Woke up late today from a bad hangover after a frat party yesterday, turned on the telly and it said - Lazio bought Rivaldo for 48.5$ USD according to Gazzetta. Continued to read and it said that Lazio was going to throw in a couple of players into the exchange.
First I thought what players could Barca possibliy want from Lazio from the players that Cragnotti could be willing to release ??
Some names that came up and my feelings about them: Stankovic - it would be a damn shame if we gave up on Stankovic because I have always thought of him as a future Lazio midfield dominator. This season has been terrible for him but I´d be sad to see him go. Inter wanted to pay us 26 mil usd for him and I guess it would be a good sell at the moment.
Almeyda - nope no way !! is all I can say about the possible selling of Almeyda. When Sensini took over after Almeydas injury then we thought that we didn´t need Almeyda but we couldn´t see the small difference a great midfielder from a good one. When Almeyda came back Veron got more time to do his thing and Lazio is just sooo much better with Almeyda then without him.
Salas - I can not imagine Barca wanting this player because of the fact that he can´t score
.. maybe they see him as the player he could be and not the player he is and I think he´d be much better in the spanish leauge then in Serie A. Of our most valued players this is the one I´d cry the least about if he left.
Boksic - Go !! Has been dissapointing all season and I can´t really say anything to defend this guy. 2 seasons ago he gave everything for Lazio and therefore I will always have warm thoughts for Boksic but then something happened to his knee, maybe it was the Lazio doctors that screwed it up but since his injury Boksic hasn´t been himself - The same with Del Piero.
Veron - There is no way on earth Cragnotti would move this player away from Lazio.
Nesta - See Veron
Negro - It´s quite possible that Negro will move away from Lazio and it would be a damn shame because he´s a superb player. If we give Barca Negro ( and they want him ) then we have to fork out cash for a new defender and it´s not going to be easy to find one as good as Negro. Read somewhere that Lazio wanted Salgado ?? That would be incredible but also very expensive and could only happen if Real get knocked out in the semis.
Nedved, Conceciao I can´t see them moving away from Lazio - Nedved is probably the darling of Cragnotti and Conceciao is not good enough to play with Barca.
About Rivaldo:
Positive: He is an incredible player - really if you have seen him when he´s good there is no doubt that he´s one of the best players in the world. At Barca he plays to the left of the attack in Lazio he would have a central part and that would really bug some defences. Team up a bullet like Lopez with a technical player like Rivaldo infront of our midfield and you have the a team that no other team would dare to play anything else but 4 - 4 - 2 against.
Rivaldo has a shot from distance that sometimes makes me wonder how he does that and he´s a great freekick taker ( we are collecting them you know, next we´ll buy Beckham and Carlos ), and decent with his head. Dribbling He´s just amazing at that and surely in the top 3 in the world.
The biggest thing and the thing that probably decided the deal was the publicity Lazio is now going to get. Ronaldo performed wonders for Inter in terms of PR but he has more charisma then Rivaldo ( he´s cute with his bunny teeth, he is much younger then Rivaldo, in short the world loves Ronaldo ) and it would be great if we got a new sponsor - Instead of Puma maybe Adidas - I know they are going to sponsor Juve.
Cragnotti wants to expand his business empire in Brazil but then he´d better get used to the fact that when Brazil calls it´s players Rivaldo will have to go - can´t pull a Salas on Brazil.
Negative: He´s not getting younger - he´s 27 right now and to pay almost 50 mil usd for a 27 turning 28 is not the smartest thing ever + his 6 mil usd a year salary means that he will probably only stay for 1 or 2 years with Lazio. Defensive work ?? Not existant with Rivaldo and sometimes he can dissapear from games. The worst thing about Rivaldo coming to Lazio is that he can´t make it here - if he´s great then it´s expected of him if he isn´t great then he´s not even good ( you know what I mean ? ), and that extra pressure is maybe not what a player needs.
My feelings about the deal vary with the players that will come and go in this deal.
*** YES !! ** YES * yes
Salas***, Boksic***, Simeone**, Stankovic*, Mihajlovic** and even Negro* are fair game.
Almeyda, Veron, Nesta and Nedved stay put.
Lopez and Rivaldo instead of Salas and Boksic sound like a dream. But I hope that Cragnotti doesn´t forget that it´s the midfield we need to take care of not only the offense. Nedved doesn´t have someone to cover for him and I´m not sure Lopez is perfect as a left wing ( even if he can be ). If we sell stankovic then we must take back Baronio etc.
Now this is why a youth system that rocks is so badly needed - we should be able to call up players from the youth system and give them a shot - but there are no youth players in sight still connected closely to Lazio.
To me this is our weakpoint at the moment. Milan - Inter - Parma and Juve all have young talented players waiting to get a shot at playing in Serie A but where are our players ?? We must take better care of our young players in the future.
Marchegani can still be our first choice goalie and I hope that Concetti shows his good stuff or we´ll buy Toldo / Frey.
Cragnotti said that no big changes are going to happen with Lazio - looks like he´s either wrong or he´s lying.
Forza Lazio !!
First I thought what players could Barca possibliy want from Lazio from the players that Cragnotti could be willing to release ??
Some names that came up and my feelings about them: Stankovic - it would be a damn shame if we gave up on Stankovic because I have always thought of him as a future Lazio midfield dominator. This season has been terrible for him but I´d be sad to see him go. Inter wanted to pay us 26 mil usd for him and I guess it would be a good sell at the moment.
Almeyda - nope no way !! is all I can say about the possible selling of Almeyda. When Sensini took over after Almeydas injury then we thought that we didn´t need Almeyda but we couldn´t see the small difference a great midfielder from a good one. When Almeyda came back Veron got more time to do his thing and Lazio is just sooo much better with Almeyda then without him.
Salas - I can not imagine Barca wanting this player because of the fact that he can´t score
.. maybe they see him as the player he could be and not the player he is and I think he´d be much better in the spanish leauge then in Serie A. Of our most valued players this is the one I´d cry the least about if he left. Boksic - Go !! Has been dissapointing all season and I can´t really say anything to defend this guy. 2 seasons ago he gave everything for Lazio and therefore I will always have warm thoughts for Boksic but then something happened to his knee, maybe it was the Lazio doctors that screwed it up but since his injury Boksic hasn´t been himself - The same with Del Piero.
Veron - There is no way on earth Cragnotti would move this player away from Lazio.
Nesta - See Veron
Negro - It´s quite possible that Negro will move away from Lazio and it would be a damn shame because he´s a superb player. If we give Barca Negro ( and they want him ) then we have to fork out cash for a new defender and it´s not going to be easy to find one as good as Negro. Read somewhere that Lazio wanted Salgado ?? That would be incredible but also very expensive and could only happen if Real get knocked out in the semis.
Nedved, Conceciao I can´t see them moving away from Lazio - Nedved is probably the darling of Cragnotti and Conceciao is not good enough to play with Barca.
About Rivaldo:
Positive: He is an incredible player - really if you have seen him when he´s good there is no doubt that he´s one of the best players in the world. At Barca he plays to the left of the attack in Lazio he would have a central part and that would really bug some defences. Team up a bullet like Lopez with a technical player like Rivaldo infront of our midfield and you have the a team that no other team would dare to play anything else but 4 - 4 - 2 against.
Rivaldo has a shot from distance that sometimes makes me wonder how he does that and he´s a great freekick taker ( we are collecting them you know, next we´ll buy Beckham and Carlos ), and decent with his head. Dribbling
He´s just amazing at that and surely in the top 3 in the world. The biggest thing and the thing that probably decided the deal was the publicity Lazio is now going to get. Ronaldo performed wonders for Inter in terms of PR but he has more charisma then Rivaldo ( he´s cute with his bunny teeth, he is much younger then Rivaldo, in short the world loves Ronaldo ) and it would be great if we got a new sponsor - Instead of Puma maybe Adidas
- I know they are going to sponsor Juve. Cragnotti wants to expand his business empire in Brazil but then he´d better get used to the fact that when Brazil calls it´s players Rivaldo will have to go - can´t pull a Salas on Brazil.
Negative: He´s not getting younger - he´s 27 right now and to pay almost 50 mil usd for a 27 turning 28 is not the smartest thing ever + his 6 mil usd a year salary means that he will probably only stay for 1 or 2 years with Lazio. Defensive work ?? Not existant with Rivaldo and sometimes he can dissapear from games. The worst thing about Rivaldo coming to Lazio is that he can´t make it here - if he´s great then it´s expected of him if he isn´t great then he´s not even good ( you know what I mean ? ), and that extra pressure is maybe not what a player needs.
My feelings about the deal vary with the players that will come and go in this deal.
*** YES !! ** YES * yes
Salas***, Boksic***, Simeone**, Stankovic*, Mihajlovic** and even Negro* are fair game.
Almeyda, Veron, Nesta and Nedved stay put.
Lopez and Rivaldo instead of Salas and Boksic sound like a dream. But I hope that Cragnotti doesn´t forget that it´s the midfield we need to take care of not only the offense. Nedved doesn´t have someone to cover for him and I´m not sure Lopez is perfect as a left wing ( even if he can be ). If we sell stankovic then we must take back Baronio etc.
Now this is why a youth system that rocks is so badly needed - we should be able to call up players from the youth system and give them a shot - but there are no youth players in sight still connected closely to Lazio.
To me this is our weakpoint at the moment. Milan - Inter - Parma and Juve all have young talented players waiting to get a shot at playing in Serie A but where are our players ?? We must take better care of our young players in the future.
Marchegani can still be our first choice goalie and I hope that Concetti shows his good stuff or we´ll buy Toldo / Frey.
Cragnotti said that no big changes are going to happen with Lazio - looks like he´s either wrong or he´s lying.
Forza Lazio !!
