Serie Aaaaargh!… : Genoa

Kevin Prince and the paupers

Richard Whittle — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:40:00 GMT

Today’s La Gazzetta dello Sport has a front-page photo of the grandly-named Kevin Prince Boateng looking mean and moody, sitting on a pile of rubble on what seems to be a mock-up of a building site.

In riposte, after obliterating a wall or small building, with sledge hammer in hand the evidence suggests that Milan’s newest recruit is a tough, no-nonsense sort of guy – the wrecking-ball of football; the new Rino Gattuso.

Inside there is an exclusive full-page interview – it’s August after all, a slow month – with probably the least-known footballer to have graced the cover of Italy’s biggest-selling daily, who goes on to say: “It’s unbelievable to be there.”

Plenty of Rossoneri fans are also thinking how far-fetched it is that a club that titles itself ‘the most successful in the world’ is now reduced to taking on loan signings from Genoa.

The midfielder may have caught the eye in a couple of games in the World Cup but that seems hardly a compelling reason for Adriano Galliani to get involved in a deal where Genoa stump up the readies so that Milan can take the player on loan.

Maybe the photo of Boateng on the debris is more apt as a metaphor on the sorry state in which Milan find itself in at the moment.

By the looks of it they don’t have a cent to rub together, let alone the ability to scrape up the €6 million Portsmouth were looking for - forcing them to go cap in hand to Genoa owner Enrico Preziosi to fund the deal.

You could say it is a win-win situation for both parties: Genoa can expect an €8 million Euro transfer fee if Milan decide to make the move permanent at the end of the season – a 30 per cent return on their investment - and if it doesn’t work out then Milan have saved a few cents.

"Hello? Yes, I'd like a refund on my sunglasses..."

Having handed out big, juicy contracts to the heroes of the 2007 Champions League triumph, Milan are now stuck with the wage-draining likes of Kakha Kalazde and Marek Jankulovski until the end of next season at least.

It is not uncommon for Italian clubs to buy a player, only to loan him out almost immediately but that it usually with the aim of giving the new signing some experience before he returns to the fold.

This is certainly not the case with Boateng – and Preziosi has already stated that he does not expect to see the player in a Genoa shirt.

The whole episode certainly has the feel of the gentleman’s club about it and both clubs have already cozied up this summer on the transfer market, with Milan signing Marco Amelia and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

In fact, Preziosi had been working on brokering a co-ownership deal with Lazio to bring Boateng to Italy – the sole purpose would seem to have been to put the player in the transfer shop window once again.

However, the Roman club are not exactly in descending order: high-profile, in with a chance of silverware, on TV every-week material hence the San Siro rather than potential mid-table obscurity.

The pressure is on Boateng to persuade Milan that he is the answer to their midfield problems where Gattuso is well on the wane and Mathieu Flamini is neither a creator nor destroyer.

If he fails there is no way he will ever taste the delights of Liguria – not good enough for Milan but maybe okay for Genoa is never going to happen.

At 23, at least he will add some much-needed youthful vigour to Massimiliano Allegri’s side and the coach has been asking very politely if there was any chance of the club’s hierarchy sanctioning a move for a physical midfielder.

Well, the damage he did with that sledge-hammer suggests Allegri may have got his man but the way Milan went about it gives further credence to the belief that a once proud club is crumbling before our eyes.

More from Serie Aaaaargh!

Italy News * Stats
FFT.com Features * News * Interviews * Home
Interact Twitter * Facebook * Forum

Still no clues as to who will go fourth and conquer in Serie A

Richard Whittle — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:09:00 GMT

The Easter weekend fixtures only reinforced the realisation that the title race will go down to the wire this season.

It was as you were for Inter, AS Roma and AC Milan, with all three picking up maximum points but it is the chase for fourth place where the jitters are really setting in.

Inter’s continued progress in the Champions League should ensure that Serie A still has a fourth representative for another season when the competition gets underway with the preliminary round in August.

And four teams have a realistic chance of taking fourth spot – Palermo, Sampdoria, Napoli and believe or not Juventus while Fiorentina and Genoa are outside hopes.

However, it seems that none of the pretenders can actually grab the opportunity to open up a gap heading into the last six rounds.

Palermo looked odds-on favourites to pull away from the pack a couple of weeks ago but lost the Sicilian derby to Catania, in what was their worst performance since the Valentine’s Day massacre at Roma.

On Saturday evening, a desire to play from the back was punished by their eager hosts who took advantage of shoddy, dawdling on the ball to enable Maxi Lopez to nip in for two quick-fire goals.

Quick-draw McLopez celebrates v Palermo

However, Palermo’s remaining away games are more than winnable – at Cagliari, Siena and Atalanta - with the latter two probably already doomed to relegation when those encounters come around.

Delio Rossi’s side can draw encouragement from their excellent home form; they have not lost at the Barbera Stadium so far and have only failed to win there once since the turn of the year – drawing with Inter.

Pivotal to the final push will be Fabrizio Miccoli: the diminutive striker was quiet for once at the weekend but the Romario of Salento is undisputed king-pin of the side.

His seven goals in the last three weeks demonstrate he can be the little man for the big occasion. Up in Genoa another mercurial showman could also have a major say in the European outcome.

Indiscipline, erratic form and general sloth seemed to have put an end to Antonio Cassano’s season, but the errant striker has found himself back in demand thanks in part to injury to Nicola Pozzi.

The gamble has paid off with the Bari Bawler now the Bari Buddha - such has been his on-field calmness that he has now become the decisive factor in why Samp are equal with Palermo on 51 points.

Napoli have also had a brief flirtation with fourth but after drawing at Milan and downing Juventus, the Partenopei have been off-song in the last two games despite picking up a narrow win over Catania and a draw at Lazio.

Cassano didn't wash his hands after eating his Wotsits

Once again, however, there can be few real complaints in terms of the fixtures ahead, with the likes of Parma, Bari and Chievo coming up – and Walter Mazzarri’s hopes may come down to the final game at his old club Sampdoria.

By that time Juventus may not even be in the running for a Europa League spot and it would be too easily taking a cheap shot at the Old Lady but really she needs a complete makeover from top to bottom.

The humiliation at Udinese at the weekend was another public insult to their long-suffering followers just when they thought that the team could not find new depths in which to plummet.

Despite all the shortcomings, Juve are still just three points off the pace for fourth but then again the vacant looks that accompanied the performance at Udine the question has to be asked, is there any life left in the team?

Things are so bad that they are even unrecognisable from Ciro Ferrara’s tame time in charge – and not in a positive way either.

Alberto Zaccheroni cannot even inspire the substitutes to warm up anymore as he tinkers with formations and systems to make even the more ardent Claudio Ranieri detractor long for last season.

In the meantime, the club have taken a vow of silence until further notice which is fine because no one was making any sense anyway.

The run-in does not give much hope of a late revival: of the bottom nine teams Juve have only beaten Bologna and Atalanta in the second half of the season.

With that in mind, they will probably have to take something from trips to their two trips to the San Siro over the next month, which would be something worth talking about.

More from Serie Aaaaargh!

Italy: News * Stats
FFT.com: Features * News * Interviews * Home
Interact: Twitter * Facebook * Forum