Man U, Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle to raid Serie A?

By Sunshine
March 22 2004

Decades and decades of hurt might just be over. In fact, it might just be payback time. For as long as most of us can remember, the best players in the world have been kidnapped by Serie A, with only a few managing to avoid the net, ending up in Spain or, even more rarely, the Premiership.

Just to reel off a few names who, since the ‘80s, spent their peak playing years at clubs in the most difficult league in the world, I’d mention Maradona, Zico, Platini, Boniek, Matthaus, Van Basten, Gullit, Batistuta, Dunga, Bierhoff, Rijkaard, Laudrup, Desailly, Briegel, Deschamps, Falcao, Davids, Voeller, Papin, Boban, Savicevic, Brehme, Weah, Ronaldo, Platt, Cafu, Moeller, Brady, Effenberg, Careca, etc…the list is almost endless.

That list does not include the many Italian players who would have graced even the best teams in other leagues, stars such as Baggio, Scirea, Baresi, Cabrini, Rossi, Conti, Vialli, Donadoni, Maldini, Zola, Mancini, Gentile, Tardelli, Antognoni, Bettega, Chiesa, Signori, etc (limiting the list to players since the ‘80s) and only those who immediately spring to mind..

There are also a series of players who were rejected by Serie A (for whatever reasons) before making it big in other countries, such as Figo, Vieira, Roberto Carlos, Kluivert, Bergkamp and Henry, to name but a few, and others who spent at least part of their glittering careers in Italy, like Rumenigge, Socrates, Krol and Klinsmann.

Make no mistake, Serie A might not be the powerhouse it once was, but it still arguably has the highest number of world class players of any championship, players such as Shevchenko, Inzaghi, Kakà, Seedorf, Rui Costa, Gattuso, Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Redondo, Dida, Pirlo, and that’s just limiting the choice to those on AC Milan’s books, but also Totti, Del Piero, Vieri, Stam, Cassano, Trezeguet, Adriano, Fiore, Emerson, Nedved, Stankovic, Zambrotta, Buffon, Montella, Martins, Di Vaio, Carew, Kallon, Cesar, Dacourt, Toldo, J.Zanetti, Mancini, Thuram, Cannavaro, C.Zanetti, Chivu, Cordoba, Candela, Samuel, etc, and that’s just limiting the choice to the top teams.

There are also other clubs, such as Parma who are filled to the rafters with U21 players who have started to (or are on the brink of) break through to the full Italian national side (Ferrari, Barone, Gilardino and so on) and the likes of Udinese, Empoli, Siena and others who, if you look carefully, have some real diamonds in their squads.

Over the next few weeks and months, those leading up to the re-opening of the transfer window next summer, the Sportnetwork Italia site will analyse some of the teams, with an appraisal of their players, in order to see which could be of interest to the various premiership clubs with the financial muscle to take advantage of the difficulties which some of the Serie A teams are facing.

Naturally, most will have already heard the majority of the names mentioned above, but there are dozens of other lesser known players who could prove more than a little interesting to Premiership sides.

If you wish to discuss any clubs or players from Serie A or ask for more information, then you can do so on the Message Board and if we can give you an informed opinion, then we will.