When do we lose Marchetti?

By: Jeremy | March 18th, 2009

At the beginning of the year, many Cagliari fans, including myself, wondered how we could let savior Marco Storari leave with little or no fan fare. Without a doubt, he was the big reason we pulled off a miracle and survived to play another year in Serie A. Once survival was obtained, management quietly looked to Serie B not only for a coach who has been outstanding, but also a goalkeeper who has performed arguably better then Storari did for us. Not many knew who Federico Marchetti was was when we pegged him from Serie B’s Albinoleffe and quietly signed him to a four year deal to take over the nets for Storari.

So what happens when a team that was expected to be relegated and loses its first five games and suddenly turns things around to the point where relegation is not even much of a worry and is actually talking about a possible UEFA Cup? The big clubs want the players who are responsible. I dont like it, but its better then having sorry players and fighting relegation.

We all know about Acquafrescas talent and as good as he has been, he has nowhere near the value to our team that Marchetti does. Marchetti is the reason we are where we are and his saves and leadership have helped this team get points they likely would not have. For such a young goalie with no previous Serie A experience, his performance has been even more amazing and Buffon talking him up as the future in goal for Italy cannot be ignored. The end result is teams like Milan will come sniffing looking to get him from us.

As with getting half ownership of Acquafresca in the Suazo deal, and turning it into two years of his contributions to our survival, it was brilliance by management to sign Marchetti to a four year deal. If he was no good, not a huge problem, but then he really has no value to the club. However if a small team brings in a player on the cheap who turns out to be a stud being chased by the big teams, you cant get too upset because that means he is doing something meaningful and our position in the standings reflects that. Kind of a two edged sword, but ultimately with teams like Cagliari, despite hoping to build on progress made from one year to the next, reality is that each year is likely filled with new expectations not relevant to the previous year because great players wont be around for too long. Its a constant rebuilding process made easier when we have valuable players, if even for just a year or two.

Face in Cagliari fans, we will lose Marchetti. Its only a matter of time. Lets look at the positives though. He is locked in for another three years so any team that wants him will have to pony up some real cash or because of the economy, it may involve a trade for other young players. While it would be bad to lose him, its always good to have a player that can generate a return of some kind and that is what allows clubs to survive. From a trading standpoint, it is always tough to give up the best player in the deal no matter how much potential the group of players coming back to you may have. The team that gets the best player typically wins a deal even if the other side gets some depth.

While taking players on loan helps on occasion or is done in the second half when things arent so easily corrected, Cagliari will survive only if it can create homegrown young players and gets rid of them when they are at the peak of their value if they cannot be kept. We did it with Suazo and got two years of Acquafresca and we will do it with Marchetti. Its better then trying to rebuild with nothing or play with the same mediocre players who barely survived the previous year.

Its very tough being a fan of a small club when your favorites leave so soon after being brought in. While all clubs lose players, smaller clubs lose them quicker. Our identity as fans is usually with players like Biondini or Conti who represent what a hard working team should be, but arent quite good enough to move on to bigger clubs. When we get star players, they will be lost so we must enjoy them for as long as we can. Gigi Riva types dont exist in todays modern game.

No matter what happens, Marchetti has been the bright spot for us this year and I want any player who plays for Cagliari and who gets the opportunity to play for a big club to do well.

Lets just hope his desire to move to a big club does not force him to spend the next couple of years as an understudy. He needs to be very careful before he jumps to the first big club that wants him. He is in a great spot now at Cagliari. I wonder if Suazo is happier tolling away in Portugal when he thought he would be a stud for Inter. We may end up selling Marchetti and getting him back on loan for a year or two but who knows. Lets just hope management uses the leverage they have and that we dont let him go for too little. He is one of the most valuable players in Serie A. Take him off this club and we probably drop further in the standings then any other team if you take one player off their club.

But for now, a big thanks to him for all he has done in goal for us and props to management for bringing him in before anyone else grabbed him.