2015/16 Palermo season: Roster Discussions

I don't care if its just you and me, @harrylee773 , lets get this forum up and running. Season starts today with a Coppa Italia match against Avellino. 3PM EDT.

Once again, the Palermo has made a slew of transfers in the offseason, though surprisingly not their manager, Giuseppe Iachini, he's already the second longest serving coach in Zamparini's reign, and was only the second to make it through an entire season. I fear for his job on a regular basis for no reason at all. If he makes it to April 3, he'll be the longest tenured in Zamparini's reign

Transfers IN:

Order	Name	Age	Position	FROM
1	Oscar Hiljemark	23	CM	PSV
2	Edoardo Goldaniga	21	CB	Juventus
3	Abdelhamid El Kaoutari	25	CB	Monpellier
4	Matheus Cassini	19	FW	Corinthians
5	Aleksander Trajkovski	22	LW	Zulte Waregem (Belgium)
6	Nicolas Viola	25	CM	Ternana (Serie B) [previously Palermo 2012-13]
7	Ahmad Benali	23	CM	Brescia (Serie B)
8	Andrea Rispoli	26	RB	Parma
9	Gaston Brugman	22	DM	Pescara (Loan)
10	Simone Colombi	24	GK	Cagliari
11	Fabrizio Alastra	17	GK	Palermo Primavera
12	Antonino La Gumina	19	FW	Palermo Primavera
13	Alejaz Struna	24	RB	Loan Ended
14	Ignacio Lores*	24	RW	Loan Ended
15	Jevrem Kosnic*	22	CB	Loan Ended
16	Riccardo Pellegrino*	19	LB	Loan Ended

*These players are, so far as I can tell, still under contract with Palermo, but none are listed in the 30 man squad (teams are limited to 25 over-21 players), and I think both are in the process of being sold


Transfers OUT:

Order	Name	Age	Position	TO
1	Paulo Dybala	21	FW	Juventus
2	Eros Pisano	28	RB	Verona
3	Edgar Barreto	30	CM	Sampdoria (Free)
4	Gennaro Troianiello	32	RW	Salernitana (Free)
5	Samir Ujkani	27	GK	Genoa (Free)
6	Claudio Terzi	31	CB	Spezia (Free)
7	Nicolas Viola	25	CM	Novara (Free)
8	Silvio Vincenzo Calabrese	19	FW	Vibonese (Free)
9	Ezequiel Munoz	24	CB	Genoa (Free)
10	Carolos Embalo	20	LW	Brescia (Loan)
11	Cephas Malele	21	FW	Atletico CP (Loan)
12	Simon Makienok	24	FW	Charlton (Loan)
13	Andrea Fulignati	20	GK	Trapani (Loan)
14	Eric Lanini	21	FW	Juventus (co-ownership ended)
15	Granddi N'Goyi	27	DM	Dijon (Loan)
16	Sol Bamba	30	CB	Leeds
17	Julian Velazquez	24	CB	Hajduk SPlit (Loan)
18	Davide Petermann	20	CM	Santacangelo (Loan)
19	Emerson	20	LB	Santos (Loan Ended)
20	Danilo Ortiz	23	CB	Cerro Porteno (Loan Ended)
21	Michel Morganella	26	RB	Out of Contract*

*Had surgery on his knee last March and missed the rest of the season, but Palermo are still actively trying to renew his contract, or at least the contract of someone who shares his name



FULL SQUAD:
each position listed in what I roughly consider to be the depth chart, assuming they continue to play a 3-5-2, as always given those two giant tables above, its almost impossible to pick the lineup:

Order	Name	Age	Position
1	Stefano Sorrentino (C)	36	GK
2	Simone Colombi	28	GK
3	Fabrizio Alastra	17	GK
4	Abdelhamid El Kaoutari	25	CB
5	Roberto Vitiello	32	CB
6	Giancarlo Gonzalez	27	CB
7	Sinisa Andelkovic	29	CB
8	Edoardo Goldaniga	21	CB
9	Roberto Pirrello	19	CB
--	Milan Milanovic*	24	CB
10	Andrea Rispoli	26	RWB
11	Aljaz Struna	25	RWB‡
12	Giuseppe Pezzella	17	RWB
13	Achraf Lazaar	23	LWB
14	Fabio Daprela	24	LWB
15	Francesco Bolzoni^	21	CM
16	Ivaylo Chochev	22	CM
17	Robin Quaison	21	CM
18	Oscar Hiljemark	23	CM
19	Mato Jajalo	27	CM
20	Gaston Brugman	22	CM
21	Ahmad Benali	20	CM
22	Enzo Maresca	35	CM
23	Luca Rigoni	30	CM
24	Francesco Della Rocca	27	CM
25	Andrea Belotti	21	FW
26	Franco Vazquez	26	CAM/FW
27	Accursio Bentivegna	19	FW
28	Matheus Cassini	19	SS/FW
29	Aleksander Trajkovski	22	LW/FW
30	Antonio La Gumina	19	FW

*Not listed in the 30 man squad on Palermo's website. I think he is about to be sold
‡can also play CB
^Injured, out for several months

627622170206818304 is not a valid tweet id

Lets get it started

 

General consesus is that Palermo needs at least one, if not two strikers, and thats assuming they don't stupidly sell Belotti like some rumors have been suggesting. Vazquez is going to be employed as a striker, but thats not really his primary position. Bentivegna made a couple of starts last season, but is likely still not ready. Apparently Cassini is going to need some time to develop as well. I don't know anything about the other two

Its possible another CB wouldn't hurt, but we are probably fine there.

Both wingbacks are probably fine. I dunno. Lazaar and Daprela are both very good options on the left. Quaison can play on the Right if need be, Rispoli should be good there as well. Who knows what CMs could play there for depth if needed.

CM is stacked over capacity with 10+ people competing for roughly 3 spots. Chochev and Quaison should both get a lot of minutes. I'd have expected Bolzoni to as well, but he'll be out for a long while.

For some idea of what first choice teams might look like,

The last match of last year had a lineup of
Palermo: (3-5-2): Sorrentino; Vitiello, Gonzalez, Terzi; Quaison, Jajalo, Maresca, Chochev, Lazaar; Vazquez, Belotti

All of those players except Terzi are still with the team.

In a friendly against Gijon last weekend, we played
Palermo: Sorrentino; Struna, Vitiello (Goldaniga 62), Andelkovic; Rispoli (Quaison 46), Chochev, Jajalo (Brugman 62), Hiljemark, Lazaar (Daprela 62); Vazquez, Belotti

I don't think Struna will be a starting CB, but I could very well be wrong. I thought Gonzalez was good there last year, and El Kaoutori seems to be an expectant starter. Vitiello was extremely good last season after Munoz got benched for not wanting to renew his contract. I thought he was a kid then, but it turns out he's 32.

 

Zamparini has been trying, unfortnately he apparently wants to stay on Arsenal's bench instead (or as he would put it "wants to prove himself there"). Must be making good money.

They also tried to get Emerson Palmeiri permanently after his loan last season, but Santos isn't selling. Jonathan Calleri turned down a move, he'll stay at Bocas to play with Tevez.

There've been a couple other names mentioned, but not much seems to be close yet.

I always live in delusional hope that Balotelli will decide he wants to play for his hometown club.

 

No problem. I'm always looking for people to discuss Palermo with. Hopefully if I talk to myself on this forum long enough, people will join. I know I've checked it a few times before only to not post because it was dead...

In the meantime, my go to source for English language Palermo news is http://ultrapalermo.com/ Follow him on twitter too @ultrapalermo and @ViciniLo (he's the main author for the page). There used to be more people who would comment on that blog as a bit of a mini-forum, but it really died out when Palermo got relegated. A lot never returned (or moved to twitter, who knows). For some reason all the articles have been giving me 404 errors today, but I've tweeted him about it, hopefully that gets fixed.

 

Supposedly trying to bring 33 year old Gilardino back from China. Sounds like a terrible idea.

http://www.football-italia.net/71078/palermo-or-napoli-gilardino

 

Thats the oddest point, this is one of the seasons where its clear we have money to spend. Yet Zampa is still lowballing people.

He signed Cassini already for just 1.5m he'll hopefully be a next Pastore or Dybala, but he's too young (and apparently too small) to be relied on for serious minutes yet. If he wants somebody whose game ready, he's going to have to shell out.

He supposedly wanted Cambell on a loan, Arsenal said buy him for 10m or no deal. Zamparini said no deal.

He tried to get Sergio Araujo from a newly promoted Spanish side, they said 18m firm, Zamparini said somewhere between 15-16m. And was apparently was unwilling to come up the final 2m to close the deal.

Something will get done, but Zampa's desire to buy as low as possible is pushing it awfully late into the window.

 

Iachini confirms that they are looking at Gilardino. Sorrentino offers to pick him up from the airport. Huge mistake, in my opinion. Get a rising player. There's no reason for a team like Palermo to be signing aging stars.

http://www.football-italia.net/71087/palermo-confirm-gilardino-interest

 

defender Edoardo Goldaniga signed a contract extension through 2019.

He has been co-owned by Palermo since 2012, and they got his full rights as part of the Dybala transfer with Juventus. He's only 21 though, and has never really spent time with Palermo, and has no appearances for them. He was on loan to a Serie C and then a Serie B team the last two seasons.

I don't know anything about him, but apparently he did pretty well in B last season

 

Update:

IN:Uroš Đurđević
OUT: Andrea Belotti

FULL SQUAD:
each position listed in what I roughly consider to be the depth chart, assuming they continue to play a 3-5-2, as always given those two giant tables above, its almost impossible to pick the lineup:

Order	Name	Age	Position
1	Stefano Sorrentino (C)	36	GK
2	Simone Colombi	28	GK
3	Fabrizio Alastra	17	GK
4	Abdelhamid El Kaoutari	25	CB
5	Roberto Vitiello	32	CB
6	Giancarlo González	27	CB
7	Siniša Anđelković	29	CB
8	Edoardo Goldaniga	21	CB
9	Roberto Pirrello	19	CB
--	Milan Milanović*	24	CB
10	Andrea Rispoli	26	RWB
11	Aljaz Struna	25	RWB‡
12	Giuseppe Pezzella	17	RWB
13	Achraf Lazaar	23	LWB
14	Fabio Daprelà	24	LWB
15	Francesco Bolzoni^	21	CM
26	Luca Rigoni	30	CM
17	Ivaylo Chochev	22	CM
18	Mato Jajalo	27	CM
19	Robin Quaison	21	CM
20	Oscar Hiljemark	23	CM
21	Gaston Brúgman†	22	CM
22	Ahmad Benali	20	CM
23	Enzo Maresca	35	CM
24	Francesco Della Rocca	27	CM
25	Franco Vázquez	26	CAM/FW
26	Uroš Đurđević	21	FW
27	Accursio Bentivegna	19	FW
28	Matheus Cassini	19	SS/FW
29	Aleksander Trajkovski	22	LW/FW
30	Antonio La Gumina	19	FW

*Not listed in the 30 man squad on Palermo's website. I think he is about to be sold
‡can also play CB
^Injured, out for several months
† on loan

Probably could wait for this because I have a feeling another striker will be announced today or tomorrow. Oh well

 

With the Belotti wage rumors, here's a look at what Palermo's wage structure looked like last year


Some of these players have signed new contracts since then and are probably on more wages, but the absolute most Palermo will pay somebody is 1.2m, and Sorrentino is likely making basically what he was last year.

Things to note: 3/6 of the top earners are gone now, and I wouldn't be surprsied if Maresca or Della Rocca followed. Neither seem to be in team plans any more. Della Rocca has been sent out on loan three years in a row now, and Maresca is now 35 and surrounded by better options.

Vitiello (extended to 2017), Bentivegna (extended to 2019) and Chochev (extended to 2020)

There are also a lot of players on the team now which aren't on that wage bill, but you can assume the total is probably about the same. At the start of last year the total wages for players was 30m. That was 8th most in the league, but to even catch up to 7th place Lazio would require almost doubling the wages to 55.5m. Juventus was spending quadruple at 120m. By May it appears they had dropped down to 24.3m and 13th place (we sent a lot of unused players out on loans). In either case, Zamparini has always made clear that in order to balance the books and keep the team financially sound, the wage cap was necessary.

 

Joao Silva, an inconsequential enough player that I accidentally forgot to include him on the lists, has rescinded his contract by mutual consent today. I'm not exactly sure what that frees up, but his name had been mentioned in an article I saw claiming he could be used as part of the negotiations for Marcello Trotta

There have also been a bunch of smaller rumors I'm not ready to start threads for yet:

for striker: Trotta seems to be the name of the day, though its still possible they go back to one of the earlier targets. Getting a 4th striker in is the number one priority, particularly since Iachini doesn't seem to rate any of the younger choices yet.

for right back they are apparently still in talks hoping to renew Morganella's contract and possibly trying to get Ezequiel Schelotto on loan form Inter, which would be a smart move to ver while Morganella recovers from injury, but not the most essential.

for left back, Marco Davide Faraoni from Udinese has been mentioned, which would obviously take place if Lazaar left. Another option mentioned is Luca Antonini. At 33 he's a less permanent option, and said the other day he had not talked to Palermo, but he is reportedly about to rescinded his contract with Genoa, so he would be available for free.

At centerback (a position I don't think we need anyone in) Lorenzo Tonelli and Felipe (31 year old, formerly of Parma, and then briefly Inter). I wouldn't expect either of them to sign. Our center of defense is fine.

 

In another unsurprising move to shift some deadweight, it looks like Della Rocca is nearly gone, to Perugia supposedly. He basically hasn't played much in the last couple years.

If anything, I'm most shocked that Palermo has been this successful in shifting dead weight. A big problem for Palermo has long been being stuck with a bunch of contracts they can't unload, and therefore not being able to buy players they need.

Now they just need to shift Milanovic and Maresca, that'll be all the real dead weight gone (not counting the 7 players out on loan which, who knows what they will become.)

 

Handful of updates. I've also broken the loan outs into their own table for clarity sake. Im doing this on my phone as the new apt still has no internet. hope it works...

In: Andrea Belotti
Out: Francesco Della Rocca
Loan Out: Ahmad Benali


Transfers IN:

Order	Name	Age	Position	FROM
1	Oscar Hiljemark	23	CM	PSV
2	Edoardo Goldaniga	21	CB	Juventus
3	Abdelhamid El Kaoutari	25	CB	Monpellier
4	Matheus Cassini	19	FW	Corinthians
5	Aleksander Trajkovski	22	LW	Zulte Waregem (Belgium)
6	Nicolas Viola	25	CM	Ternana (Serie B) [previously Palermo 2012-13]
7	Ahmad Benali	23	CM	Brescia (Serie B)
8	Andrea Rispoli	26	RB	Parma
9	Gaston Brugman	22	DM	Pescara (Loan)
10	Simone Colombi	24	GK	Cagliari
11	Fabrizio Alastra	17	GK	Palermo Primavera
12	Antonino La Gumina	19	FW	Palermo Primavera
13	Alejaz Struna	24	RB	Loan Ended
14	Ignacio Lores*	24	RW	Loan Ended
15	Jevrem Kosnic*	22	CB	Loan Ended
16	Riccardo Pellegrino*	19	LB	Loan Ended
17	Uros Djurdjevic	21	ST	Vitesse
18	Alberto Gilardino	33	ST	Guangzhou

Transfers OUT:

Order	Name	Age	Position	TO
1	Paulo Dybala	21	FW	Juventus
2	Eros Pisano	28	RB	Verona
3	Edgar Barreto	30	CM	Sampdoria (Free)
4	Gennaro Troianiello	32	RW	Salernitana (Free)
5	Samir Ujkani	27	GK	Genoa (Free)
6	Claudio Terzi	31	CB	Spezia (Free)
7	Nicolas Viola	25	CM	Novara (Free)
8	Silvio Vincenzo Calabrese	19	FW	Vibonese (Free)
9	Ezequiel Munoz	24	CB	Genoa (Free)
10	Eric Lanini	21	FW	Juventus (co-ownership ended)
11	Emerson	20	LB	Santos (Loan Ended)
12	Danilo Ortiz	23	CB	Cerro Porteno (Loan Ended)
13	Michel Morganella	26	RB	Out of Contract*
14	Andrea Belotti	21	ST	Torino
15	Francesco Della Rocca	27	CM	contact bought out

*Had surgery on his knee last March and missed the rest of the season, but Palermo are still actively trying to renew his contract

Loan Out

Name	Age	Positon	Club 1	Carolos Embalo	20	LW	Brescia (Loan)
2	Cephas Malele	21	FW	Atletico CP (Loan)
3	Simon Makienok	24	FW	Charlton (Loan)
4	Andrea Fulignati	20	GK	Trapani (Loan)
5	Granddi N'Goyi	27	DM	Dijon (Loan)
6	Sol Bamba	30	CB	Leeds
7	Julian Velazquez	24	CB	Hajduk Split (Loan)
8	Davide Petermann	20	CM	Santacangelo (Loan)
9	Ahmad Benali	23	CM	Pescara (Loan)*

*forced Purchase if Pescara win promotion to A, despite him only joing Palermo this summer

FULL SQUAD:
each position listed in what I roughly consider to be the depth chart, assuming they continue to play a 3-5-2:

Order	Name	Age	Position
1	Stefano Sorrentino (C)	36	GK
2	Simone Colombi	28	GK
3	Fabrizio Alastra	17	GK
4	Abdelhamid El Kaoutari	25	CB
5	Roberto Vitiello	32	CB
6	Giancarlo González	27	CB
7	Siniša Anđelković	29	CB
8	Edoardo Goldaniga	21	CB
9	Roberto Pirrello	19	CB
--	Milan Milanović*	24	CB
10	Andrea Rispoli	26	RWB
11	Aljaz Struna	25	RWB‡
12	Giuseppe Pezzella	17	RWB
13	Achraf Lazaar	23	LWB
14	Fabio Daprelà	24	LWB
15	Francesco Bolzoni^	21	CM
26	Luca Rigoni	30	CM
17	Ivaylo Chochev	22	CM
18	Mato Jajalo	27	CM
19	Robin Quaison	21	CM
20	Oscar Hiljemark	23	CM
21	Gaston Brúgman†	22	CM
22	Enzo Maresca	35	CM
23	Alberto Gilardino	33	FW
24	Franco Vázquez	26	CAM/FW
25	Uroš Đurđević	21	FW
26	Aleksander Trajkovski	22	LW/FW
27	Accursio Bentivegna	19	FW
28	Matheus Cassini	19	SS/FW
29	Antonio La Gumina	19	FW

*Not listed in the 30 man squad on Palermo's website. I think he is about to be sold
‡can also play CB
^Injured, out for several months
† on loan

Big couple of days left. Will Lazaar stay or go? If he is, (how) will he be replaced (a few rumors have appeared on this)? Will another RWB be signed (A few names have been mentiones)? Will Bentivegna go on loan (rumor has it he will)? Will Morganella re-sign (i hope so, this I dont think is on a deadline though)? Do Palermo still need a fourth choice striker or is it someone on the team already?

 

Milan Milanovic, who wasn't even given a squad number, has been loaned to Ascoli

In more important news, Michel Morganella has signed a new, three year contract. Hopefully he comes back from injury alright. He can be a very good player, and the team desperately needs depth at RWB

 

Last move of the fall transfer market: Bentivegna sent on loan to serie B side Como.

All in all a good market. Got a lot of players off the books and held on to Vazquez and Lazaar. Dybala leaving was a given from the start, but Belotti is a big blow.

Striker is the only open question, midfield and defense both look very solid so far (Palermo are the only A team to not concede a goal so far). lets hope Gila can deliver

 

http://public.tableau.com/shared/8WW5TTTD4?:display_count=yes

Palermo with the 6th cheapest roster in Serie A based on this. Click the link, you can mouse over and see salaries for each player. This should explain why Palermo's objective is always safety first, despite any other lofty dreams. Zamparini has been amazing in terms of the financial stability of the club, but he can't compete monetarily.

A new stadium, which he has repeatedly offered to build would help a lot, but unfortunately it seems unlikely to ever happen

 

http://www.tuttopalermo.net/primo-piano/palermo-due-giocatori-verso-il-rientro-75141

sounds like Morganella and Bolzoni are both nearly back...

Great image of Morganella

 

http://www.football-italia.net/75049/‘milan-inter-chelsea-want-vazquez’

Zamparini confirming what everybody already probably assumed: this will likely be Vazquez's last season with Palermo. There were plenty of buyers this past summer too. Hopefully Zamparini sticks to his word that he won't be selling him in the winter. We need striker reinforcements as it is

 

http://www.football-italia.net/75256/palermos-rigoni-suffers-fracture

Rigoni had surgery to repair a facial fracture, no idea how long that will keep him out, but its a big loss, especially given Iachini's position

 

http://palermocalcio.it/it/1516/news/scheda.php?id=32157

Vitiello out injured. My Italian is nearly non-existent, but "la lesione completa" of his hamstring doesn't sound particularly good.

He seems to have already fallen behind Struna and Andelkovic on the depth chart anyways, but it would have been nice to have him available. He had a very good season last year after Munoz was benched.