Article: Italian players quit Serie A in droves

[pc4th]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6872600,00.html

Italian players quit Serie A in droves
By Mark Meadows
MILAN, Aug 24 2007 Reuters


Italy coach Roberto Donadoni will clock up the air miles to watch his players in action this season after a host of Italians quit their domestic league in an unprecedented exodus.

.......


Is Series A falling behind Premiership and La Liga in term of attracting star players?

[pc4th]

Just found another well-written article from soccernet

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=455420&root=europe&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos3

At 21, Pellè should probably be expected to have a less cynical view than he has, but as he told Gazzetta: 'I was growing tired of our calcio. Look at what happened in Catania [when a police officer was killed in a riot]. How can you lose your life for a soccer match? And do you think it is normal that when a team struggles its players get assaulted by the fans? Do I go and punch the cook in the nose if I have a bad dinner? Then we had the Calciopoli scandal, with the loss of credibility. I felt I needed to leave'.

The only high-profile arrival from abroad has been budding superstar Pato, whom Milan see as a valuable addition to their Brazilian colony, but the 17-year-old will only be allowed to play from next January. Other notable purchases from abroad have been Juan and Giuly, who joined Roma, and Grygera, Salihamidzic and Tiago who joined Juventus. None of them, as readers will know, possess the wow factor that makes fans look forward to seeing them in action, nor are there many young players who could become stars like the aforementioned Pato.

Click to read the rest.

[mattteo]

In terms of charm i don't think so, in terms of salaries most definitely yes.

But the only huge loss for serie a is giuseppe rossi (but if the man-u buyback clause thing is true i can see why italian teams weren't willing to buy him), bianchi was overpaid by manchester city (same for pellè by az), toni, lucarelli, grosso are all over-30 players willing to go abroad to make more money or get consistent playing time not guaranteed if they stayed here (so no news here)...

[Karloski]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6872600,00.html



Is Series A falling behind Premiership and La Liga in term of attracting star players?

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

[blackjack]

Serie A also fell behind France in attendance this past season (of course it helped that Juventus weren't around). I think in three to five years, Serie A will be the fifth-best league in Europe after England, Spain, France, and Germany.

[The Jitty Slitter]

Serie A also fell behind France in attendance this past season (of course it helped that Juventus weren't around). I think in three to five years, Serie A will be the fifth-best league in Europe after England, Spain, France, and Germany.

based on what measure?

[jpick]

Serie A also fell behind France in attendance this past season (of course it helped that Juventus weren't around). I think in three to five years, Serie A will be the fifth-best league in Europe after England, Spain, France, and Germany.

not by cl standards they won't. the mid-table doesn't attract as much talent right now, but the big 4 will get their share, and even some of the other teams just behind like fiorentina that now have their houses in order will be solid. it will probably be just a bigger gap, top 5 or 6 teams, and then big gap downwards. so it might become very unbalanced, but lyon is the only french "giant" so in cl play france (and germany) won't catch up.

as far as attendance goes, last year you had a lot more than just juventus in serie b, but limited attendances due to only certain numbers of turnstiles, no away supporters, napoli and genoa to a lesser extent will boost numbers compared to ascoli and messina, year away from dullest calciopoli weakened serie a so higher interest, etc. will all help for higher average attendances, as just two years ago it was something like 26k. it won't reach 26k this season, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was low 20s.

of course, this will turn into a flame serie a thread in no time, so i don't know why i bothered subscribing.

[zippy85]

not by cl standards they won't. the mid-table doesn't attract as much talent right now, but the big 4 will get their share, and even some of the other teams just behind like fiorentina that now have their houses in order will be solid. it will probably be just a bigger gap, top 5 or 6 teams, and then big gap downwards. so it might become very unbalanced, but lyon is the only french "giant" so in cl play france (and germany) won't catch up.

as far as attendance goes, last year you had a lot more than just juventus in serie b, but limited attendances due to only certain numbers of turnstiles, no away supporters, napoli and genoa to a lesser extent will boost numbers compared to ascoli and messina, year away from dullest calciopoli weakened serie a so higher interest, etc. will all help for higher average attendances, as just two years ago it was something like 26k. it won't reach 26k this season, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was low 20s.

of course, this will turn into a flame serie a thread in no time, so i don't know why i bothered subscribing.
Great post jpick, an excellent contribuation to bigsoccer, rep you when i can

[zippy85]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6872600,00.html



Is Series A falling behind Premiership and La Liga in term of attracting star players?
Serie A in money terms has dropped behind Epl/La Liga, and in terms of stadiums yes(depends on your views of how stadiums should look, and your knowledge on gate receipt finance of the clubs concerned)
But Italian Football still has History of leagues/players/managers/famous matches like derbies with 80 years of history/bitterness/pleasure and depending on your view what makes a club ' Great ' a majority would agree that those reason mentioned in this paragraph would make up most of the main criteria, french/portuguese leagues etc cannot compete with this.
This means that players are still attracted to Italy because of champion clubs like AC Milan and Inter Milan, and to experience italian culture inside and outide football so your question should be answered as ....

NO!!!...... :)

[RobertK]

I think Serie A is just going through/gone through a much needed adjustment. The big 3 have continued to dominate the league and Europe through this transition period over the past several years. It has been everyone below those 3 teams that have hurt the league. When teams like Chievo and Udenese are making the CL tourney, its pretty obvious that there is a large chasim between the 3 and the other 17. But, things are changing for the better over the past few years. Traditionally strong teams like Fiorentina, Napoli & Juventus have been punished in recent years, dropped down to Serie B & C and other small teams have moved into A like never before. These teams are hopefully re-emerging without the corruption or bad ownership that sunk them previously. Hopefully the leasons learned will stay learned for these teams as well as others.

This year is poised to be one of the best years in recent memory for the league from top to bottom. The big 3 are back together, Roma is emerging as a strong force in Europe and the league. Fiorentina's ownership seems to be light years ahead of previous owners. I think what they got for Toni and what they used that money to bring in will allow them to push the top teams over the next several years. Teams like Palermo, Lazio, even Udenese are giving the middle of the table some bite. Getting Napoli back into the league with its huge stadium and big fan base , along with Genoa to a lesser extent is great. The best part is that the little teams are getting pushed back down to lower leagues by those clubs that can compete better and put a better product on the field and more fans in the stands. This will make the league better from top to bottom.

They still have problems with fan violence that need to be taken care of. Maybe last year's league-wide security upgrades in reaction to the Cantana violence will help. Bad stadiums are another problem where they need help. But, when you look at the 3 stadiums added to Serie A this with Juventus(work in progress), Napoli and Genoa (and the 3 taken out), you'll see that part of the stadium problem will be taken care of just by getting these teams back where they should be.

I think in the not-so-long run, Serie A will be back fighting it out with the EPL and La Liga for the title of the best league in the world.

[Bartio88]

Serie A has the most naturally talented and will always be a top league. You don’t win shit loads of under 21 Championship in a road for fun but they did. It's easily the best league in the world again now. After the top 4 Juve, Milan, Inter and Roma you will find 4 sub top team Palermo, Viola, Udi and Lazio who will all play for CL footy. Much depth this year. With Napoli and Genoa back again it's going to be hard to say who will go down. No league in the world has this quality. Only Spain comes close.

[zippy85]

It's easily the best league in the world again now.

Currently Serie A is not the BLITW

[TheGrimSweeper]

Serie A also fell behind France in attendance this past season (of course it helped that Juventus weren't around). I think in three to five years, Serie A will be the fifth-best league in Europe after England, Spain, France, and Germany.

SerieA has nowhere to go but up, and this season promises to be a good one.

In 3-5 years SerieA will be back up there as being stated equal to La Liga and the Premiership

[canzano55]

What people don't realize is that for the first time in 10 years all the major Italy powers of football are back in the top branch.

Napoli, Juventus, Fiorentina(bankrupt once upon a time) and Palermo are huge football markets in Italy and its no coincidence that in opening weekend some of these cities had record attendances.

Not to mention the international TV coverage is the best quality I've ever seen it in my life.

When you take into account that the favorites for the scudetto is a coin toss between 4 balanced clubs while the fight for 4th spot is a battle between 6 separate clubs; all in all it should make for a great season.

Finally I think Serie A's ability to attract players like it used to will ultimately depend on the tweaking of salary tax laws in order to compete with European wages.

[zippy85]

What people don't realize is that for the first time in 10 years all the major Italy powers of football are back in the top branch.

Napoli, Juventus, Fiorentina(bankrupt once upon a time) and Palermo are huge football markets in Italy and its no coincidence that in opening weekend some of these cities had record attendances.

Not to mention the international TV coverage is the best quality I've ever seen it in my life.

When you take into account that the favorites for the scudetto is a coin toss between 4 balanced clubs while the fight for 4th spot is a battle between 6 separate clubs; all in all it should make for a great season.

Finally I think Serie A's ability to attract players like it used to will ultimately depend on the tweaking of salary tax laws in order to compete with European wages.
People keep saying this, what is the difference between say our tax laws and italies or spains, how big is the difference, does different countries currency rates effect transfers too. :confused:

[canzano55]

People keep saying this, what is the difference between say our tax laws and italies or spains, how big is the difference, does different countries currency rates effect transfers too. :confused:I think its something like 15% but don't quote me on that.

[jpick]

well, i heard in henry's case, to equal his salary, milan we would have to pay close to 50% more than what barca paid him, but i am not sure the exact numbers, but with the huge contracts, it does make a difference.

[zippy85]

well, i heard in henry's case, to equal his salary, milan we would have to pay close to 50% more than what barca paid him, but i am not sure the exact numbers, but with the huge contracts, it does make a difference.
That is ridiculous, How can Italian clubs compete for players with laws like that.:mad::mad::mad:

[mattteo]

People keep saying this, what is the difference between say our tax laws and italies or spains, how big is the difference, does different countries currency rates effect transfers too. :confused:

with spain, for non-spanish eu citizens, it's huge, like 25% less, so if both milan and barca offer 10 mil euros wages, the barca player gets 7,5 mil, the milan player gets 5 mil...with england is much less, england simply has more money on average than italian clubs, especially bottom-10 clubs (of course the collective tv-deal helps, luckily italy, if the government keeps its promises, is going that way too....berlusconi, moratti, agnelli are already filthy rich.....other club owners much less - though there are some who have the money and simply don't wanna spend, or spend it in a sensible way.....and after what happened between 2000 and 2005, with many big teams relegated or penalized for excessive spending, i understand them). I think though that the wrong law is spain's, not italy's.

[zippy85]

with england is much less, england simply has more money on average than italian clubs

If we are the richest then we should be taxed more than something that earns less :confused: