++ [ originally posted by swag ] ++
Upgrades balanced with some financial backing (since we couldn't afford to just add bench players)?
We had a godawful leaky defense last season, and getting Canna and moving Thuram back to the middle, IMO, has arguably made a world of difference. So to land that, the logic may have been to sacrifice a forward in either Di Vaio (too inconsistent) or Miccoli (not going to be a future starter, possible negative internal politics with DP starting all the time).
Then you could see Maresca as making room for Emerson and then the other of either Di Vaio or Miccoli for Zlatan. Emerson filling the DM hole that Davids left, and Zlatan being young enough to have the potential to rise as a possible future starter in place of DP, etc. (though this sort of happened, Trez injuries aside, sooner than expected, certainly).
Of course, that left us short on forwards now. Which, in part, explains the Mutu business.