Those comical Italians

The Italians it seems come out with more rubbish than the British press continually putting two and two together to make seven.

Sandro to Italy


On the face of it a claim that Franco Baldini flew to Italy on Friday could be to talk to Roma, it also could be simply a visit where he has a lot of friends, being Italian himself. He may well have gone to discuss 23 year-old Roma striker Matteo Destro, a player without the Premier League experience we are known to be seeking.

Our medical staff will be delighted to hear he missed much of last year injured, another potential customer for them. Roma value him at £13.46 million (€17m) and then suggestion is that now they have spend £17.41 million (22m) plus add-ons for Verona forward Juan Manuel Iturbe and want to buy Liverpool target Xherdan Shaqiri from Bayern Munich, that they need to sell to raise recoup outlay and raise further capital.

Bayern Munich sporting director Matthias Sammer in an interview in Kicker magazine said the Bundesliga champions had not intention of selling Shaquiri.

"Xherdan is an important player for the future. There are no thoughts at all about selling him."
Stories in Italy of course say the players Liverpool have been making serious efforts to sign is available for £15 million (€18.95m).

That story is all very plausible and acceptable but then they go and spoil it all with yet more Sandro talk, talk that simply doesn't add up.

Tottenham, it is reported, value Sandro at £20 million (€25.27m) which given he was the best defensive midfielder in Europe before his injury is not surprising. With a full pre-season that player will no doubt return and Napoli are desperate to sign him it would seem, but for chicken feed.

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Given Napoli value him at £8 million (€10.11m), the Italians press are now claiming Spurs value him at just £9.5 million (€12m) and, don't laugh to hard, are prepared to lower that fee. It is suggested Franco Baldini is also going to discuss this.
It beggars belief that they think Daniel Levy would simply give a player away who has a contract until 2016. Transfermarkt who are generally under value when they price up a player rate Sandro as a £12.32 million (€15.56m) player based upon performance, which is a dip from their last summers valuation of £15 million (€18.95m).
Where then does £9.5 million (€12m) come from and how on earth can he possibly have a value of just £8 million (€10.11m).
While some may get concerned with such speculation, until talk reaches sensible figure it's simply the case of the Italian press entertaining their Italian readership, the intelligent of whom will have a good laugh over their morning coffee.

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