We got trashed by PSG; Mutu ordered to pay more than 17 mill. euro to Chelsea; Eboue deal has collapsed.
We played a friendly, at home, with PSG, and got trashed. I didn't watch the game, but i saw the highlights. Kroldrup was catastrophal. He was at fault for all the three goals, especially for the first one. How can you let someone steal the ball from your feet?! Things like that makes me pray for the Luisao deal to happen. He never inspired me confidence, but from now on, the risk of a heart failure will multiply proportionately to the time Kroldrup spends on the field. That said, it would be fair to say that the whole team looked lifeless, toothless. It might be the first game after the summer break, so maybe we shouldn't hit the pannick button yet, but i hope this will serve as a wake-up call. We have to go through some CL preliminaries, and i don't want to imagine what will happen if we will not qualify for the competition. We worked hard to earn it and we deserve to be there.
Much worse is the news that our MVP, Adrian Mutu, lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He has to pay the enormous sum of 17,173,990 euro. The whole story is ridiculous. In the summer of 2003, Mutu was a hot property. After a brilliant season with Parma, he seemed to be on his way to Juventus, and only a bid of 29.4 mill. euro by Chelsea, recently aquired by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, changed his destination. He seemed to be on the way to stardom, everyone wanted him to succeed, his coach(Ranieri), his team-mates etc., but, after an impressive start, the goals dried up and he ended on the bench. The next season, Jose Mourinho took over as the new Chelsea manager and he seemed to want to reinstate Adrian as a first-team player, but, after Mutu participated in a World Cup qualifying match against the Czech Republic, wich Mourinho ordered him not to attend, claiming he was injured, the relationship deteriorated beyond repair. On his arrival, the club ordered him to take a drug test, wich he failed for cocaine. Judging from this, i can assume Mourinho was aware Adrian was taking drugs, and was certain he will fail the drug test. A month later Mutu received a seven month ban from football and was fired by Chelsea. His football career seemed to be over.
Chelsea never thought he will be able to revive his career, but, in the spring of 2005, Adrian signed for Moggi's Juventus, the club that chased him for so long. The English club, now realising they could have sold him if they waited for the ban to be over, sued him for breach of contract and, on 6 June, 2008 Mutu was ordered by FIFA to pay Chelsea 12 mill. euro, wich was increased to a little under 17 mill. euro, after a Chelsea appeal. Mutu contested it, but, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed it, ordering him to pay the fine, plus the trial costs for the other side, wich amounts to 17,17 mill. euro, the highest fine ever issued by FIFA.
Look, taking drugs is tottaly unacceptable, especially by a proffessional athlete, but, don't you think that 17 mill. euro is too much? There is no precedent for a professional football player to be fined a sum anywhere close to that. The club fired him, they could have sold after he served his ban. He never earned this kind of money at Chelsea, and even though they paid 29.4 mill. euro for his transfer, they were aware of the difficult situation he was going through. He was going through a divorce, had trouble adapting to the English lifestyle, to the Premierleague. They could have helped him, instead, they were quick to get rid of him. Order him to return all the wages he earned at the club plus any future transfers(like those 8 mill. euro Juve got from us), that would be fair. I hope this doesn't influence Adrian any further, cause something like that can have major psychological effects, like depression. Imagine playing football, when you know your wages are going to cover your 17,17 mill. euro debt. His lawyer says there's still a slim chance the decision will be overruled, by taking the matters to the the Civil Court.
In a gesture of solidarity, our captain, Dario Dainelli, said the Viola squad will help him pay part of the sum. That is really nice, he needs support now more then ever.
Oh. and the last piece of news is Eboue might not be coming to us after all. Arsenal is asking for 10 mill. euro, wich Corvino thinks is too much. Too bad, he would have been of great use to us. We still have a vacant right-back position to fill, and word is, we are after Lazio's De Silvestri or Hoffenheim's Andreas Beck. There's only one month left, so we'll find out soon.
Forza Viola!