielder. Hard-working, tough and not as technically bereft as you probably think…he’s pretty much exactly the type of player that Delio likes. Call him a Tommaso Rocchi of the midfield, if you will, and I get the impression that both the team and the player will benefit from this move.

On Lazio’s end, Brocchi will supply a much needed boost of grit and experience. I mean let’s face it, there isn’t a hard-nosed player among Dabo, Foggia, Meghni, and Matuzalem. So someone needs to do the dirty work…and Brocchi will do that, with pleasure. Also, he fills a void left by Mudingay and Mutarelli, two players with similar styles who are not as good as him.

For Cristian, this is a chance to play regularly, and take on a bigger, leadership role in a mostly young team. There’s no doubt his Milan experience improved his skills. There’s just no way you can train with players like Kaka, Pirlo and Seedorf without improving. But it also had to be frustrating playing second fiddle to those players and more (Gattuso and Ambrosini). In the conference today he mentioned how important it was that “Lazio believed in me“, so clearly, he’s tired of filling in for injured players and playing Coppa Italia games. He wants more.

Personally, I think he’ll end up becoming something of a fan favorite. But time, as they say, will tell.

Here’s an interview with Broch and Roll, complete with highlights and the two worst covers of a Smiths and Beatles song you’ll ever hear:

Elsewhere on the mercato front is the last-minute maneuvering to land hotshot Romanian defender Cosmin Moti. Evidently, the deal was supposed to have been completed already, but Dinamo Bucharest’s management had to high-tail it to France for the Uefa Cup draw, pushing back the scheduled meeting.

Latest reports say it should happen over the weekend, with Moti joining the team on Monday. The 23-year old will apparently arrive on a loan deal worth somewhere in the region of 1-1.5 million Euros, with a fixed price option to buy his rights at the end of the year set at 4 million. I’ve only seen Moti play once, so I won’t make any grand statements about his quality…but if he’s anything like fellow Romanian international Stefan Radu, this could be an excellent move.

Moti’s arrival will also be another young addition to a really promising group of defenders. There’s no doubt that Cribari and Siviglia will play their part this season, but with De Silvestri, Lichsteiner, Radu, Kolarov, Tuia and now Moti waiting in the wings, a really strong defensive group is forming. Hell, even Rozehnal is only 28. This bodes well for the future.

Moti will likely also be the last incoming player of the mercato, and no matter what the Riommanista written “Italy” pages of the Offside think, it’s been a very solid transfer campaign for the team, one that addressed weaknesses and made the club faster, more versatile and much more creative. I think, put simply, that the team will surprise. Of course, to do that, they’re going to have to stay healthy, something that failed to happen last year, and that has not started off well so far (see Rocchi, De Silvesti and Meghni).

Let’s hope for the best.