Ch-ch-ch-changes

By: salvatore | May 20th, 2008

Hallelujah, it’s over.

I apologize for the lack of updates. I was in New York city for the entire weekend, and wasn’t able to get near a computer…but hey, time to celebrate, the season from hell is finally over!

champagne

On the bright side, there were a few good things to come out of this year, but they were few and far between. The team did manage one of the best home records in Serie A (countered by one of the worst on the road, of course), Pandev and Rocchi once again put in strong seasons working together (28 goals combined), and most importantly, Lorenzo De Silvestri played his way into the starting 11. After that, it was terrible, and I’m happy it’s over.

Which brings us to the silly season, and as you can expect, a whole slew of changes. One would think that the appointment of a new sporting director would be the first line of business, but it seems that Lotito is happy enough letting Sabatini wait it out before hiring someone to take his place. First thing on deck then seems to be figuring out just who is going to coach this team next season. Apparently, there is going to be a meeting with Delio this coming week, but you’d have to think that both he and Lotito already have an idea of what’s going to happen. As it stands now, Walter Mazzarri is rumored to be first in line should Rossi not be invited back for another season, with Leonardo Acori, Bruno Giordano, Walter Novellino, Colantuono all thrown in the mix for good measure.

The funny thing about that list is that there was once a philosopher named Giordano Bruno. Like many others from that time period, he was burned at the stake for his scientific beliefs, and is considered the first martyr for science. Now I’m not saying a dead man would be a good candidate to coach the team, but you know, ain’t nothing wrong with someone who stands up for what he believes in. But I digress…

On- field rumors are also flooding in, with the Behrami story finally being put to rest. Valon will be leaving the team, with Tuttomercatoweb claiming he’s just about a Sevilla player. I’ve always liked Behrami, but I also tend to think it’s better to let players go if they don’t want to stay. Besides, you can make a case that Valon was more potential than actual performance. He had some big showings (with this year’s derby being an obvious example), but he was far from the game-breaker many thought he would have become by now.

Elsewhere, Cagliari winger (and plaything of the Napoletana underworld) Pasquale Foggia is happy to be coming back to the team. As you recall, Foggia is Lazio property, and his loan deal is up. Personally, I don’t think this guy was as good as he was made to seem at the beginning of the year, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that his kind of creativity and pace is exactly what the Biancoceleste were missing this year. He’s worth a shot.

In the meantime, Lazio is said to be considering someone called Razvan Dinca Rat. Aside from the fact that I can’t decide if his name is great or terrible, I don’t know much about him. He plays for Shakhtar Donetsk, and is a defender, apparently, but that’s about it. In any case, it seems fitting in a way that Lotito would be interested in a rat. I just didn’t think the rodent would cost 5 million Euros.

Equally unknown, at least to me, is Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, who apparently has offered himself to Lazio. Following the Greek league is not too high on my list of priorities, so I don’t know much about how good he is, but he is on the Greek national team, and he was at one point tracked by Liverpool (thanks Wikipedia!).

Closer to home we have some peninsula rumors centered around Parma’s trifecta of jewels: Cigarini, Dessena and Gasbarroni. Cigarini has been high on Lotito’s list for a long time, and he reportedly tried to pry him away as early as last year. The difference now is that every big team in Italy will be looking to grab these guys now that Parma is unbelievably in Serie B (!). Frankly, I’d be surprised if any of these three ever ended up a Lazio player, but you can bet they’re going to be linked to the team in the next little while, at least until they actually move.

The good news about all this is that Lotito can not afford a summer transfer campaign as bad as last season’s. If that happens, he runs the risk of alienating whatever fans he hasn’t already pissed off. He needs to make changes, and he needs to open his wallet. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens.

Falchi

Here are some highlights from the 2-1 victory against Napoli: