Elia moves to Werder Bremen; Gabbiadini is new imminent arrival. Werder Bremen have reached an agreement with Juventus to bring former Hamburg forward Eljero Elia back to the Bundesliga. The move will go through as soon as Juventus announce the deal on the Italian Stock Exchange on Monday, due to financial regulations of the Italian club, but Bremen’s director of sport Klaus Allofs confirmed tonight that an agreement has been reached between the clubs and the player. Elia will link up with his new team-mates tomorrow night having already passed a medical in the northern Germany city today.
The 25-year-old, who has won 26 caps for Holland, will put pen to paper on a four-year contract with Bremen and he will be presented at the club’s training camp in Norderney on Monday, according to a press release from the northern Germany club.
Elia appeared 47 times for Bremen’s local rivals Hamburg between 2009 and 2011 before moving to Juve last summer. He failed to make the breakthrough with the Serie A champions, though, making just four appearances for them last term and losing his place in the Holland squad as a result.
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Atalanta: Talks with Juventus over Gabbiadini remain on track; The Bianconeri are keen to wrap up the signing of the Italy Under-21 international so that they can turn their attention to more high-profile transfer targets, Atalanta director Pierpaolo Marino has revealed that while Manolo Gabbiadini’s proposed move to Juventus has yet to be finalised, he is supremely confident that a deal will soon be struck. the Serie A champions are keen to tie up a deal for the forward as soon as possible, and the Nerazzurri are ready to agree to a co-ownership agreement that would see two Bianconeri players arrive in Bergamo. “The deal is not concluded, but we are on track,” Marino told Tuttosport. “The relationship [between the two clubs] is such that a solution will be found.”
The Old Lady are also keen on defender Federico Peluso, but Marino dismissed reports of a possible exchange deal involving Marco Motta, disclosing that the latter will be a makeweight in the Gabbiadini transfer. “Juve are interested in Peluso, but Motta is part of the Gabbiadini transfer, along with one other young player,” he stated. “Juve have put six or seven of them on the table.” Gabbiadini scored just one goal in 23 Serie A appearances last season, but the Italy Under-21 international is considered one of the country’s most promising young strikers.
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Verratti transfer deal stalls; Pescara president Daniele Sebastiani has taken a swipe at Juventus over their refusal to raise their bid for midfielder Marco Verratti.
Juve were willing to hand over two players and 4 million euros for co-ownership of the teenager, as well as allowing him to remain at the Stadio Adriatico on loan for a season. However, the Delfini asked Juve to increase their bid after Paris Saint-Germain offered about 13m euros for ‘the new Andrea Pirlo’.
But the Serie A champions declined, much to the disappointment of Sebastiani, who explained that he would have preferred to sell his most prized asset to Juve or Napoli.
“Evidently, they lacked the will (to complete a deal), because if one seriously wants an important player, one million euros should not make a difference,” the Delfini supremo told Corriere dello Sport. “There is great interest from PSG in our player, even if they have yet to lay all of their cards on the table. There is the same chance of completing the negotiations with PSG as we had with Juventus and Napoli.
“Personally, I would have preferred one of the two Italian options because they would have left him on loan with us for a year. “In fact, Napoli had shown a willingness (to sign the player), even if the boy decided to do his own thing and make a decision that suits him best.” Verratti has long been regarded as one of Italy’s most exciting young playmakers and only narrowly missed out on a place in Cesare Prandelli’s final squad for Euro 2012
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Krasic will only move to a big club; Juventus winger Milos Krasic is only interested in a move to one of Europe’s big clubs, according to Dejan Joksimovic, his agent.
Juventus winger Milos Krasic is only interested in a move to one of Europe’s big clubs, according to Dejan Joksimovic, his agent.
The Serbia international failed to secure a starting place in Antonio Conte’s team last season, but with a host of Russian and Italian clubs leading the race to sign the 27-year-old, his representative has confirmed he will think only of a move to England, Spain or Germany. “Are CSKA Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg or Anzhi Makhachkala interested?” he told Calciomercato.com. “The papers can write what they want, but I am Milos’ agent and I guarantee that no offers have arrived.
“In any case, the situation is clear – he will not return to Russia, or go to the Turkish league, he will only accept offers from top English, Spanish or German clubs.
“Juventus did not let him leave when there was interest from Inter and some Premier League clubs [in January]. “If no top club tries this time, Milos will not move. He is prepared to stay and spend a year not playing. He believes he will get chances at a higher level. The discussion does not change and he will not drop down.”
Krasic made only seven Serie A appearances for the Bianconeri last season, and managed to score a solitary goal.
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Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a World Cup-winning Brazilian footballer who is currently playing as a central defender for Juventus in the Italian Serie A. It was announced on 29 June 2012 that his contract with Internazionale had been canceled by mutual consent, ending a three-year stint for the Milan club. He is a strong defender with good aerial play, who also adds presence in the attack.
Lúcio began his professional career in 1997, in one of Brazil’s larger clubs, Sport Club Internacional. After three years in the club, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, with whom he reached the 2002 Champions League final against Real Madrid of Spain. He scored a header in the final, which Real Madrid won with the score of 2–1. In 2004, he arrived at Bayern Munich, where he won three Bundesligas and one German Cup title. Since coach Louis van Gaal did not have a place for him at Bayern, he decided to search for a new team. He moved to Inter in the summer of 2009, and helped Inter win the 2010 Champions League against his former club Bayern Munich.
With Brazil, Lúcio has accumulated a number of significant accomplishments, winning 2002 World Cup, and the 2009 Confederations Cup.
Club career
1997–2000: Internacional
Lúcio played for youth teams Planaltina EC and CR Guará before signing for his first professional club, Sport Club Internacional, in 1997.
2001–2004: Bayer Leverkusen
In January 2001, he moved to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. The following season was bittersweet for Leverkusen, as the club surrendered a five point lead atop the Bundesliga by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in the final matches to finish a point ahead of Leverkusen. They also experienced defeat in the DFB Pokal Final, losing 4–2 to Schalke 04, and in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final against Real Madrid, in which Lúcio cancelled out Raúl’s eighth minute goal just five minutes later with a header, only for Zinedine Zidane to give Real a 2–1 win with a sublime volley just before half-time. Despite the disappointing end to the season, Lúcio’s impressive individual displays drew the attention of several of Europe’s top clubs. In July 2003, Roma made an official bid, but the deal fell through.
2004–2009: Bayern Munich
In 2004, he joined Bayern Munich on a six-year contract, where he became a vital part of the team. Following Oliver Kahn’s retirement in 2008, Dutchman Mark van Bommel was named club captain with Lúcio as vice-captain. When Bayern were playing against Real Madrid in the Round of 16 in the 2006–07 Champions League, Lúcio scored. The goal was in the 66th minute, while the score was 1–0 in favour of Bayern. The goal took Bayern through to the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual champions Milan. In the 2008–09 DFB Pokal, he scored in the quarter-finals against his former club, Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern were already down 3–0 when he scored, and even though Miroslav Klose scored again, Lúcio’s goal did not matter as Stefan Kießling scored again to win it for Leverkusen 4–2.

2009–2012: Internazionale
On 16 July 2009, Lúcio moved to Italian club Internazionale, signing a three-year contract with the Serie A champions. He was given the number 6 shirt. He scored his first goal with Inter on 23 September 2009 against Napoli with a header from a corner kick. Lúcio also scored an own goal in the UEFA Champions League in the group stages against Dynamo Kyiv, resulting in a draw. On 22 May, Lúcio was in the Inter team that won the Champions League by defeating his former club, Bayern Munich, by 2–0 to seal a historic treble and end a 45-year wait to be crowned European Champions. On 29 June 2012, it had been announced that Lúcio would be leaving Inter after it was agreed to cancel the final two years of his contract by mutual consent.
2012: Juventus
On 4 July 2012, Lúcio signed a two-year contract with Serie A titleholders Juventus, keeping him there until 2014.
2000 Olympics
At junior level, he played for Brazil in the football tournament in the 2000 Olympics.
2002 World Cup
In the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against England, Lúcio made a mistake that allowed Michael Owen to score the opening goal. Luiz Felipe Scolari rightly defended him, stating that he had made no other mistakes. In the final against Germany, Lúcio bore the full brunt of a free-kick, but managed to stay on his feet to complete playing all 630 minutes of the tournament. He was one of three players to do so along with goalkeeper Marcos and right back captain Cafu.
2006 World Cup
In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he set a FIFA-record by playing 386 consecutive minutes without committing a foul, a streak which was finally broken in Brazil’s 1–0 quarter-final loss to France.
In August 2006, Lúcio was appointed as captain by Brazil manager Dunga.
2009 Confederations Cup
Lúcio’s next international tournament was 2009 Confederations Cup. On 28 June 2009, the Brazilian captain scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute for Brazil in the finals of the Confederations Cup against the United States. Lúcio converted on a header from an Elano corner-kick, which beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard.
2010 World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was Lúcio’s third World Cup. He played in the Seleção’s first match against North Korea on 15 June 2010, leading his team to a narrow 2–1 win.
On 4 June 2011, Lúcio played his 100th game for Brazil, which consists of 98 official caps and 2 unofficial caps in friendly matches against Spanish club Sevilla FC in 2005 and against Swiss club FC Luzern in 2006.