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Resident Paisan: What To Do With Cassano
11/14/2005 4:18:00 PM
Antonio Cassano has been wasting away on the sidelines thanks to a contract dispute with his club Roma. Resident Paisan, Clemente Lisi, says Cassano's saga is also hurting the Azzurri's chances come June.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi may be assembling what he thinks will be the team to beat at the World Cup next summer, but without Roma’s Antonio Cassano on the roster, the Azzurri are dramatically crippling their chances of winning the title.
Adding Cassano to Italy’s potent strike force – which currently includes Alberto Gilardino, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero – is essential to its future success. And wasting a player of Cassano’s immense talent – the type that comes only once or twice a generation – also says a lot about how Italian clubs treat players.
Cassano’s career has been in a holding pattern since this summer, wasting away on the sidelines as he and the club try to hammer out a new contract. Cassano’s current contract expires next June and both sides have spent almost a year trying to negotiate a new deal. In February, Roma offered the forward a new five-year deal worth $29 million. After he and his lawyers rejected it, the club came back this summer with a lower offer of $19 million – about the same as his current deal – and Cassano again refused to pick up a pen and sign on the dotted line.
The Giallorossi have essentially told Cassano to take it or leave it, even though there is renewed hope this week that the club would again sit down and talk with the striker. If he leaves in June, Cassano will be a free agent and can go to any team that wants him. If that happens, Roma would lose $25 million it spent when Cassano was acquired from Bari in 2001. The other solution is to put Cassano – known for his temper tantrums and prima donna antics on and off the field -- on the market during the January transfer window. That way, Roma could recoup on what it spent to buy him.
All this contractual sparring has put Lippi in the middle of a dilemma. While Lippi feels he can’t be seen calling-up a player who doesn’t start for his club, he is also hurting Italy’s chances of success by ignoring the star. If Lippi wants, he should call-up Cassano the next time he gets a chance just to make a point. But Lippi continues to insist that he will hand Cassano a blue jersey only if he gets playing time at the club level, and consequently Lippi left Cassano off the roster for this Wednesday’s friendly against the Ivory Coast.
How the Cassano contract soap opera will end is anyone’s guess. Whether he will ever play again in Italy -- and more importantly for Italy -- is also a mystery. Those who argue that Italy doesn’t need Cassano need only look at the Azzurri’s abysmal performance at Euro 2004 when he was the team’s only bright spot.
The Italian FA -- with pressure from the Serie A Players’ Association -- said over the weekend that it will launch an investigation, and rightfully so, into the contract saga.
“He’s a player of national interest,” said Sergio Campana, president of the Players’ Association. “So I think the FA will look to solve the problem. When a club has to convince a player to prolong his contract by throwing him out of the first team this is against the rules of the game.”
In the meantime, Roma has not been doing well this season and Italy is still behind Brazil on the short list of favorites to win the World Cup. Having Cassano on the sidelines has something to do with both.
goal.com
11/14/2005 4:18:00 PM
Antonio Cassano has been wasting away on the sidelines thanks to a contract dispute with his club Roma. Resident Paisan, Clemente Lisi, says Cassano's saga is also hurting the Azzurri's chances come June.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi may be assembling what he thinks will be the team to beat at the World Cup next summer, but without Roma’s Antonio Cassano on the roster, the Azzurri are dramatically crippling their chances of winning the title.
Adding Cassano to Italy’s potent strike force – which currently includes Alberto Gilardino, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero – is essential to its future success. And wasting a player of Cassano’s immense talent – the type that comes only once or twice a generation – also says a lot about how Italian clubs treat players.
Cassano’s career has been in a holding pattern since this summer, wasting away on the sidelines as he and the club try to hammer out a new contract. Cassano’s current contract expires next June and both sides have spent almost a year trying to negotiate a new deal. In February, Roma offered the forward a new five-year deal worth $29 million. After he and his lawyers rejected it, the club came back this summer with a lower offer of $19 million – about the same as his current deal – and Cassano again refused to pick up a pen and sign on the dotted line.
The Giallorossi have essentially told Cassano to take it or leave it, even though there is renewed hope this week that the club would again sit down and talk with the striker. If he leaves in June, Cassano will be a free agent and can go to any team that wants him. If that happens, Roma would lose $25 million it spent when Cassano was acquired from Bari in 2001. The other solution is to put Cassano – known for his temper tantrums and prima donna antics on and off the field -- on the market during the January transfer window. That way, Roma could recoup on what it spent to buy him.
All this contractual sparring has put Lippi in the middle of a dilemma. While Lippi feels he can’t be seen calling-up a player who doesn’t start for his club, he is also hurting Italy’s chances of success by ignoring the star. If Lippi wants, he should call-up Cassano the next time he gets a chance just to make a point. But Lippi continues to insist that he will hand Cassano a blue jersey only if he gets playing time at the club level, and consequently Lippi left Cassano off the roster for this Wednesday’s friendly against the Ivory Coast.
How the Cassano contract soap opera will end is anyone’s guess. Whether he will ever play again in Italy -- and more importantly for Italy -- is also a mystery. Those who argue that Italy doesn’t need Cassano need only look at the Azzurri’s abysmal performance at Euro 2004 when he was the team’s only bright spot.
The Italian FA -- with pressure from the Serie A Players’ Association -- said over the weekend that it will launch an investigation, and rightfully so, into the contract saga.
“He’s a player of national interest,” said Sergio Campana, president of the Players’ Association. “So I think the FA will look to solve the problem. When a club has to convince a player to prolong his contract by throwing him out of the first team this is against the rules of the game.”
In the meantime, Roma has not been doing well this season and Italy is still behind Brazil on the short list of favorites to win the World Cup. Having Cassano on the sidelines has something to do with both.
goal.com
the article is very accurate.Italy cannot hope to launch a serious world cup assault without cassano.but ive got a feeling that even if he doesnt play regularly come the end of the season,Lippi will take him to the world cup.
and i hope the FA does nail Roma..Throwing a player out of the team simply because he refuses to sign a new contract is pathetic.
and i hope the FA does nail Roma..Throwing a player out of the team simply because he refuses to sign a new contract is pathetic.
yeh i know its frickin rediculous..
But its going to be a very hard decision for Lippi to take him or not.. its like oppurtunity cost, taking him could cost leaving the likes of inzaghi, di mechelle and maybe miccoli behind.. and if u dont take him it will cause a major scandal... i hope he goes tho. Its too much talent risked.
But its going to be a very hard decision for Lippi to take him or not.. its like oppurtunity cost, taking him could cost leaving the likes of inzaghi, di mechelle and maybe miccoli behind.. and if u dont take him it will cause a major scandal... i hope he goes tho. Its too much talent risked.
incase u didnt notice.holland played a 2nd string team.and if ur judging italy by one match,and not in terms of the whole tournament,forgetting italy's best player at the euro finals - then ur wrong.
casano isn't indispensable.i never said that.but he is very crucial to italy's chances at the world cup.
casano isn't indispensable.i never said that.but he is very crucial to italy's chances at the world cup.
too sad if we really have to sacrifice Mutu for getting Cassano. Mutu is such a great player...... 
Some say he can play in nedved position and he has done it this season but his natural position is forward so he aint gona get starting place at juventus........ofcourse you never know he might start to play in nedved position regularly one day......but juve will probably get rid of him before he has the chanse to be starter here..... Great player, dont want him to leave.....
Some say he can play in nedved position and he has done it this season but his natural position is forward so he aint gona get starting place at juventus........ofcourse you never know he might start to play in nedved position regularly one day......but juve will probably get rid of him before he has the chanse to be starter here.....
Great player, dont want him to leave.....
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