Firstly, I totally agree that our signing in recent years has anything but boring.Fresi, Camoranesi, Legrottaglie, Appiah, Chimenti, Olivera and other numerous little signing we made are certainly not entertaining.
Nonetheless, we are missing a focal point here. The primary focus of transfer campaign IMO is to make the squad
better and not to
entertain fans.
If the management team make valuable signings which will undoubtedly strenghten the squad, then fans will naturally be happy on the prospects that the team they support will have the chance to win some major honours at the end of year. While I do believe that fans in general have good knowledge over their team and thus should not be dismissed outright, what we dont acknowledge the fact that managment has to keep their spending within their budgetm espeically regarding wages, and thus they have to sign players for the
right value rather than just a
big name arrival. The difficult bit is determining what the budget "exactly" is not only on a short run but also on a long run, and deciding which players are the right fit for the team. The process is more of a judgement than a science. Furthermore, as the process is more of an art than science, there is inherent risk involved in signing process, which cannot be totally eliminated even if we try our best to guard against it through analysis. And lets not forget the fact that management does not have a benefit of a hindsight in contrast to the fans.
Going back to past signings, following facts or strategies stand out for me:
1) We already had good core of players: Del Piero, Nedved, Davids, Buffon, Thuram, Ferrara, Montero (pre 2002-2003 season) and Trezeguet was a quality group of players capable of winning trophies.
2) They were in their prime and entering a stage of career where their skill normally diminish.
3) Hence naturally management team tried to make signings that provided depth and complimentary strenghts to existing price at right value (with Di Vaio being the exception)
4) Developing youngstars in order to reduce the cost of replacing existing players.
I feel that the past success of our team vindicated that management to
certain extent was right to pursue such strategies. Why sign Beckams, Figos, Ronaldos or other los glaticos for million of dollars when we already have competent team already? 2 Scudetti, CL final, unluckily being knocked out in another one due to injury epidemic prior to Bayer Leverkeusen match who eventually become finalist to me are far from being disappointing, even for our high standards IMO. Winning and not winning, especially depends on a cup competition is a fine line, and cannot be totally controlled for and thus trying to buy a cup does not always work: a lesson which Roman does not understand (Mind you, if I was him with his wealth I wouldnt mind spending couple of cents on Juve
). What we built last couple of years was a group of players which werent that great in terms of technical ability but had mental toughness, desire, and team ethic that were needed to win games. It wasn't always pretty and obviously we rode our luck at times (Barca match comes into my mind), but in the end we managed to become successful. All the previous signing was far from exciting but I believe at the time we made those signings it was certainly interesting. Firstly, with the exception of Di Vaio, most of the signings were cheap and came off with good season showing degree of potential.
And they were aimed at improving areas that we were suppose to be weak at. Secondly, it would be ridiculous to anticipate how Appiah and other players would exactly develop. These are "unknown" factors for managment team which they cannot control because it is never exactly known how players would respond to new environment. As for scouting talent worldwide, every major team tries to do it, but at the end of day locals will undoubtedly have advantage through superior links with smaller team, and wider network.
I am not trying to deny that managment does not have any faults with our past transfer campaigns. For instance, I think Moggi judged our budget completely wrong in the long run in 2002-2003 when he did not pursue Nesta because we already had 4 central defenders in the team. Nesta for anything less than Rio's value, never mind less than 20m pounds is a bargain, and the fact was that there were some concerns with the age of our defence. I would bet Moggi would love to sign Nesta for that value right now even if it meant having an extra than he wished back then. Secondly, Moggi's refusal to sign quality defender beside Legrottaglie last year, despite the fact that Ferrara and Montero got burned in some matches, especially against pace, is simply unforgivable IMO. His reluctance to sign creative midfield is also puzzling. Also, there is no doubt that our scouting and player development programme is partly responsible for the lack of rise of young major star from our youth system. Kaka case is downright stupid without any doubt.
Nonetheless, the point is that over the past year, we were inactive in the transfer market because we did not
need to not because we
wanted it. Beside, transfer campaigns should always be conducted within the budget, as Messeiurs Tanzi and Cragnotti found out to their costs. Senor Perez might be following their suit. Determining the budget is the key to the successful club managment because it is anything but easy and sure. And putting this persepctive into currnet context within our team, 2 thing stands out: 1) Our team lacks good core, so we are in
need of world class player. 2) Can we sign likes of Aimar, and co to right value?
Determining which player we need, and how much we should pay for them is a difficult process no doubt. However, in this summer there is a room for exciting summer signing and that being a right strategy. For one thing, due to a depressed transfer market has produced some bargains in the long run in my view: Mexes, Ferrari for the quoted price is absolute steal. Secondly, only way to maintain our revenues is a good performance on the pitch, and that given the state of the our team right now we need some inforcement. With out scouting analysis, and good negotiations, we should have both fruitful and exciting calcio mercato. I do agree with denco that I am disppointed with the transfer market as of now, but I do not believe that we will sign Vieri, or Wiltord based on my judgement of our managment. Beside, normally tansfer campaign starts off after the big tournament finished, so it is difficult to judge our transfer campaign at this moment of time. And lets not forget getting right players is a job half done, molding them into team and winning the trophies is job complete. If the experiences of Greece, South Korea, Monaco, Porto, to Detroit Pistons and Florida Marlins are anything to go by: You win as a
team And apologies for a long post.
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