More Transfers + Coppa Italia Rundown

By: bingitz2002 | August 8th, 2009

There was more activity in Toro’s mercato late this week as the team saw one player out and another fill his shoes. On his way out is World Cup winner Simone Barone while coming in is midfielder Massimo Loviso from Livorno. More after the break as well as a rundown on our participation in the Coppa Italia, which starts tomorrow for us.

The big transfer out is that Simone Barone, who joined Toro after his World Cup win in 2006 has left the club for Cagliari for a sum of €1 million. While that is fairly inexpensive, I feel that it is a fair valuation considering that although he is a good player, he is not the same player that played 16 times for the Nazionale and hoisted the trophy in Berlin and is now 31. His performances over the years have ranged from solid to below average and considering the room this frees up in the wage bill, especially now that we are in Serie B it is a move that makes sense. While a good player, he has perhaps not delivered as much as we thought he would and is a component of the team that we can afford to replace. Nonetheless, ciao Simone, and thank you for your three years of dedicated service.

Coming into Torino in a move not coincidentally related to Barone’s departure is Livorno center-mid Massimo Loviso. The player comes in on a co-ownership deal worth €900,000. For this sum we are getting a midfielder with many of the same traits as Barone but at 25 years old has considerably more upside and potential. He has Serie A experience with Bologna from 2002 to 2005 and also played a season with them in Serie B. A season long loan to Serie C side Sambenedettese saw him establish himself as a first-team regular there before he was sold to Livorno where he played regularly for the first team over two seasons in Serie A and Serie B, going down with them and them helping them right back up. Over his career so far he has made 145 professional starts, scoring 9 goals and also appearing 6 times for the Azzurrini. He is a player that can definitely do the job in Serie B, has potential to improve, and should fill the gap left by Barone’s departure quite nicely. Benevenuti al Toro, Massimo!

Also worth noting in the transfer market is that an already long saga in the possible departure of Dzemaili to Palermo could go on plenty longer. The two clubs have failed to reach a deal as Cairo has stated that he is planning on keeping the Swiss midfielder in Turin unless Palermo can make a good enough offer, which has not happened as of yet. Meanwhile, Dzemaili has stated that he is happy to continue playing for Torino right now and is preparing for tomorrow’s Coppa Italia match against Figline.

On that note, it is worth mentioning that we play our first competitive match tomorrow. Torino will take on Figline in the Second Qualifying Round of the Coppa Italia. AS Figline come from Figline Valdarno, a town of about 17,000 people in Tuscany, near Florence. They have spent most of their 40+ year history bouncing around the amateur leagues of Italian football before earning promotion to Serie C2 at the end of the 2007-2008 season and then going on to win the renamed Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B and the Supercoppa of the Lega Pro 2 last season, earning them a spot in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione for this season, the highest the club has ever ascended in the Italian football pyramid. Figline defeated fellow third division side Pergocrema away to reach this round. The only recognizable player in Figline’s squad is Enrico Chiesa, a name recognizable to any fan of Italian football. Although Chiesa is now 38 years old, he is still certainly an attacking threat. Lastly, despite the fact that the tie is a home match, it will not be played in Torino due to the unavailability of the Stadio Olimpico. Instead it will be played in the nearby town of Ivrea at the 3,500 capacity Stadio Gino Pistoni, which is also home to the town’s Lega Pro 2 team. The change of venue does have some upsides as despite the fact we are not in Torino, we are nearby and should be able to fill it up whereas I could forsee a fairly empty-looking Stadio Olimpico for this type of match. This is a match we should definitely win but we will need to do a professional job. It will also be worth watching what kind of lineup Colantuono will field with the various signings and departures. The winner of this tie will play Livorno in the Third Qualifying Round.

Now, I am off to see Barcelona take on Chivas in San Francisco. Also, apologies for the formatting issues. I will look into make this more visually pleasing in the days to come.