Thank You Marco Storari. Explanation please!

By: Jeremy | July 15th, 2008

Most Cagliari fans would admit that Marco Storari was the main reason why the Sardinians avoided relegation last season. For all the hype about Acquafresca and Foggia, Storari coming on board for the second half of the season on loan from Milan turned out to the best move the club has made in some time. His play and the confidence it instilled in his teammates lead to a team that was all but relegated in January to finish not only safe, but comfortably above the relegation zone.

Common sense would say that after his performance, he would return to Milan, lock down the number one goalie spot and allow Milan to spend their money elsewhere. As the summer progressed, not only was Storari mentioned very little in Milan, when he was discussed, it was that he was the fourth goalie. At one point, when it was clear that he was not in Milans plans, he could not even seemingly find a club to play for. Yes there were talks with Fiorentina, but unless they were getting rid of Sebastian Frey(and why would they), Fiorentina offers nothing but a back up role, even if they are Champions League quality.

Considering Milans goalie situation, I to this day do not understand why he was not atleast given a chance to win the job. He is one of the three best Italian goalkeepers and Milan has enough holes that if they put him in goal, they get him cheap and can spend their money elsewhere. He would make a difference for them and would atleast be better then what they have now.

Even if Milan is too stupid so see what they have, the next question becomes is why cant Cagliari secure his services for the upcoming season? What he did for the club speaks for itself, so I guess it is all about money. I didnt read much about any discussions between Cagliari, Storari, and Milan about getting him to return. Milan didnt want him so whats up? How much was Cagliari offering? Did Marco want to come back? How much did he want? In other words, why is he not back with us this year. To go from saving the season to disappearing from all club related websites and stories, to appearing as a not wanted Milan player, and now a newly signed Fiorentina player makes no sense and we fans need an explanation.

If you havent read, Storari just signed on loan from Milan to be Sebastian Freys backup for Fiorentina. Someone please give me a reason other then money. How much is he getting, who is paying, and how much money does it take for him to go from being a starter/savior in Sardinia over being a guy who wont play for his new team. I know money is important but a player as talented as this should want to play and not be a back up. Its not like Cagliari is Serie B. He would be playing all the same teams and could show his skills yet again and that would get him closer to the Milan job or atleast another year closer to being out of contract. I know he has a say in where he goes, but this makes no sense. I can understand maybe the money isnt there in Cagliari, but surely another team would pay him similar money to Fiorentina and give him first choice goalkeeper. Fiorentina cant be paying him that much to be a backup goalie relative to what he could get elsewhere. We need to know the facts and who is to blame. The cynic in me says that Cellino made no effort to keep him and after letting a brilliant coach walk after years of instability in the position, why not do the same to the goalkeeping equivalent.

At this point all I can say is thank you Marco for what you did for Cagliari. You quickly emerged as one of my favorite Cagliari players in almost twenty years as a fan. You seemed to have real effection for the club and you showed passion and never quit no matter how tough the situation was. Why you will let your talent waste on the bench in Fiorentina, I dont know, but if that is the situation something should have happened to get you back to Sardinia.

This offseason continues to be a drag not because it is a typical summer where you watch all the big clubs buy up the good players while we hope to lock in the next Serie B allstar. I am fine with that as it is the price you pay for being a fan of a small team. However, small team or not, as a member of Serie A, there has to be some revenue to allow smart purchases to be made and my guess is we have now passed on two this summer. First letting Foggia return to Lazio when we had a full ownership purchase option on him for a cheap price only to refuse and then to do what seems like nothing to bring back a goalie who not only saved us from relegation but who was flying under the radar despite his stellar performance are two glaring failures that a small club cannot make because these opportunities to secure players like this are rare. After last seasons performance, it makes even less sense that management did not make these two Cagliari players for this year.

At this point our hopes for survival next year reside soley on the shoulders of a 20 year old striker who we dont even own and who cant wait to get to a big club. Is he ready for this challenge? We have gone from needing to spend minimally to be a top half of the table team to a team that will be a real threat for the drop. The only good news is that the three new teams this year are nowhere near the class of the three new teams from last year and we survived despite tons of adversity so we shall see.

Sigh.