Updates and Talking points

By: salvatore | June 4th, 2008

It looks like the Behrami situation has taken a turn for the worse, with news emerging that the team plans on taking the Swiss international to court to prevent him from using a contractual loophole to leave the team.

Apparently, his agents are aware of the threat, so from the outside it would seem foolish for them to proceed with the idea, but who the hell knows what goes on behind the scenes? In any case, it doesn’t look like it’s going to wrap up any time soon.

This, of course, is just one of many unresolved issued facing the club. There’s still the status of Foggia, Stendardo, Carrizo and Pandev to settle (even if Lotito has assured fans that Pandev is staying put, at least until his contract expires in 2010). I suspect that the first two will be used as bait, hopefully for some young players, but you can never be sure. Il Messaggero is also reporting that Zauri and Mutarreli are going to be sold off by Lotito, so you can be sure that there’s going to be a lot of changes in the near future.

In the meantime, the team continues to be linked with a number of Argentinians, most notably Rodrigo Palacio. For those that don’t know, Palacio is a very talented player, and by that I mean I’d walk to Lotito’s house and serenade him if he manages to pull off the transfer. Seriously. The Argie international is fast as fuck, good on the ball, and blessed with the sort of goalscoring instincts that would make Fabio Vignaroli deeply embarrassed to call himself a football player (as if he isn’t already).

Maybe I’m hyping him, but I’ve seen him play a few times in the last little while, and he’s won me over.

Here’s the obligatory youtube comp:

Another bit of interesting news involves a possible move for Serie B scene stealer Francesco Lodi. The 24-year old striker/trequartista scored 20 goals this season playing for Frosinone (on loan from Empoli), and was by all accounts their best player by a long mile. Not much of a glamor pick-up then, but definitely an intriguing bench option. Again though, how many strikers do we need? How about some defenders (preferably those not named “Thuram”).