It sure is cheating these days!

I am referring to clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester United to mention some, these clubs have huge gigantic debt's, but still they buy the most expensive players on the market, and not just one of them. But do they buy them with their own money?..NO, instead they buy them with money they might have years into the future (depending on success), and meanwhile their team can win trophies with stars they haven't paid for yet!
That is simply cheating in my eyes, it's betting with chips you don't have in your hands!.

I am really glad Juventus and other Italian teams don't do any of this, they still know what football is all about, a team sport, were tactics and mentality plays a stronger role to win trophies, rather than a name on a shirt.

Juve flops

Top 5 flops recent years.

1. Cardoso Tiago
high price, little delivered
2. Marcelo Salas
big-name signing 2001 from Lazio, he went through an injury hell at Juve.
3. Sergio Almiron
the faith in signing him wasn't exactly followed up by chances.
4. Olivier Kapo
talented 2004 signing, even compared to Henry's early days. He never made it.
5. Stephan Appiah
Considering the hype, he never became the player the fans hoped for, made lots of mistakes in midfield.

Juventus chances of winning the scudetto

While the transfer campaign is far from over, it's still possible to make a prediction about the upcoming season. Since Milan is out of CL, and for a change is making the scudetto their first priority objective makes them yet another tough opponent, at least on the paper.

Mourinho's appointment at Inter also makes them much more feared than ever was able to without that change. The combination of big-name players in their squad, plus Mourinho can be very strong.
As for Roma, probably a team only playing for publicity, the Spaletti factor is noticeable, but Roma still hasn't found that winning mentality, and should not be considered too serious.

Fiorentina then, finally recovered to being one of the top teams again, certainly capable of making a lot of trouble for anyone, but still no favorite off course, at all.

Juventus already have a fine squad, strong center defense, overally the best striking options at present. And likely to get a star in central midfield. So Juve doesn't exactly stand behind when it comes to the players. As we see it, the only thing to stop Juventus is the inconsistency showed in the latest season.
If they can get back to winning certainty against small sides, they should have maybe the best chances of all.

Young talent's vs. Old

After stumbling over a discussion over Argentina's "new" Messi, it might be time to comment some of this trend. I mean, Messi is 20 years old!, almost a kid and already people start talking about the new one, are they already tired of Messi?. Not the first time but this is a trend that luckily hasn't reached Italy yet. Talent's almost grow on trees, there is always some talent who are "the new" one etc. but is talent in itself so incredible fantastic?. There is lot's of examples of young player's who are red hot and the new one, but then just fades away..because..guess what..they weren't the new one after all. A good example would be Javier Saviola.

So isn't this age thing like everywhere else around us, the older you get the more developed you get, which makes a more experienced and developed player. That's why there is no rush to throw them on the field or to use xxx millions to transfer a "talent".
And the age thing is not always a huge advantage, if you have a world star playing who is maybe just 20 years old, then good, but chances for him to remain that good, or to even remain in your team in 10 years time are very slim... After all Del Piero's and Maldini's isn't something that happens all the time.

A football career is supposed to last more than 5 years hopefully for them, but if you just have to be good and young to replace anyone then it creates a very strange business. That said off course some talent's are special and extraordinary, like our very own Giovinco, and he can blend in very well with the team, but it's probably not everyone who is worth that trust. So the point of this post simply was to tell that "age" is not the most important thing when transferring a player, since most are at the top of form from age 28 and out. At least you know what you instantly get.

a look at the defense

Time to upgrade!
Juventus may need some improvement here for the upcoming season. Strangely there is not much info to get about Andrade, and he is a major doubt after being out almost a year, will he get back, and will he even succed at Juve, the first matches of him didn't exactly convince.

Chiellini is currently the rock in defense, so we are lucky there, but Legrottaglie is not only the guarantee itself, and its not sure he can cope with CL and tougher competition in Serie A next year, even though he has had a good season this year.

This leads to the guy on loan, Guglielmo Stendardo, in fact he has been very good the few times he has played, looks very solid and confident. The kind of defender who gives it all with pure strength. Juve should be able to sign him easily from Lazio since he has fallen out with the Lazio boss.

At last, the obvious weak link is the left back position. Molinaro is absolutely a talented an exciting man, but he is no Juve material yet, only as a substitute. The crosses and passing is simply far to weak at the moment. A new addition is desperately needed here, and for sure will arrive, after links with a lot of candidates.

For certain is that the Serie A attacks and strikers might become more fearsome than ever for the season coming up: Mutu-Gila, Drogba(?)-Zlatan, Ronaldinho(?)-Kaka to mention some.

Potential samples...:
Grygera(right) __Stendardo__Chiellini__Grosso
or
Mellberg(right)__Andrade__Chiellini__Grosso
or
Mellberg__Grygera__Chiellini__Grosso/Other..

the sale of Ibrahimovic

This sale to rivals Inter, almost two years ago, is probably one of the stupidest moves ever made by the club, not that we should miss a player like that too much, since another's departure is someone else's arrival. But as we see the player making headlines for all the reasons Juve fans don't want, it just verifies that he has more or less given the Scudetto to Inter, not only by yesterday's performance but also over the season been a vital part.

I never think Moggi would have sold him to our worst rival's, he would probably sacrifice some cash to ship him out of Italy!. While that said, i think Inter has milked the calciopoli scandal finally empty after yesterday...Ibra or not ;)