Atalanta Swap

By: Dan | August 20th, 2009

Finally some action in the market… but not what we were really hoping for. A much needed central defender is headed our way in the form of a loan. This is Daniele Capelli from Atalanta. Conversely, striker Fabio Ceravolo is going to Bergamo also on loan.

So who is Capelli? A 23-year-old central defender with plenty of experience. He grew up in the Atalanta youth ranks, as did Ceravolo with Reggina, and has made dozens of appearances over the past few years for the Orobici. He also has spent a season on loan at Arezzo. I’m not sure how good Capelli is, having never really seen him in action. He’s still pretty young and he can’t be that amazing knowing that he wasn’t in any first team plans for Atalanta this year, according to my analysis of their roster from La Gazzetta dello Sport a couple days ago. We were all really hoping from Lorenzo Ariaudo to be the one, maybe even Magnus Troest… but Capelli is the guy and I hope he is a good fit for us. If there’s any Atlanta supporters reading this, please give me some info on this kid.

As for Ceravolo… I say good riddance. His agent kept whining about how he deserved more playing time, but I’ve never been impressed with him. He’s a pretty boy who adjusts his hair/headband more than he scores goals. The couple goals he has scored for us weren’t incredible or anything. He never provided any useful spark in the attack and doesn’t have the best stats for an out and out striker. But I hope he does well in Bergamo where he can meet up with his former teammate Edgar Barreto. Will he even get to play at all in the Nerazzurri shirt? I mean they are usually running a defensive 4-4-1-1 which will feature star forward in Robert Acquafresca at the tip. That leaves no room for Fabio. On top of that, Atalanta acquired Simone Tiribocchi who I’m sure is first in line to backup Acquafresca. But I hope he proves me wrong and comes back to Reggina a grown player when we’re in Serie A next year.

But this transfer causes another issue to arise. We must sign another forward before the transfer window closes! Aside from Brienza and Bonazzolli, we are now left with Joelson and youngster Alessio Viola. Joelson has been less than impressive in pre-season matches and Viola is inexperienced. Who can we get?? Daniele Cacia remains a pipe dream, but the more affordable Salvatore Mastronunzio would be a fine signing indeed. This move might have been opened up as Ancona acquired Sampdoria youngster Mattia Mustacchio today. Whoever we may acquire, I hope it happens soon.

On a side note, I am delighted that the number of members in The Offside Fantasy Serie A Yahoo group is growing exponentially! There’s still time to join (although I think the site isn’t loading at the moment) so for details read the previous post on this blog.