Foggia and Acquafresca Staying in Sardinia?

By: Jeremy | June 24th, 2008

We all know that rumors and truth are often completely different when it comes to footballers, especially in the offseason when the team a player will be playing for is anyones guess, but it looks like we have some positive news regarding arguably our two most important players from last year, Pasquale Foggia and Robert Acquafresca.

As I mentioned in my last post, Foggia was quoted as saying how much he would like to stay in Sardinia for another year. If you believe Cellino, that is going to happen. There is no doubt Foggia wants to play for Napoli or a bigger club and did not get along with the fans in Cagliari, but when Cagliari owns half your rights and has an option to renew his loan agreement for 08-09, you are careful in what you say. After it seemed like Lazio wanted him back and Cellino was more then happy to oblige, Lazio changed its mind and Cellino realizing he was getting a second chance to keep him, picked up his loan option and has guaranteed Foggia will be back in Sardinia for another year which is great news.

Foggia is a talented but fragile player. Lazio isnt so good where they would not have a need for him. He would be an upgrade in midfield for most any Serie A team so for Lazio to let him come back, a deal has to be in place for the rigtht kind of money or future ownership. If Foggia can put together a strong full season, the big club and money will be there for him. He is not there yet so he will have to play another year on a fringe Serie A team to prove he can be a factor for the whole year. I am guessing that Cellino and Lazio reached a deal where they will get one more year of Foggia in Cagliari, Cagliari will give up their half interest in him and allow him to be sold to the highest bidder with probably some money coming back our way this time next year. If he has a great year, then we benefit from his play and get some money. If he does not improve, we let him go without feeling as bad as we would by letting him go now.

Anything that is done to keep a good player is a great move so while things can happen next year that may see us lose him for good, if he stays we are that much closer to feeling like we are UEFA Cup contenders and not relegation fodder. If you are a small club, you look at your team year by year and cant worry about who will be here 2-3 years from now.

If you think that is good news, it also seems like Acquafresca will be coming back for another year in Cagliari. Inter has supposedly asked us to keep him for another year and we are happy to oblige. Even Acquafresca is in agreement. This is another co ownership deal where we will get to keep him for another year and give up our rights to him next year when he is likely ready to star for Inter. We know that despite his great second half, he needs to establish himself as a star over the course of a whole year before Inter puts pressure on Cagliari to give him up. For now, there is not a better place for him to maximize his talent and grow as a player. If he continues to improve and emerge, he will simply be too good to stay in Cagliari. If he is stagnant in his growth, we might keep him longer. Remember he is only 20 and even if his growth is a little slower then we expect it to be over the course of 08-09, a lot can happen and he is still better then what we have. To have him for next year is huge if we can pull it off.

If we can lock these guys in for another year, we might find Storari willing to return and we may even add more players who see this club as a real up and comer. Remember, the second half of last year, the way we played would have made us UEFA Cup contenders. With the players from the second half possibly returning, this looks like a season where we could make our mark on Serie A.

Hopefully more solid news is to come, but things are looking up and I am excited to think about the possibilites for next year with Foggia and Acquafresca. Relegation will not be in our vocabulary next year and the fans mindset may start to change.