La Stampa 28/04/99
It seems that two parties have formed in Juve's locker room: those that
feel that Alessandro Del Piero is full of himself and that his contract
request is ridiculous and those that say that Del Piero is still very close
to the team, even though he hasn't played in months.
What's sure is that Del Piero's request for a salary raise has started a
mechanism that has seen other players (such as Filippo Inzaghi, Edgar
Davids, Paolo Montero, Zinedine Zidane) ask for raises too.
One of Juve's strengths was that there wasn't a lot of difference between
salary wages, thus excluding possibilities of teammates being envious of
one another. If Juve agrees to Del Piero's request, it will be unfair to
players that have given a lot to Juve and have earned relatively less
(Angelo Peruzzi, Angelo Di Livio, Antonio Conte, Didier Deschamps).
Luciano Moggi has a big problem to solve, not including the fact that Inter
has made numerous offers for Del Piero and that Lazio too is interested in
Edgar Davids. But the real headache for Juve is that Massimo Moratti wants
Moggi as Inter's general manager.
Del Piero's future is closely connected to Juve's market moves. If Del
Piero leaves, than Juve will immediately go after 23-year old forward
Hernan Crespo [Parma]. Meanwhile defender Lilian Thuram is said to go
either to Lazio or Inter, not counting that midfielder Dino Baggio is said
to go to Juve too. Expect more players to leave Parma if the team fails to
get into the Champions League.
Meanwhile, Ciro Ferrara has asked Moggi to leave, since he feels that Carlo
Ancelotti won't give him much playing time next season.
Juan Eduardo Esnaider will be operated on both Achilles' tendons either
tonight or tomorrow morning by Finnish doctor Orava, the same specialist
who cured Deschamps in 1994. Esnaider will be likely out for three months
(in time to be sold in September, adds La Stampa).
France Football published a list of the most paid players in the world (salary, bonuses, personal sponsors):
1. Ronaldo [Inter] Lit 16.5 billion [� 8.52 million]
2. Beckham [Manchester United] Lit 8.7 billion [� 4.49 million]
3. Zidane [Juventus] Lit 8.55 billion [� 4.42 million]
4. Vieri [Lazio] Lit 8.1 billion [� 4.18 million]
5. Rivaldo [Barcelona] Lit 7.95 billion [� 4.11 million]
6. Del Piero [Juventus] Lit 7.8 billion [� 4.03 million]
7. Roberto Carlos [Real Madrid] Lit 7.62 billion [� 3.94 million]
8. Shearer [Newcastle] Lit 7.5 billion [� 3.87 million]
9. Batistuta [Fiorentina] Lit 7.29 billion [� 3.76 million]
10. Effenberg [Bayern Munich] Lit 7.2 billion [� 3.72 million]
11. Owen [Liverpool] Lit 6.78 billion [� 3.5 million]
