2012 Summer Transfer Thread (Speculation, Rumours, Etc.)

yes we need a striker, no doubt, we just dont need some high priced big hype who wont make that much of a difference.

We may need two strikers. Del Piero is gone, so he will need to be replaced. Then there is the uncertainty of Boriello. That leaves Quagliarella, Matri & Vucinic. We need at least 5.

after dropping out of the race for one 29 year old, Juve enter a race for another 29 year old.

Izco agent confirms 'dream' Juve talks
By Football Italia staff

Mariano Izco’s agent has confirmed numerous clubs are interested, but will hold talks with Catania on “making his dream of wearing the Juventus shirt come true.”

The 29-year-old midfielder has become a fan favourite since arriving in 2006 and his contract ties him to the Elefantini until 2014.

“Mariano has improved so much in these years and several clubs have noticed,” agent Jorge Cyterzspiller told Itasportpress.

“Juventus are among those clubs who have targeted my client. He is ready to play in Turin for one of the strongest clubs in the world.

“In the next few days we will meet the Catania directors and the Bianconeri ones to reach an agreement. We’ll be making Izco’s dream of wearing the Juventus shirt come true.”

LOL. doubt this happens.

rumors that we've bid €4 million for Botafogo's Elkeson. €7 million is their asking price.

Who the ******** is that guy?

Only if every forward had his strike rate Juve would be revolutionized

After reading 5 pages the only thing I would add is that in the last two years the three biggest spenders were Man City Madrid and Juventus. All three won their league.

Then, can you explain why he rarely changed his midfield? Why didn't he give Marrone or Pazienza "a chance"? Cmon, Daei, you and I both know that Conte wasn't thrilled with any of our primary strikers. None of them really convinced this year.

It's all game circumstantial; there is no "okay, when you're winning by X amount, sub out a striker, but when winning by this amount, sub out a midfielder." It depends on who looks tired, looks in poor form, who needs to be saved for the next match, who needs to be replaced to avoid a second yellow, etc. However, you'll notice this season our forwards were swapped out most of the time. I think this is indication that Conte wasn't always pleased with what he saw or what they produced.

The articles keep linking us to Van Persie. I hope it's true.

Is that what Conte told you? There was no rhyme or reason with his selection of strikers. Explain how Vucinic was the constant despite his play being less stellar than the other strikers for most of the season. If anyone should have had a 20-goal season, it was him. Bottom line is that Conte is not reliant on his strikers to carry the scoring load. Only Milan scored more goals than us and that was by 6 goals. We know that Ibra had more than a half dozen penalties to his credit. The math is not difficult to do.

Conte was content with his defense and his midfield. He played all of the strikers hoping that one would go on a streak. Vucinic doesn't count because he's not a prima punta. He plays a different role. You could make an argument that Matri is the main guy, but if he's your main striker, then how do you explain his playing time? What about Quagliarella's lack of playing time? Borriello got some playing time, but it was evident that he was not the main man. So, who is it, then? You can't say, "Well, Conte was trying to use them equally..." because he wasn't. He was hoping that one of them would be the man, and none of them were. The midfield and defense were set. One part of the attack is there in Vucinic. They need someone else to come in and be the main striker. Whether it's Cavani, Falcao, or even Bas Dost from Heerenveen (by the way, check this kid out).

He did not use a main striker. His strikers were required to come back and to apply pressure. No one sat in the penalty area waiting for balls. He wanted his strikers to run hard. That is why he rotated them the most.

What Kens said.

Bottom line if Conte had that much faith or belief in one striker, he would've been used clearly more than the others. When you look at our strikers, all of them got similar playing time (even Borriello for a half a season). That shows me Conte did not really favor one over the others and that he was not truly convinced by one over the others.

He did not say it but his actions speak louder. By midseason, we did not even know who our starting striker was in an ideal XI lineup. I recall every game before FSC showed the starting lineup wondering who Conte would start this game. Matri would inexplicably be dumped at some points, Quagliarella would get a run out, and then Borriello became Conte's main project. Borriello may very well have gotten more playing time in the second half of the season than any other forward besides Vucinic. That goes to show you how much confidence Conte had in Matri and Quags.

Is that what Conte told you? Because we did not rely on a striker to carry our scoring load does not mean Conte was Conte with the scoring loan of our strikers. There's a big difference in that.

The really bottom line is that 30 goals were scored collectively from Matri, Vucinic, Borriello, Quagliarella and Del Piero. I'm sorry if you disagree but that is very uninspiring. I would not want to go into next season with the mentality that this area requires no upgrading and we can continue relying on goals from the midfield.

SS24 is reporting that we've reached a deal with 19 year old Lens midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia. Next season will be the last year of his contract with Le Havre and he will arrive on a free next summer.

Gianluca Di Marzio is also reporting that the deal for Paul Pogba is done, just awaiting the official announcement.

Take both with a grain of salt until the club confirms either signing, but it's a good start if true.

EDIT: And if it is true that we've signed these players, and keep Marrone at the club, then I think we can be assured that we won't be spending copious amounts of money after this summer. At least not in the near future, because neither Kondogbia nor Pogba are eligible for the Primavera (too old).

Don't know Kondogbia at all. But, our starting midfield will be MVP. With Marrone, Pogba, Kondogbia and Padoin as backups, I'd say we have sufficient cover and players to rotate for MVP. Excited about your midfield!

Don't forget Ouasim and Gabriel in the Primavera. It's very likely we'll sign Marco Verratti as well.

Pretty obvious that we want to be well prepared for FFP, because Kondogbia, Pogba, and Verratti are supposed to be top, top prospects.

I think Buoy and Gabriel will remain in the Primavera next season - they aren't too old right?

But, if we sign Verratti, that will shore up the "vice-Pirlo" role well. I've heard and seen great things from Verratti.

Our midfield looks promising! I hope against injury to one of MVP, but if injury should occurr, we have to be willing to put faith in your youngsters. See below:

MARCHISIO ----------------- PIRLO ----------------- VIDAL

(Pogba/Padoin) ------------ (Verratti/Marrone) ------- (Kondogbia/Padoin)

^^^^ I think Gabriel might have one more year of eligibility, but I could be wrong. I don't know about Ouasim. I thought he would be too old after this season, but I have to check. They're lowering the age limit again this summer, so neither may actually be eligible for next season.

I do worry about Gabriel. He seems to be injury prone and by bringing in Verratti, we might be hedging our bets about his future. But he's a talent, nonetheless. Hope everything works out for him (and us).

My mistake. I meant Lens (Pogba was poached from Le Havre by United).

Yeah, we clearly need another feeder club now that Perinetti has left Siena for Palermo. A new Atalanta or Avellino.

Apparently Guilherme Appelt is totally useless and already on loan to D'Alessandria. We bought him from Resende to sweeten the deal for Gabriel and to try and help him with potential homesickness.

But I totally agree with you about a B-team system. It's worked wonders for Spain.

EDIT: Also, until the Pogba deal is officially announced by Juve, I'd remain skeptical. His agent is Mino Raiola and the pizza man could just be using the press to publicize our interest in order to squeeze more money out of Manchester United, who desperately want him to sign a contract extension.

Is the "B Team" concept in Spain new? I know about it and understand how it works but I'm just wondering how long it has been in place.

1- the midfield
come on man, as a player u should know thats not the same as striker...u dont just rotate midfield and defense as u do the strikers and wingers. To build a solid team u need to play the core of your mid and defense to build cohesion which makes the team. Thats why strikers are the ones that usually get subbed and rotated. If he rotated the mid, then we wouldnt have a solid team. And you're talking about Pirlo, a world class player and vidal and marchisio who scored 8-10 goals each + assist....he's not gonna risk anything to put pazienza or marrone in.


2- yes subs are circumstantial but usually it goes by the score line. Unless a player is tired, injured, yellow carded, needs to be saved for next game, etc.....if a team is winning, he's not gonna sub matri in, he'd sub padoin or marrone in or caceres or de celige. Especially conte who is conservative, he usually tries to hold the score line by bringing in defensive players when he's up.



so all in all....we had about 5 strikers this season; all of whom needed playing time so conte can see what they're capable of. Quags sat most of first half and in 2nd half came borriello also....he saw what matri was capble of so he wanted to inject quags and borriello in. If he played more offensive with 3 strikers then we would've seen more of our forwards

I flat out disagree. I think the midfield is an area which, generally, requires more rotation because they generally are the players who are covering the most ground and therefore, need more rest. Yes, I agree that the defense should remain unchanged barring injury and that the strikers require substitution to mix things up or to try and force a goal, but the midfield, generally, is the area which requires more frequent rotation.