Derby Day & The Rumour Mill

Due to international duty, quite a few key players were unavailable for this week’s training session, namely Pablo, Pernia, Maxi, Seitaridis, Simao, Raul Garcia, and Jurado.

Who did participate? Leo Franco; Falcón; Antonio López; Luccin; Braulio; Mista; Zé Castro; Maniche; Vara; Eller; Kun; Reyes; Perea; Luis García; Forlán; Cléber Santana.

Early Thoughts on the Derby
The main focus is to have everyone uninjured, in tip-top shape for Saturday. I must say that I’m feeling very confident about derby at the Bern*beu. The Madrid-based media is completely out-of-control over Re*l M*drid‘s lacklustre pre-season form…pre-season crisis talks, essentially! Pressure is mounting for Schuster and he will want to start off the official 07/08 campaign with a win– Atleti cannot let their guard down and we must exploit their weak areas, namely their defence.

RUMOUR MILL has been a bit busy lately. Here are a few of the latest:

–Costinha set for Serie A club Atalanta. MARCA (followed by GOAL.COM) jumped the gun and reported this, but it has not been made official since the media has reported it. I’m not surprised by the rumour– in fact, I do expect Costinha to leave before Saturday.

-AS reports the possibility of Peter Luccin departing for Benfica. This would no doubt mean Maniche and Raul Garcia would occupy centre-midfield, no? The AS article also seems to suggest that the departure of Luccin could make way for Riquelme— I highly doubt it.

-Spanish media also reports Benfica are interested in midfielder Miguel de las Cuevas. This, I hope, is not true. The poor Spanish midfielder is still recovering from an awful injury he sustained nearly year ago. If he stays, I can very well see him making sub-appearances for Atleti once he’s deemed fit. I’d be disappointed to see him let go.

–Diego Costa— the young Brasilian striker who scored a goal against Getafe is rumoured to be on his way, whether it be on loan or permanently. He’s viewed as excess, in terms of extracommunitarians.

–Mista. Dear old, well passed it, Mista. I’d love to see him go as it would allow Atleti youth striker Braulio an opportunity to be 3rd choice striker.

–Ze Castro, another player linked to a move back to Portugal.

Let’s see how things pan out these next few days.

Goodbye Petrov; Hola Simao.

Petrov is set to sign for Manchester City after agreeing to an 8 million euro contract. I liked Petrov and am sad to see him go, but since that awful knee ligament injury and the recent arrival of Luis Garcia, his future at the club has been in doubt. Best of luck to him at Manchester City…

Meanwhile, Simao Sabrosa is on his way to Madrid today to sign a 4-year contract with los rojiblancos. The figure reported at the moment is very high, €20m, and might rise to 25 as it is believed there’s a portion of the contract that is performance-based. AS reports that there’s a possibility midfielder Costinha or  defender Ze Castro might be included in the deal.

Stay tuned for official details!

Pablo Ibañez Commits to Atlético (plus a look at the current status of the club’s defence)

 

Centre-back Pablo has dismissed a possible move to Real Zaragoza or Deportivo La Coruña today by making it clear he wishes to stay with los rojiblancos:

I have the support of the coach and board to allow me to stay here…I feel like an important player here and I want prove that I am this season.

At the moment, here’s the defence: 

Yourkas Seitaridis
Antonio Lopez
Mariano Pernia
Fabiano Eller
Ze Castro
Pablo Ibanez
Luis Perea
Juan Valera

I’ll break each one down a bit.

Yourkas Seitaridis
I wasn’t a fan of the Greek when he first arrived with Costinha from Dynamo Moscow, but he has grown on me a bit. The 26-year right-back (perhaps the best Greek right-back at the moment?)– in both the club and the international level– has some technical skill in the backline, but also provides a certain level of ‘attacking dimension’. His weakness, I think, is in crossing & maintaining focus.

Antonio López
The 25 year old Spaniard can play as a left-back or left-winger– I consider him a complete footballer, for the most part: decent technical ability and flexibility to play in both defence and midfield, when needed. In terms of left-backs, he’s the best option at the moment, particularly since he’s also attack-minded and drives forward when given an opportunity. At the same time, he needs to perfect his defensive play as he lacks that extra bit of strength to prevent ‘leaks’ in the Atletico back-line.

Mariano Pernía
The 30 year old Argentine is passed it, plain and simple, and should not be granted a starting 11 position: completely failed to impressed in 06/07. If he doesn’t leave this summer (and I would be surprised if he didn’t), I can very well see him continuing to occupy a spot on the bench, subbing for Antonio López.

Fabiano Eller
29 year old Brasilian centre-back brought in during the January transfer market. He lacks pace and often looks scatter-brained.

Ze Castro
The 24 year old Portuguese centre-back hasn’t been a regular starter since the arrival of Eller. There was some speculation that Chelsea were interested; there was also some speculation of Atleti offering him to Portuguese clubs (namely Porto) to lessen the price tags of particular players. He’s certainly a player that should make an exit from the club, for the sake of beefing up the back-line.

Luis Perea
28 year old Colombian centre-back. There was some speculation that he was headed to Villarreal, but that died out once Forlan completed his transfer. In truth, he’s a player that worries me because he’s inconsistent. He often lacks concentration, poor positioning sense, and can be an extremely poor marker, too. Although he has been at Atletico for nearly three years and has gained Spanish citizenship due to his time in the country, I think it’s time he and the club parted ways– this would allow the club to invest in a solid, more reliable centre-back.

Juan Valera
There’s not much to say about him. He suffered a long-term injury last season and hasn’t had an opportunity to demonstrate his defensive skills at the club. So, the jury is still very much out on him.

In other news, the Simao and Quaresma sagas continue…nothing incredibly new has materialised today.

As for Petrov, it’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when’ he’ll leave and to where. So far, it looks like a move to the EPL is imminent.

Martin Petrov set to leave Atleti?

Well, it looks likely. Many sources (AS and MARCA) are reporting that he didn’t participate in the squad’s training session– in order to consider offers from a few clubs. I hate to write about rumours/speculation– but it’s difficult to pass this one up because it’s all over the Spanish press (and English press.)

Here are three possible destinations for the winger:

A) Spurs and Man City are in the chase for him. I’ve talked about this before. To reiterate, on one hand, joining Spurs would mean reuniting with fellow countryman Berbatov (one of my favourite EPL strikers, it must be said). On the other hand, Man City are rebuilding a new squad under the charge of Sven-Goran Eriksson.

B) A more recent rumour has surfaced; one that links Petrov to Porto. Atleti have tried to offload Costinha to the Portuguese club while negociating for Quaresma but to no avail. Porto, however, appear open to talks if Atleti offered a lump sum plus the Bulgarian.

In truth, I think it’s unfortunate that he’s quite possibly on his way out– I rate him highly. The problem is he never had an opportunity to truly showcase his talents as he did at his previous club, VFL Wolfsburg (where he played for four years) due to that injury he sustained in 06/07.

Stay tuned.

Man City & Spurs chasing Petrov?

There was quite a bit of speculation surrounding a possible move for Petrov to Spurs last season. Part of it had to do with the Bulgarian connection– Berbatov had joined Spurs that summer and it was believed Petrov would be enticed by the thought of playing alongside his fellow countryman. Well, that never came to fruition, thankfully, although the 28 year old winger did suffer a severe knee injury and was out for most of 06/07.

This morning I read this article.

Again Spurs enter the picture, along with Man City. Man City, of course, being the subject of the a recent takeover (with Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager).

This tid bit bothered me most in the article:

Petrov is attracted by the idea of a move to the Premiership and knows his place with los Colchoneros is in jeopardy after the arrival of Luís García from Liverpool.

The first point is meaningless, but the second point about Luis Garcia? For starters, the Catalan is still recovering from knee surgery he received in January and hasn’t participated extensively in training sessions yet. I’d imagine Javier Aguirre not overutilising him (for a full 90), so as not to reinjure the knee, particularly in the beginning of the season. Granted, there is still another month left before the season starts, so he may be fully fit by the start.

In any case, it would be a great loss for the team to lose Petrov– especially when there are players who have openly expressed a desire to leave the club (Costinha). Get rid of the deadweight first, don’t sell our best players, I say. Petrov is a proven talent and I’d be very disappointed if such a rumour became a reality.

The only reasoning I can come up with for Atletico Madrid even entertaining such an idea would be to raise funds for the likes of Ricardo Quaresma or Simao Sabrosa. Quaresma, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, is overpriced. Talented? Yes! Worth 25 million? No! Thankfully, the club have turned their backs to Porto and Quaresma.

As for Simao Sabrosa, the news today indicates that he would consider a move to Atletico- for the right price, a reasonable one. I certainly think another solid midfielder would be great (providing, again, that the deadweight is offloaded). Benfica manager Fernando Castro, however, appears uninterested in players being included in the deal.

Switching gears, Argentine left-back Mariano Pernia is linked with Deportivo la Coruna. New Coach, Miguel Angel Lotina has made his interest known public. Pernia has fallen down the pecking order (he truly didn’t impress when he did have opportunities to play), so I suspect both he and Atletico Madrid will be open to offers.

Stay tuned.