Friends Reunited

By: cathal | June 18th, 2009

Is Lazio a sports club or a social networking service?

If you have been looking in the papers or browsing through the internet, you are probably questioning if Ballardini is really here to coach the club or if he is planning a gathering, getting one mega shindig up and running and having some fun with a few old acquaintances (see what I did there?). Since his appointment, we have been constantly linked to his previous playing staff; Acquafresca, Fabio Simplicio, Canini and more besides. All great players I must admit, players I think we could really do with having at our club but let’s take a chill pill; it is early days in the mercato and I am sure targets are only being discussed at present.

Ledesma and Pandev are both set to leave as we all know with Sevilla and Napoli the respective favourites for the signature of both players. There’s a minor rumour that Maresca may be implicated in Cristian’s deal but I’d hold my breath on that one. However, an interesting scenario is developing within the negotiations for Matuzalem with Real Zaragoza. Apparently, the Spanish club have made an offer to Carrizo and he wants to go. With the talks for Francelino stalling, I think it’s about time we slotted JP into that deal and wave him bye bye. I’m sure many would disagree but I personally, have no time for deluded egoists and to me, that’s how JP appears. Perhaps I am wrong.

Fabian Vargas, who was said to have ’signed’ for us or at least be on the verge of doing so has actually packed his Boca bags and headed to Almeria. I’m not too disappointed, I didn’t really think he was good enough but his teammate, Alejandro Battaglia is trying to talk his way to Rome and for him, either half will do it seems. Now, I love seeing players want to come to Lazio, like there is a burning desire within them. The thing is, I would love to see players like Messi or Iniesta with this passion. Good players, our quality of players should not be trying to talk their way to us; we should be trying to talk them into popping over. So, when some fellow in Argentina resorts to such measures and doesn’t distance himself from either one of two rivals, I tick the box that says no. On the contrary, Marcus Berg? That’s a different scenario and after his hat-trick against Belarus in the U21 Euro Championships the other night, I would be paying close attention to him.

I hope Claudio, Igli and Davide are having a good old chinwag behind the scenes because I want to see signings. Even sales would pacify me. In fact, any action would do just fine. Forza Lazio!