Francesco Totti - Il Gladiatore di Roma

Pauker: Wrong story

Justie: What piss?

NVDTahir: Cheers, yes I was confused at first as well!

Manchester United’s pursuit of AS Roma man Michael Bradley seems to be gaining ground as yesterday the American was quoted as saying he wants to move to the Red Devils after Roma rejected the English giants’ first bid.

The bid was €15,000,000 up front with another €2,500,000 in performance related bonuses but was rejected out of hand by AS Roma. Francesco Totti, who runs the transfer dealings alongside chairman James Pallotta and Director of Football Walter Sabatini, is adamant that the tough-tackling American will not leave unless an extraordinary bid is received.

The Giallorossi’s position on their asset may be forced to change, however, under Bradley’s new comment that he wants to move to Manchester and will help force the transfer should it fall through otherwise.

“I’m disappointed that Franky [Totti] has rejected the bid out of hand, I was hoping for some negotiation,” he said. “It’s a dream of mine to play in the Premier League, and Manchester United is the crème of the crop.”

Losing Bradley would be a big blow for Roma’s title push as the American has been one of the team’s standout performers thus far, appearing in almost every match and capable of playing in either a holding or box-to-box role in Totti’s side.

David Moyes also seemed quite eager to reinforce movement in this transfer saga, suggesting, “We know that Michael wants to come, and we are definitely moving toward accomplishing that.”

Manchester United currently sit 4th in the Barclays Premier League and are still in the running for the title and will certainly be happy with the boost in midfield that Bradley can provide. The Red Devils are also in the First Knockout Stage of the UEFA Champions League, where they will play high-flying Napoli.

Bradley is currently on a 2 year contract ending in 2016 and is on wages of €37k per week, though United is ready to offer as much as €75k per week should he accept their offer.

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You can't let Lex Luthor go!

Ask for Cleverley in exchange!

For that amount of money I would let him go.
Great updates as usual Neal

P-KIDDY: I'll do my best to make him stay!

Justice: Duh, who else?!

pompeyblue: Perhaps, perhaps, we shall see

Just weeks earlier, Napoli had suffered a 1-0 loss to AS Roma in Serie A thanks to a last gasp winner from Adem Ljajic, and now in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals the Partenopei were looking for vengeance.

Adding to the occasion were recent transfers from Napoli to Roma; last summer Morgan De Sanctis, and just a few weeks ago the Azzurri’s captain Paolo Cannavaro for a paltry €2,000,000 together. There was bad blood in the air, a true rivalry brewing.

Roma, who had suffered in their last few matches, came out with fire in their bellies and played the type of expansive, attacking football that had gotten them to the top of Serie A before their blips in form. De Rossi, who finally returned from injury in this match, ran the show alongside Michael Bradley and Kevin Strootman.

As halftime approached, however, it seemed the Giallorossi’s industrious first half would be for naught. That is, until Maicon broke down the right wing and served in a delightful lofted cross to the back post. Mattia Destro leapt and met it wonderfully, only to see his header crash off of the crossbar and out.

In the second half, Napoli came out much stronger and started to control the game themselves. Twenty minutes from time, they took the lead. Winger Lorenzo Insigne burst past Federico Balzaretti before cutting the ball back to Gokhan Inler who unleashed a ferocious first time strike from outside the area into the bottom corner.

As the clock ticked down, it seemed Roma were going to crash out of the competition. It was deep in injury time, and the Giallorossi were throwing everything forward. Michael Bradley found Miralem Pjanic on the edge of the area, who turned and saw nothing in front of him. The Bosnian decided to shoot, and what a shot it was, rifled into the bottom corner. Pjanic wheeled away jubilantly, tearing off his shirt and celebrating wildly his side’s late equalizer.

Extra time came and went, and was unable to separate the sides and so the two went into penalties. The man with the armband Daniele De Rossi easily drained his first penalty, and for Napoli up stepped Josip Radosevic. The young Croatian took a great penalty but Antonio Adan was equal to it, making an incredible save.

Not one penalty was missed after that one and Kevin Strootman hammered home the winning penalty to make it 5-3 by sending Reina the wrong way.

“I am incredibly proud of the lads,” said Totti. “We showed enormous character to come back and equalize so late on and then keep our nerve about us to win in penalties. Hopefully we can use this to kick start a second wind in our season and start to play good football again, like today.”

AS Roma will take on Calcio Catania in the semifinal and the winner of that tie will play the winner of AC Milan vs. Udinese in the final.

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Wooo congrats on the big win. Doing big work homie.

Great writing and great win, nice work Neal

BayernAmerica: Thanks, it was an important game for us to get a result in

Walter: Cheers buddy

I find it especially pleasing when you snatch a late goal to win!

jasonvilla4ever: It's an awesome feeling

AS Roma, having now signed Paolo Cannavaro, have a wealth of experienced center backs at their disposal; Mehdi Benatia, Leandro Castan, Nicolas Burdisso, and now Cannavaro. So what have they decided to do with their up and coming defensive starlets? Loan them out for first team football, of course!

Croatian center back Tin Jedvaj is the first to go; he has been loaned out to Real Sociedad in Liga BBVA where he will presumably start alongside Spanish youngster Inigo Martinez. Jedvaj has shown very good signs since signing from Dinamo last summer and had made 5 Serie A apperances thus far this season and will look to continue his development in Spain. Jedvaj is considered to be one of the most unknown future stars in Italian football by the staff at Roma.

The second player to depart the Olimpico is 17 year old Italian defender Elio Capradossi. The U17 international was a regular in Roma’s U19 side but did not make an appearance for the first team and thus has been loaned to Estoril in the Portuguese top flight. Capradossi burst onto the scene at the U17 World Cup where he was considered Italy’s best player and is now considered one of the brightest Italian defenders of the next generation.

“It is important for players like Tin and Elio to get first team football in good quality leagues,” said manager Francesco Totti. “Hopefully both of them can continue to grow as players on loan and return next season perhaps ready for first team action at Roma.”

Media outlets were also wondering which center back pairing would be preferred now that Totti had 4 first team caliber defenders, but ‘Il Gladiatore’ remained evasive on that topic. “Mehdi and Leandro have been playing most matches so far but I think Paolo can provide good competition for them. Of course you can’t rule out Nicolas as he also has the quality to play at this level. I am spoiled for choice, really.”

The Giallorossi will continue their Serie A campaign in a few days’ time when they host Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico to look to retain their position atop the table.

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Right move to loan them. i love how much detail you put into your posts Can you post a Screenshot of Tin please

Nice update. Jedvaj is certainly one to look out for so nurture him well