Falque Silva Yago signs 4 year-contract with Juventus

Juventus Football Club have acquired from FC Barcelona the multi-year rights to footballer Silva Yago's sporting performances, agreeing to a four-year contract with the player, valid until June 30th 2012.

Yago, a wide left midfielder, was born on January 4th 1990 in Vigo and is a regular in the Spanish Under-19 side.

The player underwent his medical today and then signed the contract at the Club's headquarters. Yago expressed his satisfaction for the deal: «I'm happy to have the chance to join a prestigious Club such as Juventus. I'm excited about the idea of being able to train with huge stars and I can't wait to begin. I hope I can make myself useful and show my skills. I wish to thank Claudio Ranieri for the praise he bestowed on me and I’m committed to honouring his expectations».

Alessio Secco – speaking to Juventus Channel – wanted to express his satisfaction for the transfer: «Yago is a very promising youth; we'd been following him for some time. He will need to get stronger and he'll be playing with the Youth Team. This signing confirms Juventus' regard for younger players».
www.juventus.com

Juve to play at night against Udinese too

The Bianconeri's September begins at night: after the League opener against Fiorentina, the game against Udinese will also be played at 8.30 pm, on Sunday September 14th. The Italian Football League have decided the matches to be played on the Saturday and Sunday in the first six Serie A rounds. The Bianconeri will be playing at 3 pm on Sunday September 21st against Cagliari. After the mid-week round on Wednesday the 24th, against Catania, the game at the Marassi against Sampdoria on Saturday 27th will be played at 6 pm. This is due to the Champions League game against Bate Borisov scheduled for Tuesday the 30th. On Day 6, Juventus will play in the afternoon at home against Palermo.

Among the other teams, AC Milan will play as many as three consecutive games at night: on September 21st against Lazio, the Milan derby on the 28th, and against Cagliari on October 5th.

www.juventus.com

Secco: We Have The Best Defence In Italy!

Juve’s transfer policy this summer has been criticised in some quarters, with one of the main complaints being the apparent failure to sufficiently strengthen in defence.

Olof Mellberg and Dario Knezevic arrived from Aston Villa and Livorno respectively, but the consensus is that the Bianconeri backline, which also includes the far from household names of Cristian Molinaro, Nicola Legrottaglie and Zdenek Grygera, may not be strong enough to compete for the Scudetto and Champions League.

However, one person who disagrees with this is Secco, who believes Juve are in for a great season.

"This team is ready for the marathon. We should not have any inferiority complex,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We have invested in defence because [coach] Claudio Ranieri felt he needed more, in fact I do not see a better defence around."

“The team is balanced in all departments, and with Amauri we have the best attack in the championship.”

Secco has been much criticised by Juve fans since he took over control of transfers from Luciano Moggi in the aftermath of Calciopoli in 2006.

The 38-year-old has made a long-line of blunders in the transfer market, including the signings of Jean-Alain Boumsong, Sergio Almiron and Tiago Mendes for a combined €27m.

He was also condemned for his attempted sale of Giorgio Chiellini to Manchester City last summer, a player who has since developed into arguably the best defender in Italy.

Anthony Sormani

Wenger eyes Giovinco?

Reports in the Italian media suggest that Juventus youngster Sebastien Giovinco is on the Wanted List of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Giovinco is said to have been under the keen watch of Wenegr and the Frenchman is said to have planned for a winter move for the Bianconeri. Sebastien Giovinco has been in amazing form this season and might savour moves to the English Premier League.

September 9th, 2008 by african scholar