THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[maro]

Disloyal prick. He's dead to me. Actually, I find it hard to begrudge players like Cafu and Chivu, say, their chance actually to win something and I'm sure it will prove the same with Philippe. It seems to me a very strange time for him to be leaving the club - there must be quite a lot behind the move at which we can only guess.

Welcome, Don Simon. I hope you and Italiamia are able to bury the hatchet - or, if not, that it makes for some good, entertaining reading. He lets go of one grudge every Easter so cross your fingers you're Barabas sooner rather than later.

[DonSimon]

Thankyou sir. Like you say, there seems to be a lot of weird stuff behind the scenes in this move. Either way it will be a good payday for Mexes and his agent.
I like burying hatchets - although I don't think Italiamia will ever bury the one marked "Dino Viola". Fair enough too.

[vtec]

gianni likes to bury hatchets...in his enemies' backs.

[ASR1927]

[Giallorossi93]

[RomaShield27]

Its does rankle a little to see him in a Milan maglia even though he is still a Roma player and the season isn't even over yet, but it doesn't really matter all that much. Technically there's nothing to stop him wearing another teams shirt and its not like he was parading around with Milan's new maglia on and a cameraman snapped him. It was an official photoshoot done for a magazine interview in which he finally spoke up and revealed all about his future. I think its a good way for him to finally announce his plans and he has conducted himself with nothing but professionalism and respect throughout this entire saga. I hope the tifosi will react in a positive manner when he does eventually play against us, but thats more wishful thinking as I'd say there'll be some whistle's and boo's just like with Cafu, but hopefully only from a small minority. The man has been a legend in his time here and has come as close as any player in our history to being a true adopted Roman.

I'm not sure if he specifically said he'd could never join another club in Italy, Jeff. He may have said he could never join a bitter rival like Juve or Inter, but he was always likely to stay in Italy for family reasons. He has also said in his interview with France Football that "Milan were the only Italian club I could join – I couldn’t have moved to another."

Jeff, its amazing how the entire city has ground to a halt for the visit of that wench. We can't walk (or cycle) down half the bleedin streets in the city centre. Its completely ridiculous and an entire waste of time and money.

[ASR1927]

[maro]

I don't believe that Rosella didn't offer a renewal, Goffredo. Or, at least, if "she didn't" it will be because his agent said whatever happens, we're not going to sign for less than this and it was a figure that the club wasn't prepared to come close to meeting. Showing complete respect would have meant signing an extension, threadmund; at least when Aquilani left he had the decency to leave the league and to get the club a decent transfer fee at the same time. No way Mexes gets a clean run on this from me - good luck to the guy; I hope he does well and earns us some decisive penalties as Goffredo says. He's still left the club on a Bosman because it suits him and his family. That's fine, but it is also a little bit of a betrayal.

[The MAN]

[maro]

He wasn't playing last season, The Man; he'd fallen behind Burdisso and Juan in Ranieri's pecking order. And so over the summer he said (so the interview runs) to Rosella that if she wanted to sell him he would be prepared to move on, to which she replied "we don't sell members of the family." Who knows what Rosella was thinking last summer - it's hardly inconceivable she hoped he would sign a new contract this year. He did say, on a number of occasions, that he'd never leave the club on a free and so do it out of pocket. He did also say he couldn't see himself playing for any other club in Italy.

[ASR1927]

[maro]

He did, Goffredo - I was backing you up on that one. Of course he's said lots of things that he probably meant at the time or that get taken out of context and so get taken rather more seriously than they were intended. I tend to think it's rather spurious when fans get up in arms about a player contradicting something he was reported to have said two years earlier. Still, it's easier to see this move as a good one for Mexes personally than a good one for the club and I'm inclined to hold him in large part responsible for that.

[ASR1927]

[maro]

Oh, absolutely. It's hard to reconcile the myth of Mexes's complete Romanitas with this move; I can understand the move, but it comes at the expense of the myth.

[DavidP]

[AlCapone]

[maro]

I don't, of course, mean particularly to defend Rosella et al. and certainly there are any number of plausible scenarios which place the blame for this transfer firmly at her/their door rather than at Mexes's. Still, this is what I read earlier in the day and what, I presume, the Channel4 piece has worked from:

""Me ne sarei potuto andare anche l'anno scorso, avevo proposto loro di vendermi. Giocavo di meno e mi avrebbe fatto piacere che la società incassasse un'indennità per il trasferimento. Sarebbe stato un modo per restituire un pò di tutto quello che ho avuto. Con la presidente, Rosella Sensi, avevamo un rapporto stretto. Era quasi diventata un'amica. Le ho detto che se non facevo più parte dei loro piani bisognava fare quello che c'era da fare. Lei mi ha risposto che io facevo parte della famiglia e che non si vende un membro della famiglia. Mi ha enormemente emozionato». "

"I could also have gone last year, I suggested to the club that they sell me. I was playing less and it would have pleased me had the club been able to make a bit of money out of the transfer. it would have been a way to repay a little, all that the club has given me. With the president, Rosella Sensi, we had a very close relationship. She became almost un'amica. I said to her that if I was no longer a part of their plans, she had to do what she needed to do. She replied to me that I was part o the family and that one doesn't sell one's family members. This really moved me."

I can't say that Rosella comes out of that all that badly; I'm not sure that Mexes comes out of it entirely well.

[DonSimon]

I agree - Rosella has done many indefensible things, but sometimes it's too convenient to lay ALL the blame for EVERYTHING at her feet. Yes, as president she's ultimately responsible for the club, but that doesn't mean everything has to be her fault. And as a "member of the family" and a "true" Romanista, Mexes should be committed to staying and being part of the new ownership.

[Italiamia]

I am convinced that not selling Mexes to Milan last year had more to do with the Borriello deal than merely malfeasance on the part of the organization.

[Giacomo]