Blew my expectations chacal, I hope mara will be satisfied thanks for your participation, now and in the future
those are worth 10x more than the regular rep, cherish it in other news, Roma beat juve 2-0 in the cup match today, we'll face them in the semifinal while milan face palermo talking about milan, they are set to sign a 21 spanish international: Didac Vila milan have made some good moves both in the summer and winter windows
The last year we've totally revitalized our squad. I follow the Spanish teams... as I'm part Spanish... I think he's Capdevila's successor. Apparently Napoli also bought Espanyol's centerback... Victor Ruiz Torre. So I see more Spanish players trying out Italy... Didac Vila is a young energetic left back...
Yeah, milan is turning less of a retirement home, I wonder to which club does that title apply now.....juve?
The move that Bilan made which really impressed me was signing Urby Emanuelson, a player I always thought was very underrated and unlucky to be on the end of some freak results sometimes. I see him as becoming the youthful (ok he's around 24), energetic left back/left mid Milan needs. I thought he would have left Ajax when he was 21 to be honest.. Van Bommel, while a good back up is still 33.. so I guess a 6 month contract ain't too bad. And how about Juventus signing Barzagli? Pretty interesting reading.. Out of all the top teams I would say Juve is by far the most Italian. As in regards to the Roma cup win, we will need to be on top of our game to beat them, as Ranieri has them playing the sort of football they played last season, and something tells me their quality will come to the fore in the next 2 months. Borriello has also been spectacular, as has Vucinic on occasion.
Hah we never were really one. But yea you got some old players too (Cordoba, Materazzi, Zanetti)... so... Juve is shifting towards one though... Luca Toni? Barzagli? Seriously. Yes, maybe the most Italian. Sorenson and Krasic aren't Italian. We did get Cassano. As far as Emanuelson, best as a left midfielder... not a left back... hence why we still went for Vila.
Yepes ( libero from the 50's ) Seedorf Gattuso Ambrosini Jankulovski Oddo Flavio Roma Zambrotta I think we still hold the retirement title, for now. But the way things are going, I see us moving into a younger direction...as we have many expiring contracts in the summer, so some of the old timers will leave.
At least you got rid of Favalli that dude was ancient, probably adding an extra 10 years to the squad average! I remember thinking this guy was even too old for us and then he went signed for you guys lol
Favalli was insane... he was ancient by far. I think this just attests to what type of league Italy really is, one where experience goes a long way. Look at Totti and Del Piero... still playing. As far as the most Italian I think Juventus really is the most Italian out of the big three as their current first team has: Gigi Buffon, Marco Motta, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Claudio Marchisio, Alessandro del Piero, Amauri D.. jk), Alberto Aquiliani, Leonardo Bonucci, Fabio Quagliarella, Luca Toni, Simone Pepe, Marco Storari, Paolo de Ceglie, and Nicola Legrottaglie. That's 17 Italians out of 26. Inter has 6 out of 28 if we include Pazzini. Bilan has 14 out of 30 Italians.
You know what? As much as I wish we had more Italian players, I'm willing to make due if it means we don't have to rely on the likes of Barzagli, Grosso, IASTINKA, Amauri, Toni, PEPE, de Ceglie, and Legrottaglie. Hell, even del Piero at this age.
Juve as a retirement home, how does that make any sense? The only person we've brought in over 30 was Toni (I agree an idiot move). ALL of all other signings, except Barzagli, have been in their young and mid 20s. But, Barzagli was brought in as a backup. And, 29 is hardly old for a defender (see Lucio to Inter). Also, in the offseason, we've deliberately offloaded a lot of aging players (Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Zebina, etc.). As Rossonero correctly points out, that title still is held by Milan. They've brought in Van Bommel and Yepes in the past six months, VB at 33 and Yepes now 35. FACT: Average age of Juve: 28.4, of Inter: 28.6, of Milan: 29.2.
Our average age is probably about 27, not 29. I think your math is quite off. And reduce it some more. We just signed Didac Vila. Nice way to twist things. We had 4 signings this january. 28, 24, 21, and 33. Three under the age of 28. Your two signings 29 and 33 were on average older than our signings. No, the title is not held by Milan.
I only asked since I honestly didn't know, sorry that offended you in some way... heck, inter has its fair share, matrix(due to retire this or next season), orlandoni(really brings the avg. up with 41 yrs of age), cordoba(34, might leave), zanetti doesn't count since he plays like he's in his 20s inter are getting up there in age...but moves have been made for young gems to take over EDIT:Gian, careful how you choose your words, these threads are classy and friendly for the most part, we intend to keep them that way
I wasn't being rude. I did the math before on our squad... it's about 26.5-27 years old... we picked up many youngsters (and had more success with them than either Inter, Juve or Roma on that regard).
It's not my math. See for yourself: http://transfermarkt.co.uk/en/serie-a/startseite/wettbewerb_IT1.html. Note that your average age just dropped on the site to 28.7 due to your acquisition of Vilà but Milan is still older than Juve. You're twisting things by only counting Juve's signings from the winter transfer window. Way to only look at 2 of our most recent 20 transactions. If you take into account the summer, you'll realize we picked up younger guys like Bonucci (23), Krasic (26), Quagliarella (27), Aquilani (26), Sorensen (18), Motta (24), Traore (21), Pepe (27), and Martinez (27). Like I said, if you are only counting Barzagli and Toni, yes it looks that way. But, in the summer, we only brought in guys young-mid 20s.
I'm talking about the starting 11. Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, and Clarence Seedorf are on their way out. The first two aren't starters. It's best you take the average age of the starting team. I'm still giving it to Juve because that site is a tad bit misleading in that regard. How am I trying to twist anything? Lets face it. Most of your signings have been way below par, or flat outridiculous. Bonucci has been mediocre. Krasic is the good one, along with Quagliarella. Some credit to Aquiliani. The problem with Aquiliani is you won't be able to pay for his transfer. He's not a conclusive transfer. Just a loan with a very expensive buy-out option (in other words you may lose him in the summer knowing the shoestring budget Marotta is on). You may bring up Boateng, but he was brought on co-ownership, and it seems like his contract will be bought out. Sorensen? Below expectations. Motta? Crap. Traore. Loan with NO option to buy. Pepe... ugh. Total utter rubbish. Martinez... injury prone and below expectations. How about our transfer season for both summer and winter? So to put it in a little perspective for you. Summer: Ibrahimovic (29), Boateng (23), Robinho (26), Yepes (34), Sokratis (22). Winter: Emanuelson (24), Vila (21), Van Bommel (33), Cassano (28). Now you since you're only a numbers kind of guy... ask yourself this. Who has had the better set of transfers? The only one that stands out for you is Quagliarella and Krasic. The ones that stand out for us, are Ibrahimovic, Boateng, Robinho and now Cassano. The verdict is still pending for Sokratis (though he's improved), Emanuelson, Vila and Van Bommel. I expect these guys to do well for us... Our transfer market has not been the transfers of grandpas you try to make it out to be. We have an objective to lower the age of our squad. Van Bommel and Yepes were brought on as squad players. Yepes was given a one year contract (expires in June) and Van Bommel given just a 6 month contract. Van Bommel could be instrumental for us the rest of this season. I can't stand the guy, but I am forced to admit he's a very good player.
And here is a guy who can't admit that age isn't everything and Marotta has failed totally. Could I sign for Juve or Milan? I'm only 25 hahahah... I think I'm good on the field, but surely not a professional footballer hahahah. Kinda silly just to go by age. Traore, your youngest "signing/temporary loan" has been horrible. BTW, if you don't make the CL, good luck expecting Aquilani to stay. What will happen is you won't pay for him (because of revenue loss from not qualifying), you'll lose him, and Liverpool will be forced to sell to someone else.
You're getting WAY off track. I'm not talking about the quality of the signings, I'm responding to someone who said Juve is becoming a retirement home by signing overaged talent. I responded by saying only Toni fits that description. You're taking the conversation into a completely different topic - quality of the signings was not the topic, age was. Let's stick to the topic at hand, not go off on a tangent.
I am. I also refuted the next part of your statement. Neither Aquiliani or Traore are conclusive signings. Traore will be gone, as there is no option to buy out his contract. It was just a loan. So, what I say is relevant. You tend to bring up Yepes and Van Bommel... Yepes is gone by summer, Van Bommel had a six month country.
Haha, saw this, thanks a lot man. I also saw your question about AVB's weaknesses...it's obviously tough to complain about his work so far with only 1 Cup loss, but these are the only two concerns I would have: 1. He is very demanding of the players in training, and has no tolerance for guys who don't work hard. For example, we signed two extremely talented young players from South America this summer, James Rodriguez (a Colombian from Banfield) and Walter (a Brazilian from Internacional). These guys were expected to contribute right away since they cost us a combined 11M Euro, but AVB was disappointed with their work ethic and professionalism in training and decided not to play them until they shaped up. With James, it's worked really well since he's improved his attitude and developed into a key contributor this season, taking advantage of injuries to guys like Cristian Rodriguez and Silvestre Varela who started the year ahead of him on the depth chart. But with Walter, who is still a bit overweight, AVB never starts him in league matches even though he has scored 7 goals in limited appearances this year, instead preferring to play Hulk as a CF even though he's openly admitted that he prefers not to play there. [So with a club like Inter who have a lot of highly-paid stars, I don't know how they would react to his demanding practices that require a very high level of fitness, motivation and concentration.] 2. The only other concern would simply be that he has never managed a club outside of Portugal before, and we therefore don't know how he would do in a foreign country. I have no doubt that this time at Porto will help develop him into a world-class manager like Mourinho, and he should have plenty of offers from abroad in a couple years. But until he wins titles at Porto and gains more experience, he probably doesn't deserve to be linked to the reigning treble winners. (3)...on a side note, do any of you guys remember Pele, the Portuguese midfielder who was involved in the swap deal for Quaresma in the summer of 2008? He completely sucked at Porto, constantly showing up late to training, finishing 2nd to last in team sprinting drills (beating only our 38 year old captain who retired that year), and getting caught out at night clubs when we had practice the next day. He's now playing for some mid-table club in Turkey, and is basically an after-thought for the Portugal NT. Real shame, as he looked like a good player at Inter. [Feel free to drop me a PM or visit the Portuguese forums if you guys have any questions about Porto, Benfica, the league or our NT.] Regards.
everyone should rep this fellow poster, he exemplifies what most of us should strive for and is a good representative of not only a porto fan, but a bigsoccer brother