Transfers and rumours 08 09 section 3

We can't buy until we sell in my opinion. Therefore we should sell those who are no longer required and bring in a few replacements. For me, an experienced centre back would be a good buy but if we do that then Siviglia should be sold. He has great qualities for this team but he's just not good enough.

I have always liked Mauri/Meghni/Matuzalem but we should sell one of them and get in someone who will be much more reliable.

Hence, Ayala would be ideal and I would like to know more about Genevier. He might fit the bill if he has the talent.

Otherwise we need to keep this team together and let it develop. We have a young but very talented team.

Caxi wrote:

We can't buy until we sell in my opinion. Therefore we should sell those who are no longer required and bring in a few replacements. For me, an experienced centre back would be a good buy but if we do that then Siviglia should be sold. He has great qualities for this team but he's just not good enough.

I have always liked Mauri/Meghni/Matuzalem but we should sell one of them and get in someone who will be much more reliable.

Hence, Ayala would be ideal and I would like to know more about Genevier. He might fit the bill if he has the talent.

Otherwise we need to keep this team together and let it develop. We have a young but very talented team.

Siviglia is a 35 year old, only a relegation battler or a Serie B club would buy him and they don't have much money/ He's a leader with some experience so I'd keep him on for now. When does his contract expire??

I'd keep Mauri and Meghni but wouldn't worry about making Matuzalem's loan permanent. The guy will cost us 8m euro and he seems to be made of glass.

I watch a fair bit of Serie B, not too sure about Genevier. He's good in Serie B but is he what we need or better than what we have. Not too sure about that.

He's no Vignaroli, that's for sure. Vignaroli was old and struggling to even find a club in B, Genevier is mid-20s and a regular in a decent side.

We have to sell Mauri/Makinwa
For Matuzalem its a shame hes always injured......but he will get his chance.
Its also a shame the we cant offload Manfre....because everyone knows that noone wants him :( hes total rubbish...
If Lazio sells Meghni then its a mission failed....if theres no injurys coming then hes a starter for every game.

centrocampista wrote:

We need one player who is good enough to walk straight into the first 11 - no matter what position.

If we reason like this and look at our squad and our assets that player is a no brainer!!

1. We can not afford a striker better then the ones we have (Rocchi, Zarate, Pandev).
1. We can not afford a goalie better then the one we have (JPC).

We don´t really need a defensive player on midfield (dabo, brocchi and to some extent ledesma).

We can´t afford a playmaker better then Ledesma (that´s sad .... honestly that´s heartbreaking) and Matuzalem is on his way back.

The trequartista position can be filled so - so by 4 players: Foggia, Pandev, Meghni .... mauri?

The right fullback position looks really interesting with both Licht and DeSilvestri = priority 0.

The CB position ... I don´t know about you guys but I want to see if Diakite can grow into that role and if we put him down as a given then we have Rozenahl, Cribari and Sivgila and since we can´t swap 2 of those for one great I think we can consider that position inert.

Left fullback then .. Well since both Radu and Kolarov suck we have to consider that position open.

Now there is 1 player who was amazing but is now sucking badly who we might be able to buy - Vargas.

He was amazing for Catania for 2 seasons and then he went to Viola and just didn´t get into it. With so little happening on our left wing I think it could be a really cool option and most importantly an option that could happen (Hamsik to Lazio just won´t happen so).

I pretty much agree with everything you say here and I believe that we can all agree that we don't need any:

1. goalkeepers
2. offensive midfielders
3. fullbacks

In case both Makinwa and Inzaghi leave then maybe we could get another striker in but we do have Kozak and Mendicino coming through and they are both in fine form.

I would like to keep Meghni but I would sell Mauri the second someone wants him. To me Mauri seems like he's content where he is, no ambition, he's going to be 29 next month so all he wants is his last long term contract. Some newspaper say that Juve and Zenit want him but I find that really hard to believe. And if he does go somewhere I hope that they don't decide to loan because him then they are surely to give him back to us.

We have three right backs, one too many. The club should either loan out De Silvestri so he can get some playing time and in this case we keep Belleri or we keep De Silvestri and get rid of Belleri permanently.

The club could sell Cribari and get Pasqual from Fiorentina so he and Kolarov would fight for the left back spot and we start to use Radu as a center half.
That would give us two candidates for every spot:

goalkeeper: 1) Carrizo 2) Muslera
right back: 1) Lichtsteiner 2) De Silvestri
right center half: 1) Diakite 2) Siviglia
left center half: 1) Rozehnal 2) Radu
left back: 1) Pasqual 2) Kolarov

Seem to be good options Ivan. I like the idea of getting Pasqual and putting Radu in the middle, I don't really like him on the left. Kolarov isn't ready to be a starter yet in my opinion so paqual could be a good idea.

IMO, we need 3 type of players this January,

1. A Centre Back
2. A target man
3. A Playmaker

We all know what problems we have at the back, We conceded to many in the past 5 games, we don't seem to have a 1st choice combination eventhough we have 4 Centre back, Siviglia is a bit old now (I believe he's around 34-35?), Cribari makes too many mistake we can't afford, Rozehnal seems to be a good solid CB, but he too makes too many mistakes, while I consider Diakite a bit green to start or not ready yet to be a starter. Moving Radu as a CB could be an option, although I like him more as a LF, but then again, if we moved him to CB, then we only have Kolarov as our LF, and IMO, he's a bit incompetent as a LF, all he does just shooting long ball with no one to aim for.

We need a younger Siviglia, surely we have heights at the back, Rozehnal, Cribari and Diakite are all at least 6 feets tall, so we don't have problem with long ball, we need someone who's fast, good ball positioning, decent CB.

Secondly, I do believe we need another attacker a Target man, someone who could hold up the ball, a typical finisher (even if it's just simple "Inzaghi's type of tap in goal), good header.. IMO, Zarate, Pandev and Rocchi (Foggia) are pretty similiar type of players, they all could create chances, but none of them are really finisher.. We need "muscle" in our final third, someone like Amauri, Ibrahimovic, Toni or even Crespo. And please don't tell me we have Kozak, coz he's not ready yet, maybe in a year or two.

Third, We need playmaker, someone who could create chances out of nothing. we can't rely too much on Meghni, Mauri. Matuzalem isn't really a playmaker and he's always injured anyway, I would be surprised if we signed him permanently Foggia can create chances, but I like him playing as a winger, and he has that attributes too, can dribble, quick feets.

I hope we could settle some of our own problem, Ledesma's contract (If he wanted to leave us badly, then let him do so), Mutarelli, Makinwa, Belleri.

We have sufficient depth in all positions. We have to rid ourselves of the deadwood and bring in some talent.

If we go by the two players for each position then this is what I think

Goalkeeper: (Carrizo, Muslera) GOOD
Left Back: (Kolarov, Radu) GOOD
Centre Back: (Rozehnal, Siviglia, Cribari, Diakite) GOOD
Right Back: (Lichtsteiner, De Silvestri, Belleri) GOOD
Holding Midfield: (Ledesma, Firmani) GOOD
Attacking Midfield: (Matuzalem, Meghni, Mauri) GOOD
Defensive Midfield: (Dabo, Brocchi) GOOD
Trequartista: (Foggia) BAD
Striker: (Rocchi, Pandev, Zarate, Inzaghi, Makinwa) GOOD

Let me explain what I have done here. GOOD indicates that we have sufficient cover in this position. BAD indicates that we have insufficient depth. A player's name in red means I feel they are surplus to requirements and should go.

This system is in relation to Delio's 4-3-1-2. We don't need three right backs and we rarely need Belleri so he should be sold if possible. The attacking midfield position is the huge problem. In Matuzalem and Meghni we have two talented individuals who can't keep fit therefore we need a reliable enough Mauri in the squad. For me, Mauri should be sold but the other two guys haven't got the fitness to cover that positon. Therefore we have too many people for the one position with none of them having the consistency to hold down the role. Big problem. We need to sell Mauri or hope he becomes good again and if we do let him go, bring in someone with high fitness levels and let Matuzalem depart in the summer. With a fit, decent individual and meghni, this place is covered.

We have no natural trequartista which is a problem. Foggia can do the role but he's not a natural and yet he is our best option by miles. We could do with another young gun with bags of talent to provide competition in this position.

I like Del Nero but he has no place in a 4-3-1-2. He could fetch quite a bit of cash so selling him should be considered.

We have 5 strikers, one too many, one of which is Makinwa, sell!

Therefore I think we need to sell Belleri, Makinwa and Mauri all of which have been linked with moves away and bring in a creative midfielder and a young gun as a trequartista. We could also look at revamping the defence but personally, for the good of the team, I think we have good elements in the backline that should only be altered if we can find something better which with our budget could be difficult. Although I would much rather have Ayala than Siviglia. A better defender and a better mentor but in all likelihood a much larger wage packet!

i read the suggestion of Pasqual from viola. Only wanted to add that I two weeks ago heard from a very reliable source that we have made attempts to bring him to Lazio, and that the player would be ghlad to join us, but that he also has some other interested clubs. not saying it will happen, only saying that there has been serious discussions regarding this player.

Pasqual is (or at least was, he hasn't played much recently) a great player. Love the way he curles the ball with his left foot. But do we really need him? We do already have the left back spot well covered. And if Kolarov is to has his final break through I think he must play regularly. I mean, he has been here for one and a half year now and I am sure of he will get his break through soon if he plays regularly.

Does anybody know if Lotito and the Pisa chairman are good friends?

The Pisa chairman admitted to meeting Lotito but didn't speak about Genevier apparently. But why would they meet otherwise?

My intuition tells me we are negotiating with Pisa about someone. Our fringe players were linked with Pisa in the summer if I remember correctly.

Caxi wrote:

Does anybody know if Lotito and the Pisa chairman are good friends?

The Pisa chairman admitted to meeting Lotito but didn't speak about Genevier apparently. But why would they meet otherwise?

My intuition tells me we are negotiating with Pisa about someone. Our fringe players were linked with Pisa in the summer if I remember correctly.

Been thinking about this for some time now...why would they ,eet if not over negotiations..?

Lotito didn´t meet with Pisa´s chairman, but instead with Oreste Cinquini who is the Sporting Director. Actually Oreste Cinquini held a similar position with Lazio between 2002 and 2004 before he left for Udinese, if I remember correctly.

Now I guess there is nothing strange in those two meeting eachother without discussing any transfers in particular, but it´s no secret that Lotito currently works hard to try and cut down the squad in January and that Pisa were very close to securing a deal in the summer for a few of our players. It´s likely that Pisa is a possible destination once again for a few of those players that Lotito is desperate to get rid of.

You mean Makinwa, Mauri, Manfredini, Belleri, Del Nero?

Mauri at Pisa is not so likely.

A little bit late maybe, but I heard that Chievo is very close to signing Makinwa. Looked it up on the web and found one article from goal.com (below) from a few days back. What my friend told me is that Lotito has shown interest in changing Makinwa with some defender from Chievo and some cash, but I dont know how much truth there is to be found there.

Seems like Makinwa is on his way out for sure...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/698/lazio/2008/12/24/1026369/chievo-tracking-lazios-makinwa

Sgt. Pepper wrote:

Lotito didn´t meet with Pisa´s chairman, but instead with Oreste Cinquini who is the Sporting Director. Actually Oreste Cinquini held a similar position with Lazio between 2002 and 2004 before he left for Udinese, if I remember correctly.

Now I guess there is nothing strange in those two meeting eachother without discussing any transfers in particular, but it´s no secret that Lotito currently works hard to try and cut down the squad in January and that Pisa were very close to securing a deal in the summer for a few of our players. It´s likely that Pisa is a possible destination once again for a few of those players that Lotito is desperate to get rid of.

So, what you are writing is that they are actually looking through possible transfers and therefore the statement from the Pisa chairman about Genevier is a bit strange. No names are mentioned, but we can all think of players that possibly could leave this window...

LazioS70 wrote:

You mean Makinwa, Mauri, Manfredini, Belleri, Del Nero?

No, that´s not very likely...

In the summer, Pisa were trying hard to get Tommaso Berni, Mobido Diakité and Lucas Correa. Since then Diakité has established himself in the first team squad and is not in any way likely to move away from Lazio (although I personally wouldn´t mind a loan deal). Lucas Correa has moved to Pro Patria on loan, while Berni could still be a possible target for a club in Serie B. (Modena is mentioned)

Cash...

What I am saying is that there is nothing strange in Lotito meeting with Cinquini. Especially not since Lotito is trying hard to cut down our squad. The names on his list are for sure Berni, Santarelli, Belleri and Makinwa, while Correa is not likely to return to Lazio meaning that his situation is also to be solved. At least half of those players mentioned, could be of interest and at the same time affordable for a club like Pisa.

Cash wrote:

A little bit late maybe, but I heard that Chievo is very close to signing Makinwa. Looked it up on the web and found one article from goal.com (below) from a few days back. What my friend told me is that Lotito has shown interest in changing Makinwa with some defender from Chievo and some cash, but I dont know how much truth there is to be found there.

Seems like Makinwa is on his way out for sure...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/698/lazio/2008/12/24/1026369/chievo-tracking-lazios-makinwa

Makinwa to leave seems a certainty, that is if anyone is keen on him.

Somehow I doubt if we'll get the 10million euro we paid for him back.

Tonel from Sporting is another major target.

Portuguese international and more importantly he scores a lot of goals from set pieces, something which we lack since Stendardo left us.

would be a good signing for the back.

whether Sporting will let him go ahead of their CL round of 16 is another matter.

Christian Manfredini is wanted by Chievo. He made his name at Chievo, he was a key player in their team which first made Serie A and then came 5th!! may I be the first to say ciao, ciao Manfre

Chievo needs to strengthen to not stay toally out of chance to remain in the top flight, and therefore they must try to catch a few players that are on other teams benches. Manfred and Makinwa to Chievo? I would say yes straight away...

Zarate ad Pandev will stay, according to lotito

http://www.goal.com/en/news/698/lazio/2008/12/27/1029763/lotito-zarate-and-pandev-are-not-for-sale

Makinwa's agent admits that he is looking to find his client a new club and that there's one offer with potential on the table. Presumably that's Chievo.

http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/24122008/8/lazio-squadre-interessate-makinwa.html

Chievo, West Ham, Fulham and Everton are interested. Hopefully we could make some money off the Premiership clubs.

It seems that we are close to an agreement with Banfield for Nicolas Bertolo (22 years).