Roma Nabs Swiss Superstud?

By: chris | August 5th, 2007

In case you missed it, Roma outplayed West Ham yesterday, but still lost. Good @#$%. Pseduo-semi recap here. And the head of the Roma Offside A/V Dep’t, Stefan(o), has provided us with highlights once again. Methinks Philou would like to have that moment back versus Dean Ashton. Ouch.

A Signing?

A few places are starting to leak word of a signing involving another midfielder from Bellinzona, that club in the Swiss Challenge Division, aka “Riding the Short Bus to the Game.” This time it’s a kid named Daniel Unal, a 17 year old central midfielder currently captaining the Swiss U-17 squad (No. 8 in this pic, he now wears the No. 10 for Switzerland U-17). I’m sure most nearly everybody has never heard of this kid. And if you have, you need to get a life. Or at least a blowup doll. Whether or not he has actually been signed is a mystery. Normally I’d immediately write this off as rumor, but Adewele Wahab has been transferred to the roster of the official Bellinzona website and Unal is nowhere to be found. The rumored deal is partly a swap involving the two, so it looks like this kid may in fact be a Roma player. And we know it took like 19 months for them to announce the other Bellinzona signing.

As for this Unal character, there isn’t much out there on him. But everything says he’s good. Real good. My favorite morsel out there is this: the other team after him hard is/was Milan (and I’ve also seen Juve’s name mentioned). Which would make it twice this offseason that Roma has poached a youngster out from under the open arms of Silvio Berlusconi and Uncle Fester (that Ahmed Barusso cat being the other one). Of course they also landed some kid named Pato, so I don’t think they’re too unhappy with their teenaged acquisitions this summer. Obviously being 17 or so this kid isn’t going to jump into the starting XI right away, more likely would be a loan or Primavera games. But a few somewhat unreliable websites seem to be promoting him as a player similar to David Pizarro. Which would be awesome, provided he could defend even so little as to keep someone out of Paris Hilton’s pants. Alright, bad example.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see an influx of players coming in from Bellinzona. After looking at pictures from the town, I can understand why the hierarchy wants to make frequent scouting trips. The town is beautiful, set down at the base of a valley. I’ll be applying for the job of “Official Scout Deligated to AC Bellinzona” ASAP. And did anybody else know Swiss Miss is a type of marijuana? Actually, for some reason I’m sure my readers do.

* - Popolo Giallorosso is reporting that he could be in Rome for his medical visit Monday, with an announcement obviously pending shortly thereafter. The big difference here between Unal and Adrian Pit (Pronounced ‘Piz’) is 7 years in age. That means a lot. There will be more on this soon, but this kid seems to get a lot of pub for a 17 year old who played in the Swiss second division. That’s a very good sign. I’ll take hype any day.

Your Daily Cicinho Update:

Ole Bronzy balls has reassured the Giallorossi faithful that if Cicinho does leave Madrid, it will be to Rome and only Rome. The only problem is whether or not Peja Mijatovic and Bernd Schuster are ready to relinquish their kung fu grip on the Brazilian pocket rocket. It is being said both Cici and Roma want it to happen, the only question remaining is Real Madrid. I say it happens within 10 days.

The Sunday Finest:

I) The name Pascal Chimbonda is being floated around as a potential LB addition. I’m going to stop it right there. Far too expensive for Roma’s tastes. Marty Jol’s not letting him go for anything less than big bank.

II) Some guy named Francesco Modesto is reportedly close to joining Roma. Again.

III) The Grand Imperial Poobah was pleased with the performance yesterday, but still feels like Roma needs to defend better. Well, when you’re missing 3/4 CB’s and are forced to play Christian Panucci at CB and Samuel Kuffour is actually allowed into the stadium, then you have a legitimate excuse.

Although I think part of that statement was directed at somebody other than the team. Maybe a little hint hint nudge nudge wink wink to Rosella to get off her ass and get him some damn defenders……

IV) Marcello Lippi had nice things to say about Roma’s Ghanaian enforcer, Ahmed Barusso.

“They also signed players like Ludovic Giuly, Mauro Esposito and Ahmed Barusso, who left me open mouthed when I saw him play for Rimini in Serie B.”

I’m starting to think that Ahmed’s broken leg is the best thing that could’ve possibly happened to Roma, because it made the other teams reportedly interested in him very hesitant (Milan, Arsenal, Inter, etc), and allowed Rosella & Co. to sneak in and nab him. If he is in fact another Michael Essien, as many have said, then Roma will have quite possibly the best midfield in Europe within 3 years, with Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani, Mancini, Simone Perrotta, and Barusso. Plus, he might single handedly take Roma to first place in “breaking bones with legal tackles.”

V) Juan & Doni will return from vaca tomorrow. Not soon enough, as far as I’m concerned. If I see Sam Kuffour starting in central defense again I may be committed. Even if it is that friendly against Frosinone on Friday.

VI) Atalanta is interested in Edgar Alvarez and his burrito speed. Pretty much it.

VII) Napoli has moved on to other objectives than Matteo Brighi after they realized they couldn’t compete with the chance to get a Spalletti ass slap every once in a while. Or that whole Champions League and competing for the scudetto thing. Still, Spalletti ass slaps would be my No. 1 reason. I don’t know about the rest of you.