Wednesday January 10, 2007

Hi ho, and into the new year we go. With UK TV coverage declining faster than my follicle count, keeping up with all the action may get tough, but I’ll hazard that it’ll be rewarding too. This weekend, for example, we’re up to the halfway point of the season and as the teams return tanned and well trained from their breaks in Malta and Marbella some intriguing games are in store.

Take Torino – Inter. Can Inter set a new Italian record here with a 12th straight victory against the fast-improving Granata? I reckon they can. Likewise I can see Milan boosting their anaemic goals tally with a big victory over Reggina, grabbing their own fourth straight win in the process. Sampdoria – Fiorentina looks like a moment of truth for both sides, while Roma should romp past Messina – given that the Sicilians have lost six and drawn the other of their last seven fixtures I’m hardly sticking my neck out! I do have a funny feeling though, that Palermo could pull off one of their perennial collapses in the home match to Udinese. We’ll see, eh?

Meanwhile, off the field there are some big talking points as the new year begins. The first is at Parma, where after several years in receivership the club is now up for auction. Interest is so slack though that the starting price for bids is rumoured to be £2.75m – a figure surely even Lorenzo Sanz could afford. We’ll see, while the former Real Madrid President is again one of the front-runners there’s talk of at least two more unidentified parties who plan to bid. There are all sorts of rumours as to who these might be, but if the Parmigiani are expecting some big money sugar daddy to suddenly emerge I’d say they’re in for a disappointment. Why, after all, would they wait for an auction when the club’s been up for grabs for three years?

Equally, I’m keeping my feet on the ground about the transfer market talk. Since September we’ve heard every kind of name mentioned for January, but so far there’s been precious little action. David Beckham shows no sign of rescuing TV coverage with a move to Inter, Italy’s prodigal son Antonio Cassano can’t find a buyer anywhere – given that his price tag is rumoured to be less than £3m, that’s quite a thought – and Milan have yet to land any of the 634 players they’ve been linked to. Right now in fact, the only club actually doing any business is Roma, as they chase Inter at the top.

It’s good news to see the Giallorossi back with a bit of cash to spend and Francesco Tavano looks like a clever signing, but it’s sad to see Vincenzo Montella finally departing even if it is only on loan. Given his lack of playing time over the past two seasons – and Luciano Spalletti’s lack of interest in centre-forwards in general – the move’s no surprise, but it leaves Roma with just Francesco Totti from the group which won the Scudetto not so very long ago. Mind you, if Vincenzo adapts to the Premiership as well as Andriy Shevchenko has he might be back a lot sooner than expected…