Genoa Club Amsterdam

Today was finally the presentation of our biggest transfer so far this summer: Raffaele Palladino signed his 4 years contract with Genoa. The very talented wing-striker is now 50% owned by both Genoa and Juventus. The 24 years old player was raised in the youth of Juventus in the hands of Mr. Gasperini. Despite his 24 years he already played 48 matches in Serie A (26 with Juventus, 22 with Livorno) and 64 in Serie B (25 with Juventus, 39 with Salernitana). Till now Raffaele scored 4 times in Serie A and 23 goals in B. 

Also today new arrival Abdelkader Ghezzal was sold to Siena within the deal that also brought Manuel Coppola to Siena (Thanks for all Coppolino, our Genoano of the year 2005-2006) and did return the complete ownership of 19 years old toptalent Fernando Forestieri to Genoa. Forestieri will be hired to Siena next season.

The coach of the Italian Olympic team Casiraghi today published his list with the 22 players that play in the Azzuro shirt at the Olympics. On the list are the 2 talented defenders of Genoa: Salvatore Bocchetti and Domenico Criscito. It is almost sure that Anthony Vanden Borre also will be convocated in the Olympic team of Belgium, which means that 3 Genoani are present in China at the Olympic games.

   

After our central-defenders Bovo (Palermo) and De Rosa (end of contract) left Genoa, Mr. Gasperini and his staff are searching to find 2 substitutes. Youngster Bocchetti is the first arrival, so the second one should be more experienced.

The first candidate is Maurizo Domizzi, the central-defender of Napoli who wants to return to the North of Italy because of his family. Untill now Napoli asks too much money, but today the old team of Maradona went without Maurizio to the trainingscamp in Austria. Maybe this is a sign that the transfer is nearby.

The second candidate is Dario Dainelli, the tall and experienced captain of Fiorentina. This year Fiorentina wants to make the step to the top of Europe and they think they need a new central defender with more international experience. At the moment Fiorentina contracted their international player they sell Dainelli. 

The last option is Marco Rossi, indeed the player with the same name as our captain. The young defender plays with Parma that relegated to Serie B last season and the youth-international wants to stay in Serie A. Maybe Marco Rossi can be changed with Leon because our forward is very popular with Parma.  

Yesterday a Genoa-supporter wrote on the internetsite: www.grifoni.net that he would buy 2 season-tickets if Genoa after the 9 already bought players also would buy Giandomenico Mesto of Reggina. Tomorrow he can go to the ticket-office in Stadio Luigi Ferraris, because this afternoon Mr. Preziosi again made coach Gian Piero Gasperini happy. Mesto is 26 years old and can play both as right defender and right midfielder. The experienced player (the last 5 years he played 165 matches in Serie A) played last season with Udinese after 4 years with Reggina that bought him back of Udinese (with the money of Genoa ?) yesterday. Besides 165 matches in Serie A, Giandomenico also played 3 matches in the Italian national team. As a part of the deal defender Santos and midfieldplayer Fabiano leave Genoa to play with Reggina next season.

Tonight on the radio Pinuccio Brenzini told the listeners that in a short time Genoa hopes to buy the last (?) 2 players of this summer: a big central defender (Dainelli, captain of Fiorentina ?) and a stand in to Lucho Figueroa. Will be continued …

After weeks of speculation and problems between the player and Juventus, today Raffaele Palladino finally arived in Genova to have his medical test and to make the transfer official. Genoa now owns 50% of one of the most talented strikers of Italy and payed around € 5,5 millions for that. The 24 years old player is the 9th new player this summer. Untill now Mr. Preziosi brought the following players to Genoa:

defenders: Giuseppe Biava (31), Salvatore Bocchetti (21), Alessandro Potenza (24)

midfielders: Francesco Modesto (26) and Francesco Renzetti (20)

strikers: Andrea Gasbarroni (26), Davide di Gennaro (20), Abdelkader Ghezzal (23) and Raffaele Palladino (24)

Besides the above mentioned players Genoa also bought back the last year sold 50% of Fernando Forestieri. Genoa now again completely owns the big talent that is hired to Siena next season. Probably Abdelkader Ghezzal goes with him to Toscany.

 

The 20 years old talented Belgium defensive midfieldplayer Anthony Vanden Borre who arrived last January with Genoa and played only 164 minutes in the Rossoblu team last season stays with Genoa. Today Genoa’s president Enrico Preziosi bought the other 50% of the player which was still in the hands of Fiorentina. Coach Mr. Gasperini believes in the progression of the French-speaking ex-player of Anderlecht and Fiorentina. Let’s hope as the official Genoa supportersclub in Belgium (and Holland) we can have an interview with big Anthony next season.

 

As written before also Raffaele Palladino, Matteo Paro and Domenico Criscito play with Genoa next season. The new team of Mr. Gasperini at the moment, 3 weeks before the first training, only misses a big central defender (Domizzi of Napoli ?) and a substitute to central-forward Lucho Figueroa (Olivera of Juventus ? Cacia of Fiorentina ?)

 

After the arrival of Francesco Modesto (26 years), Davide di Gennaro (20), Andrea Gasbarroni (26), Alessandro Potenza (24) and Abdelkader Ghezzal (23) this week arrived again 2 new players: Salvatore Bocchetti (21) and Giuseppe Biava (31).

The young talented defender Bocchetti, bought from Frosinone in Serie B, signed a 5 year contract with Genoa. This summer he plays together with Domenico Criscito in the defence of the Italian team at the Olympic games in China. Giuseppe Biava arrived as a part of the deal of Bovo with Palermo. The 31 years old defender played the last 4 seasons in Serie A with the pink team of Sicily.

 

Monday finally Raffaele Palladino arives at Genoa’s headquarters in Pegli to sign his 4 years contract with our club. Part of the deal with Juventus is also the remaining of Matteo Paro (definitively) and Domenico Criscito (another year) with Genoa and probably the arrival of the striker Ruben Olivera.

Last summer Genoa changed with Siena one of the biggest talents in the world: Fernando Forestieri with Abdoulay Konko. Of course the Genoa-supporters reacted furious, but Mr. Gasperini and his staff were right. Our 24 years old French midfielder played a fantastic season in Serie A and a lot of big clubs wanted to buy him. F.C. Sevilla did the best offer: € 9,3 millon, so Abdoulay plays in the Primera Division next season. To close the circle the ownership of Forestieri returned this week completely to Genoa.

Besides Konko also Cesare Bovo left Genoa this week. The defender returned to his former club Palermo that in return pays € 3 million and the 31 years old defender Giuseppe Biava to Genoa. With the sale of Borriello, Konko and Bovo Mr. Preziosi earned over € 21 million and the arrival of Davide di Gennaro and Giuseppe Biava.   

Our supportersclub is founded on Tuesday 15th June 1998, today exactly 10 years ago. That day we went to the office of Genoa in Via Roma to ask permission to start an official Genoa supportersclub in Holland. Mr. Gianni Blondet gaves us permission (and a videotape with the history of Genoa) and our club was born. Now 10 years later we have 50 members and an internetsite with over 20.000 visits by 10.500 visitors in 10 months.

Yesterday the 5th new arrival was bought by Mr. Preziosi. After Modesto, Di Gennaro, Gasbarroni and Potenza this time 23 years old France striker Abdelkader Ghezzal arrived from Crotone, the former club of Mr. Gasperini. After 18 goals with Pro Sesto in Serie C-1 in the season 2006-2007, last season Ghezzal scored 20 times with Crotone. The young striker is 1.83 high and played in the youth of Olympic Lyon. 

It is almost sure that Genoa found a substitute to Abdoulay Konko: the 24 years old defender of Fiorentina, Alessandro Potenza. The young defender is raised in the youth of Inter and was rent to Ancona, Parma, Chievo (all in Serie A) and Real Mallorca (Spain) before he was transfered to Fiorentina in the summer of 2006. The last 2 seasons he played 34 matches with the purple team and scored 1 goal. The former youth-international of Italy only has to pass the medical test before he is a Genoano.

In the meanwhile the transfer of Konko to Inter has stopped because Mr. Preziosi refused the offer of the Italian Champions and now it looks like Konko goes to Udinese. Also the transfer of Raffaele Palladino to Genoa probably failed, because after Juventus and Genoa finally had an agreement (including remaining of Matteo Paro and Domenico Criscito with Genoa) the talented striker refused the offer of Genoa. Will be continued..

After the 3-0 victory of Holland against Italy the whole country gets crazy and hope (and believe) that the Dutch can be European Champions again, 20 years after 1988. Only the owners of a living-ark in the Amsterdam canals don’t like the idea of a new victory of Holland, which you can understand if you see the picture below of the party in 1988.

Tonight Mr. Enrico Preziosi spoke on the local televisionchannel Telecitta about the transfermarket. He confirmed that untill now Genoa has sold Borriello to Milan and bought Modesto (Reggina), Di Gennaro (Milan) and today Gasbarroni (Parma). Every day the newspapers are full with stories and speculations about the central-forward that substitutes Marco Borriello. The last days they wrote about Pazzini (Fiorentina), Bianchi (Manchester City), Maccarone (Siena) and Bjelanovic (Torino), but tonight Mr. Preziosi confirmed his trust in Lucho Figueroa as our central-forward in the season 2008-2009. 

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