Re: Serie A Thread
hi guys
got to say i'm a bit surprised by juve's last buy. Poulsen is a very good player, u can't argue with that. what surprises me is the way they handled this situation.
first u go for a playmaker (wich tbf was exactly what juve needed). they decided to go for xabi, who is an excellent playmaker. honestly i thought ledesma might have been more useful than xabi. xabi is definitely a better playmaker, but ledesma is a bit more "suited" to juve's football, and he's definitely cheaper than alonso.
but hey, if they decided to go for alonso, it means they can afford it.
now apparently alonso's wage was out of reach for juve (at the moment).... but what the fuck, they should have known it before starting the negotiations, no??
so, apparently they changed target and decided to get.... Poulsen, who is a completely different kind of player.... imo this shows a serious lack of "plot" in juve's strategies.... wasn't a playmaker juve's most important need????
and then there's the Poulsen deal situation. juve paid the entire "escape clause" (9, 75 millions)...... but spanish clubs put those clauses just to establish a "negotiating starting point" (or to protect themselves from other clubs aggressive strategies). u're not supposed to pay the whole clause, u have a talk with monchi and start negotiating to decrease the price.
Secco talked to momchi, Monchi told him "we're not letting poulsen leave for less then 9,75" (the amount of the escape clause) and then Secco just gave up and paid him what monchi asked
u're supposed to negotiate, u idiot! U can't expect sevilla to establish a reasonable price at the first meeting, u have to fight.... that's a team director's duty.... otherwise there would be no point in having a sport director (the president could handle the transfer market just by himself, if he wasn't supposed to negotiate, to fight).
Poulsen's contract was about to expire in 12 months, if i remember well.... so it was not that hard to persuade monchi to decrease his demands.
so juve spent about 10 millions euros... FOR A THIRD PICK!!!
coz no matter how good is Poulsen (and i think he's very good) he's not as good as a fit zanetti..... and after watching sissoko's terrific impact in juve last season, i'd say sissoko too is ahead of him in the depth chart.
Dom, u posted an hypothetical 4-3-3 starting formation with poulsen as a starter. and with that formation poulsen would definitely be a starter..... but i can't see ranieri using a 4-3-3 formation as juve's usual gaming system for the whole season. that might be a good choice in some circumstances, for some matches.... but it couldn't be juve's standard starting formation.
amauri has the technique, the pace and the strenght to handle that role..... and del piero too could play as a winger...... but alex always said he doesn't wanna play as a winger. he consider himself as a foward, and he wouldn't accept to play in that role for the whole season.... afterall that's the reason why he left italy's national team.... he didn't want to play as a winger. he might accept to do it sometimes, but not on a regular basis.
moreover i don't think juve has the fullbacks required to play that system. maybe molinaro could handle the entire flank, but i don't think zebina and grygera could.... and de ceglie, well, maybe he's still too young to handle such a big responsability (taking care of the entire flank just by himself).
...so it's 10 millions for a third pick!!! wtf mutarelli (who is a hell of a defensive midfielder too) will probably leave lazio for about 4 millions euros.... and he's not gonna ask for more than a 2 millions wage!!!!
and shall we talk about marchisio??? what is juve going to do with him? i hope he will be sent somewhere else coz it would be disgraceful to leave such a young talent warming the bench for the whole season (wich is definitely what will happen now that juve already has sissoko, zanetti and poulsen).
Martin, talking about the poulsen-flamini comparison, those 2 deals seem to be pretty close at first sight, but there's another factor u should consider.
even though "money-wise" the flamini deal doesn't look much more expensive than the poulsen deal, the flamini deal would have caused a huge imbalance in juve's dressing room.
flamini was on a free transfer. players on free transfer usually ask "heavy" wages (flamini asked 5 millions). now, if juve would have given those 5 millions to flamini, soon they would have been forced to re-negotiate also sissoko, chiellini, camoranesi and iaquinta deals, increasing their wages to decrease this imbalance (wich might have a bad impact on the dressing room)...
so the flamini deal would have been much more expensive than it might look.... much more than 20 millions (5 millions for 4 years).
milan didn't have this problems coz most of his players already earn about 5 millions per year (while juve's average wage is way lower).
however, having said this, i still share your worries about Secco's abilities, and as i said earlier, i don't think he did a good job.
juve's main need was a playmaker. so far Secco already spent more than 22 millions euros (for amauri and poulsen), and still didn't provide a proper playmaker :-ll
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:-pp
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