I really don't understand this helping our defenders nonsense. In that case, he should have been hired as a coach, not as a player. How in the world is he supposed to help them grow and develop, when he will be starting most games, and the players (whom he is presumably supposed to be helping) won't even have the chance to implement the knowledge they have acquired?! Having said that, the guy is here, there is nothing we can do about it. Let's just hope his fuck-ups are minimal, and that he can actually contribute something to this team.
I have a guy in my futsal team, that always talks on the pitch and i understand the game a lot better since he is there (about two years now), because there is a lot to learn from him.
When i go to my local championship, there is a team full with youngsters and two veterans, one of them, who used to play in EPL, also always talks on the pitch and organizes the game, and even if he's pretty much in the same level as others, because he has recieved a lot of kicks in his career, that team always performs much better with him.
And it is so in every team, no matter how big are they, the defence out of all lines must have a leader, that has the expierience to organize the other guys, when to run and when not, etc. and i don't believe that we could've got anyone better at it than Cannavaro. Sure, he may perform as an old fart and dissapoint everyone, but i believe him being on the pitch will already take our defensive game a level higher, not talking about who is better defender between Cannavaro and Legrottaglie.
You probably will ask a question about why then Madrid and Italy have sucked so hard, but it's not easy to perform when the team tactic and whole team game is absolute garbage or when the others (midfielders in particular) are playing like an old farts.