abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 (edited) AC Milan’s World Cup-winning Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo said he’ll decide on his future after soccer’s Confederations Cup and would consider joining former coach Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea. Pirlo, 30, has been linked with a move to West London since the Premier League team hired Ancelotti on a three-year contract last month. “I will think about my future at the end of the season,†Pirlo said in an interview last night after Italy beat the US 3-1 in its opening Confederations Cup match in Pretoria, South Africa. “I don’t know if I’ll continue with Milan.†Pirlo, who has a contract with Milan until 2011, has scored 31 goals in 233 Serie A games for the 17-time Italian champions and helped the club win Champions League titles in 2003 and 2007. Ancelotti has been credited with helping turn Pirlo into one of the world’s leading midfield players after switching him to a deeper position from an attacking role. Pirlo was named in the 2006 World Cup’s all-star squad. “Perhaps it’s possible that I could join Ancelotti in London,†Pirlo added. “He is a great coach, perhaps I could play with him again. I’ve been at Milan a long time and maybe it’s time for a new chapter in my career.†Milan last week sold Brazilian playmaker Kaka, the 2007 World Player of the Year, to Real Madrid and new coach Leonardo has said he’d like to keep Pirlo. The eight-nation Confederations Cup ends June 28. Italy faces Egypt in its next game. (Bloomberg) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Very fine player, one of the best passers of the ball in modern game and a true pro. Obviously his age is a downside but I wouldn't say no to replacing Deco with Pirlo who's two years younger and is still in top form. Edited June 16, 2009 by abramovich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charierre Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Good player , his age is a big negative though , he would need to hit the boards running as time wouldnt be on his side to adapt to the premiership. Personally I'd give him a miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uno Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I hope not! When will Chelsea learn their lesson? Crespo, Veron, Sheva, Deco to name a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahul Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 (edited) There are many reasons why I wouldn't want him at Chelsea. His age is obviously a factor. I think we should be thinking long term. We already have too many 30 or above in the squad. Midfield is hardly an area of concern although we could do with a creative man in the middle, which brings me to my second point. I dont think he'll be a success in BPL simply because he wont get enough time on the ball to dictate the play from deep as he does in Serie A. Another small point is his huge transfer fee. I would much rather like Carlo to develop Essien/Mikel into our own version of Gattuso/Pirlo partnership. Edited June 16, 2009 by rahuldotchelsea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 I hope not! When will Chelsea learn their lesson? Crespo, Veron, Sheva, Deco to name a few. What about Zola,Desailly,Vialli,Makelele? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uno Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 They didnt cost the amount that the likes of Sheva and Crespo and what Pirlo would cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 (edited) They didnt cost the amount that the likes of Sheva and Crespo and what Pirlo would cost. Crespo did quite well while at Chelsea, his reasons for not wanting to stay in London were of personal nature and have nothing to do with football. His goal to playing time ratio in his first season with us was second only to Henry. Makelele cost about the same as Crespo, around 16 mil, if I'm not mistaken and he was worth every penny. Shevchenko was a flop but you can't use him as an example every time you're trying to prove your point because every player is different. The players I mentioned above were 30 or older when they have joined us never previously played in England yet that didn't prevent them from succeeding. Edited June 16, 2009 by abramovich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uno Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Ok what about Veron and Deco? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Ok what about Veron and Deco? So you expect me to justify every transfer deal for a player close to or already in his 30s that we have ever made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexelk Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 (edited) Pirlo is waaaaay overrated thought he was awful against usa last night every chance usa had came from a pirlo mistake Edited June 16, 2009 by sexelk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Pirlo is waaaaay overratedthought he was awful against usa last night every chance usa had came from a pirlo mistake Haven't seen the match, only highlights, but he did create their third goal, though - beautiful turn and pass http://footylounge.com/films/musicvideo.php?vid=9afc4586d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maksimov Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Ok what about Veron and Deco? There's no excuse for Veron. Maybe Claudio thought he would understand Veron better than Fergie and could get him back to his best, but it didn't turn out well and the injuries probably didn't help either. The only positive thing about the transfer fee was that it was significantly less than what ManU paid for him. You never know how well players adapt to a league and Deco cost only £8mil which is peanuts for such a high profile player. I never wanted Deco at Chelsea, but that was the player Scolari wanted and with that price, I think it was a financial risk we could well afford to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanl5182 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Pirlo is waaaaay overratedthought he was awful against usa last night every chance usa had came from a pirlo mistake Don't think he's that overrated, he had flashes of magic which were impressive, but he wasn't great for some parts of the match. I said somewhere else that instead of loking at Pirlo, Monotolivo should be our target. I don't know much about him, but from the 5/6 matches i've seen of him with Fiorentina, he looks like he would be a fine addition to the squad. Maybe a young Pirlo? bags of technique and creativity, which is definitely something we should be looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruh Buh Juh Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Agree with Jordan about Monotolivo, top class player. But I also agree with Abra, Pirlo is a great player and a Pirlo/Essien/Lamps midfield would be awesome, with Mikel/Dzagoev as replacements until Pirlo and Lampard go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkw Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Pirlo is waaaaay overratedthought he was awful against usa last night every chance usa had came from a pirlo mistake what? no they didnt at all. he created a goal with some fantastic skill and also creeated another 2 or 3 excellent chances for italy with some lovely passes. dont make things up mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abramovich Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 (edited) Sorry, wrong thread. Edited June 16, 2009 by abramovich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loz Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I never really understand why people always resort to the age argument when it comes to something like this. Yes Veron didn't work out and he was older. Zenden wasn't much better and he was younger. Yes Sheva didn't work out and he was younger, nor did Kezman and he was younger. Maka worked out and he was older, Cech worked out and he was younger. The idea that a transfer didn't work out purely because someone was the wrong side of 30 and therefore we should avoid anyone the wrong side of 30 is far too simplistic. Personally I hope we don't sign Pirlo and the reason for that is related to his age but it is only because we have too many cnetral midfielders in that age bracket and we would end up with all of their careers coming to an end at the same time. If Lampard and Ballack were 5 years younger I would welcome Pirlo gladly at his current age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Chelsea will again be a bloody laughing stock if the club signs Pirlo. What the fark is our club - a final resting home for OAP players on a last massive pay day ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkw Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Chelsea will again be a bloody laughing stock if the club signs Pirlo.What the fark is our club - a final resting home for OAP players on a last massive pay day ! why exactly? were we a laughing stock re-signing lampard at 30? were we a laughing stock when we signed desailly and zola when they were 30? look, pirlo is a magnificent player and will play at thsi level for another 2 or 3 years easily. theres other players i would prefer us to sign but if we do sign pirlo then i wont be too upset. hes a different player to anyone else we currently have and could be a great signing. no one seemed to laugh too much when utd signed an aging sheringham or larrson for the simple fact they were exactly what they needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruh Buh Juh Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 why exactly? were we a laughing stock re-signing lampard at 30? were we a laughing stock when we signed desailly and zola when they were 30? look, pirlo is a magnificent player and will play at thsi level for another 2 or 3 years easily. theres other players i would prefer us to sign but if we do sign pirlo then i wont be too upset. hes a different player to anyone else we currently have and could be a great signing. no one seemed to laugh too much when utd signed an aging sheringham or larrson for the simple fact they were exactly what they needed. :D However, @ the Manure comment, the only reason they weren't laughed at is because they're...well, them. Had we signed them, all hell would've broken loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Too much attention is paid by too many people on this site to the age of a player. The bottom line is whether a player is good enough not whether they are young enough and then blend them in the team with quality younger players they can help develop. Take Fabregas at Arsenal as an example. When he broke through into their team at 17 they had the likes of Bergkamp, Henry etc. Now look at them. Fabregas is one of the oldest players there and his game suffered horrifcally last season as a result. Let's not forget our greatest ever player was 30 when he joined us. If he had been joining us now at the age of 30 most of this site would be writing him off before he even got here. Fickle bunch us fans aren't we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack h Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Like most people i hope we dont get him but thats because we already have a few older central midfielders. But we do need a central midfielder (unless were gonna give the youngsters a chance) because we cant go through tha african cup of nations with just Lamps, Ballack and an out of position Belletti, I dont know who we can get but i hope we try and get Aquilani from roma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g3.7 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 why? he's made of glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PloKoon13 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Let's not forget our greatest ever player was 30 when he joined us. If he had been joining us now at the age of 30 most of this site would be writing him off before he even got here. Fickle bunch us fans aren't we? Peter Osgood was 30 when he came to Chelsea? I'm a bit torn on the Pirlo subject. I don't care about his age particularly because pace isn't a big part of his game, and so he should be able to play to his same excellent standard until long into his 30s, much like Maka. I also absolutely love the guy and the way he plays; he's been one of my favourite players for a while, and I have based my own game upon Pirlo more than any other player. However, as much as more creativity in the squad would be welcome, I don't think Pirlo would really fit in. As I said in another topic, he's not a defensive midfielder who assists the defence, like Gattuso, he's a deep-lying playmaker. Essentially Lamps, only he sits deeper on the field. I don't know if Ancelotti could create a system where perhaps Mikel and Pirlo create a deep-lying partnership, much like Gattuso and Pirlo did before, but I don't think his delicateness and need to spend time on the ball to pick out an inch-perfect pass is really Premiership material. It makes me sad to pass up an opportunity to see one of my favourite players in a Chelsea shirt, but I think for the good of the team we should give him a miss. On the other hand, if Ancelotti could make Pirlo-Mikel-Essien-Lampard work, I'd be a very, very happy man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecoolguy22 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Great player, but 2 years too late. If he has a bad start, get few injuries, then sit on the bench for a month , get disllusioned, there is no way back. It takes a year or more to adapt to the English game, for a player in the 30's, there are not much time left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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