Italian football’s curious practice of multi-team registration of players leads to the even more curious practice of blind auctions for half a player when the mutliple-ownership period comes to an end. Essentially, each team that owns half a player puts in a bid for the other half in a sealed envelope, and whoever has bid the highest must pay the other team that sum for said player’s left/right half, or whoever they split it up.
Emiliano Viviano Moves To Inter Milan Following Blind Auction
Anyway, it's blind auction time in Serie A, and a number of players have moved around. The most notable of them is Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, who until very recently was co-owned by Inter Milan and Bologna but now is sole property of Inter, who procured half of the 25-year-old for the reported sum of 4.1M. Inter, of course, already Julio Cesar and didn't seem to have much need for another goalkeeper. As it turns out, they won Viviano more or less by default - Bologna mis-filed their paperwork and thus failed to submit any bid at all!
Viviano may have been both the oddest and highest profile case, but he wasn't the only player on the move. Fiorentina ave lost midfield playmaker Gaetano D'Agostino to Udinese, a move which will presumably have an impact on both Riccardo Montolivo and Gokhan Inler's summers, while Daniele Mannini moves for relegated Sampdoria to Champions League side Napoli, who desperately need a competent backup to Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik in the inside forward position.
Daniele Cacia (Forward, 27) - Lecce vs. Piacenza (Lecce)
Gaetano D'Agostino (Midfielder, 29) - Fiorentina vs. Udinese (Udinese)
Albin Ekdal (Midfielder, 21) - Bologna vs. Juventus (Juventus)
Fernando Martin Forestieri (Forward, 21) - Udinese vs. Genoa (Genoa)
Antimo Iunco (Forward, 27) - Torino vs. Chievo (Chievo)
Daniele Mannini (Forward, 27) - Sampdoria vs. Napoli (Napoli)
Riccardo Meggiorini (Forward, 25) - Bolonga vs. Genoa (Genoa)
Gianni Munari (Midfielder, 27) - Lecce vs. Palermo (Lecce)
Simone Pesce (Midfielder, 28) - Ascoli vs. Catania (Ascoli)
Emiliano Viviano (Goalkeeper, 25) - Bolonga vs. Inter (Inter)
Most of those involved in movement this weekend aren’t too big, as you’d expect, but some could help their teams out significantly next season. The big news, though, is Bologna’s massive error in allowing Viviano to leave.
See More:
