THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[DavidP]

define "worth" - i think if we paid 30m for rossi he himself could come close to making that back (shirts, marketing in the US, future of the azzuri, and he could probably be that one extra player we need for either EL/coppa or even scudetto glory, over the years).

[maro]

I've no idea about the number of shirts he might sell. I'm not sure he's much better than Vooch - more consistent, sure, but probably not as naturally gifted - and I'm pretty sure he's not as good as Bojan.

[DavidP]

not as good as Bojan, come on now.

[maro]

Bojan is 20 and has played (or so the ever-reliable wikipedia tells me) 104 games for Barcelona. Wikipedia also tells me that Rossi left Manchester United for Villareal in 2007, at the age of 20, having played 5 games for them. He had also played 11 games for Gnucastil and 19 for Parma. I'm not sure how much one should read into any of that, but there it is.

[DavidP]

you got there in the end.



in other news, http://www.football-italia.net/aug12r.html

[maro]

That's yesterday's news - the story, supposedly, runs that if Fabregas goes to Barca, Barca might be prepared to loan TA out for a season and he loves LE so 2+2=bingoburgerwotawatertitesolution. If Rossi could only manage 5 games for ManUre while Bojan was racking up 104 for Barca, what do you think that says about their respective quality?

[DavidP]

yeah, that's why i posted it, upon hearing that cesc was inches away from barcelona (yeah it IS getting old, but this time it may be for real)


well, apart from bojan, did barcelona have any other backups for the front three (perhaps jeffren and some other kid, but that doesn't count). it would also be interesting to see how many of those 104 apps were starts. and the fact that pedro came, broke into the starting 11 and left bojan drooling on the benches is pretty revealing as well. and i think we can agree that pedro is solid, solid, solid and not much more than that.

we can probably also agree that barcelona are more willing than manure to give youngsters a shot at the first team.

[DavidP]

after all, he did make a €10 million move to Villareal when he was 20. seems quite familiar, except villareal actually paid.


edit: pirlo averaged 7.3 apps/season in his 3 seasons at inter. in hindsight that didn't turn out to be very meaningful in the long run, no?

[maro]

Well, Pirlo's renaissance came when he was reinvented as a regista.

[maro]

I'm not trying to 'prove' that Bojan is the better player based on those stats - that would be a fairly stupid thing to attempt. I'm just making a little point about his quality - and proposing that the suggestion that he might be a better player than Rossi is not so terribly outlandish.

[DavidP]

fair enough.

[maro]

[DavidP]

he may develop, sure, but 12 months won't change how good he is right now.

[maro]

No, but it might retroactively cast pretty good light on exactly how good he is right now.

[DavidP]

we shall see; i hope you're right.

[maro]

Did you see this earlier today?
Di Carlo: "Il miglior acquisto l'ha fatto la Roma con Bojan Krkic"
Venerdì 12 Agosto 2011 16:06

L'allenatore del Chievo ai microfoni di Sky ha parlato un po' del prossimo campionato soffermandosi sulla lotta per la salvezza "Saremo i soliti. Siena e Novara si sono mossi bene sul mercato, ma anche l'atalanta che ha fatto un solo acquisto ha un organico buono.

Poi ci siamo noi e le altre. Saremo in dieci a lottare per la salvezza con qualcuno che potrà arrivare anche in Europa se una delle cinque grandi sbaglia e scende in classifica".

Poi il voto al calciomercato "Secondo me - afferma Di Carlo - il colpo migliore l'ha fatto la Roma prendendo Bojan Krkic. E' un fenomeno e sono curioso di vederlo giocare in Italia"

[maro]

Anch' io - sono curioso di vederlo giocare in Italia.

[DavidP]

I didn't no, but anch' io - sono curioso di vederlo giocare in Italia. do you agree that he's the best purchase so far, though? all things considered, i think jose angel may turn out to be an absolutely phenomenal buy (perhaps better than bojan).

i'm actually very excited for tonight's game as well - mostly because of that spanish duo.

[pocari_fenrir]

LE wants Thiago Alcantara now
http://www.football-italia.net/aug12r.html

[DavidP]