UFFICIALE: Ciao, Massimo

It has finally come to pass. After months of rumors, arguing, haggling, and general uproar, Massimo Oddo will don the black and red stripes. The deal was finally struck on Monday night between Lotito and Galliani. The final terms were €7.75M and the full contract of Pasquale Foggia, a compromise that leans just slightly closer to Lazio's high demands than towards Milan's initial offer. Now that it's done, the only controversy remaining is whether it was a good deal. There is no clear answer, and every party to this transaction will discover both pros and cons. A breakdown of just what everyone will get out of it:

Claudio Lotito: €€€€€€
The whole affair was strictly a business deal for the Lazio president. His demands which inched ever higher showed that he was out to milk the transfer for as much cash as Milan could muster. Lotito also knew that it would be very difficult to resign Massimo when his contract was set to expire at the end of next season. Oddo would likely have left on a free transfer, with no monetary benefit to the club. Thus the tradeoff is simple: sacrifice a year-and-a-half of play from the country's best right back for nearly €8M. Oh, plus the full contract of Pasquale Foggia. What of that? As I'll explain later, he is (unfortunately for him!) probably just a pawn in the whole affair.

Delio Rossi: a puzzle
How will Oddo's absence, not to mention the addition of Jimenez from Ternana last week, change the first team lineup that has been working fairly well for Rossi? The match against Milan was an experiment, putting Behrami in the right back spot. I think this will be his permanent spot. Belleri is not up to snuff, and when Jimenez plays he will take up one of the midfield spots that Behrami would occupy otherwise. Delio is a good tactician and will be able to resolve this for certain over the next couple weeks both on the training pitch at Formello and with inevitable experiments in actual matches.

Oddo himself: Europe...for now
The first question regarding Oddo is what sort of playing time he will receive. Cafu has been starting at right back for the rossoneri, and while Massimo is certainly of higher class, the Brazilian cannot be completely benched. It will be interesting to see whether Oddo is considered as a first-half or second-half player in his first few matches. In terms of higher-level competition, Massimo gets his wishes for the moment. Milan is still in Champions League and he will probably see at least some playing time in those matches. Tutto Mercato Web reports that Oddo may see other tournament play even before the next Serie A fixture, when Milan takes on good old Roma Merda this Thursday. But these opportunities could be fleeting. Losses to Celtic or Roma are certainly possible. Then he would have to be looking toward next year. The strange fact, due to the nature of the final Calciopoli punishments, is that Lazio is in slightly better position to reach Champions League for next year (even though they just lost the 4th spot to Empoli this past Sunday). We will have to wait until next season, when everyone (hopefully) starts on level footing to see if this decision was sound.

Pasquale Foggia: uncertainty
Oh boy. I'm sure Pasquale was thrilled to hear that this deal went through. In one respect, it certainly is an ego boost, because it indicates that the rights to his contract is a valuable commodity (up to €10M by some estimations). However, practically, it means that he is just an object to be bought and sold. Foggia has seen extremely little time playing at Lazio (366 minutes over 11 appearances and only 3 starts, which occurred when the midfield was decimated by injuries and suspensions). With the addition of Jimenez, the likelihood that he will take the pitch has only diminished. It's not surprising that Lotito has announced that he will use the remainder of the mercato period to try to loan or sell Foggia. This is of little or no consequence to the performance of the club, and serves merely to increase the cash flow value of the deal. Ci scusi, Pasquale.

Galliani says still no agreement

After his morning meeting with Claudio Lotito, Adriano Galliani gave an online interview with Gazzetta.it, answering questions from viewers. Naturally one of the subjects discussed was the ongoing negotiations over the transfer of Massimo Oddo. Here is what Galliani had to say:

Ho avuto un incontro in mattinata con Claudio Lotito; non abbiamo trovato un accordo, perché il gap economico tra domanda e offerta resta alto, anche se di cifre non ne faccio. Comunque continueremo a trattare per quello che consideriamo il nostro unico obiettivo per il mercato di gennaio. Oddo in questo momento lo darei al 50% e se non dovesse venire acquisiremo un terzino destro a luglio.

"I had a meeting in the morning with Claudio Lotito; we haven't reached an agreement, because the price difference between the request and the offer remains large, and I am not making more offers. Regardless we will continue to negotiate for what we consider our single objective for the January trading period. At this time Oddo could give us 50% and if he won't come we will acquire a right back in June."

Not too much of a surprise. Lotito is standing firm, but Milan still has 19 days to wear him down.

Lotito vs. Galliani

Massimo Oddo is not for sale. But apparently his status is open to negotiation. Lazio president Claudio Lotito has agreed to meet with Adriano Galliani, vice president of AC Milan. The topic of the encounter is, of course, the rights to the contract of Oddo. The prompt for the meeting is the fact that Lotito is doing everything he can to be frustrating to Milan. He had previously rejected an initial offer of €6M plus the contract of Pasquale Foggia. Lotito demanded slighly more, countering with a figure of €7.5M and Foggia.

Milan considered the proposition and decided that yes, they could scrounge up the extra €1.5M (from Berlusconi's pockets, if nowhere else). I'm sure Milan was quite pleased when they returned to Lazio, prepared to pay the sum that would allow the Azzurri right back to travel north and wear the maglia rossonera. The Milan management must have been rightfully shocked when Lotito refused the sum that he himself had previously set, now demanding an additional €1.5M, for a total of €9M plus Foggia for the rights to Massimo. It was obvious that a face-to-face meeting would be necessary. The results of those negotiations are yet pending, but I can only presume that in the end, Lotito will still be asking for just a bit more for his world-class defender.

Oddo Update

The latest sound bite in the Great Oddo Saga comes from Delio Rossi, and he's not happy:

Capisco il ragazzo arriva una grande squadra e ti fa una bella offerta, ma non può essere un giocatore a dire: è arrivata un'offerta importante per me. ... Sono due o tre anni che Oddo convive con il fatto di essere uomo mercato ma ha dimostrato di pensare in campo solo alla Lazio. Al punto che è il nostro capitano.

"I understand him--a great team and comes and makes you a good offer, but it can't be the player who says, 'An important offer has arrived for me.' ... It's been two or three years that Oddo has played with the notion that he is a man on the market but on the field he has shown that he thinks only about Lazio. For that reason he is our captain."

There won't be any repercussions for these statements, since Rossi is most concerned with how his players perform on the field, and he defends Massimo in that respect. Delio just wishes the whole affair was treated with a little more class. These are the same statements that get some Laziali angry at Oddo and draw a contrast between him and Paolo di Canio, who favored to drop to Serie C2 for the end of his career if Lotito wouldn't resign him. Oddo is younger and perhaps a little more greedy, but he is still a fine player and Rossi and all Laziali want him to stay for that reason.

Update to the update:
Another character has come onto the scene in the Oddo drama—Massimo's wife, Claudia. She seems to have made up her mind, and from this quote she sounds like the kind of woman who gets her way.

Oddo resta a Roma. Credo che alla fine mio marito restera' alla Lazio. Pensiamo ad un altro figlio e a Roma stiamo proprio bene.

"Oddo will stay in Rome. I believe that in the end my husband will stay at Lazio. We are thinking about having another child and we will do well to stay in Rome."

The €1.5M Question

A timeline of the Oddo situation, to the present:

19 December: The Offer
Milan makes its first foray, looking ahead to the January transfer window. They want Oddo and they have an offer for Lazio: €6M and Pasquale Foggia's contract. Foggia is currently on loan from Milan through the end of the season, but has seen little playing time and only started when the midfield was depleted by suspensions and injuries. Additionally, since Delio Rossi has converted to the 4-3-1-2 model, Foggia's role as an attacking midfielder has been even further diminished. Naturally, Claudio Lotito was initially not impressed and is even reported to say that he wouldn't part with Oddo for anything less than €20M cash.

23 December: Rossi says he'll stay

Mi auguro di no perche' Massimo Oddo e' un giocatore importante di questa squadra, ma io sono certo che Oddo resterà alla Lazio.

"I predict 'no' [that Oddo will leave] because Massimo Oddo is an important player for this team, and I am certain that Oddo will stay with Lazio."

A bold statement to be sure, but certainly reassuring for Laziali! While Rossi in no way has the final say over the transaction (that is solely up to Oddo and Lotito in the end) he has the most daily contact with Oddo and his word is credible. And it was further corroborated just later that same day...

23 December: Lotito says he's not for sale

Oddo è il terzino della Nazionale, è un campione del mondo e la migliore ala destra: oggi è un capitale, oltre che il capitano, della Lazio. Oddo non è mai stato messo in vendita anche se è vero che noi non teniamo nessuno con le catene.

"Oddo is the [right] back of the National team, he is a world champion and the best right wing: currently he is an asset to Lazio beyond the fact that he is captain. Oddo was never put up for sale even though it's true that we don't hold anybody in chains."

In one respect this is very good news and is consistent with Lotito's statements during the summer trade window. Lotito is not trying to sell Oddo or bargain with his contract. There is only one way that Oddo could leave. 1. Oddo actively wants to depart. 2. The price is right. Point 1 has always been in at least some doubt, and point 2 is clearly false...

27 December: The offer isn't enough
Let the haggling begin. The counter offer comes: €7.5M plus Foggia, in other words an additional €1.5M over Milan's inital figure. According to Tutto Mercato Web, Milan values Foggia's contract at between 3 and 4 million euro. Lotito obviously values him at less, and wants the extra cash for the deal. By either's reckoning the price for Oddo should be somewhere between 9 and 10 million euro in cash and contracts combined.

28 December: How to fill the hole?
Lotito indicates that if Oddo does in fact leave he will seek to sign right back Marco Motta for a loan deal. Motta is currently co-owned by Atalanta and Udinese and stands on the Udinese roster. With 29-year-old Damiano Zenoni regularly starting at right back for the friulani, they would be happy to unload Motta for some extra cash. Motta is only 20 years old and has the potential to power the right wing in a fashion similar to Oddo.

29 December: Rossi isn't so sure any more
Disconcerting news creeps in when Delio Rossi holds another radio interview:

Andremo avanti anche senza. Mi auguro che lui riesca a rimanere in questa squadra perchè sono convinto che abbiamo un futuro. Ma credo che trattenere un giocatore che ha espresso la propria volontà di andarsene sia controproducente. Molte volte l'orgoglio va oltre il discorso economico. Almeno, questo è il mio modo di ragionare.

"We will go forward even without [Oddo]. I predict that he will manage to stay with this team because I am convinced that we have a future. But I believe that to hang on to a player who has expressed his own wish to leave is counterproductive. Many times pride [for one's team] has surpassed monetary maters. At least, this is my way of thinking."

The prediction is the same, but there is a tone of doubt in Rossi's statement. Of course it is not only reasonable but necessary for him, as coach, to prepare for the possibility that he may have to play the second half of the season without a key player. Delio also shows his Lazialità.

1 January: There's still time...
Milan's Carlo Ancelotti is just as confident as Rossi, in the opposite direction:

C'è tempo fino al 31 gennaio. Mi aspettavo di partire senza di lui ma tra me e la società è tutto molto chiaro.

"There is time before 31 January. I expect to start [the second half of the season] without [Oddo] but between myself and the team it is all very clear."

Confidence to be sure, but are they empty words? Only Oddo and Lotito can tell us for sure...

3 January: Oddo speaks
...and one of them did. Massimo Oddo has said on Rome's Radio 6:

Penso sia inutile nascondersi e negare l’evidenza per questo vi dico che c’è un’offerta importante del Milan nei miei confronti che mette in dubbio il mio futuro alla Lazio. In ogni caso bisognerà trovare una soluzione che vada bene sia a me che alla società.

"I think it would be useless to cover up and deny the evidence for this. I say that there is an important offer from Milan on the table for me, which puts my future at Lazio in doubt. In any case we will need to find a solution that works well for both me and the team."

This is the worst news. Confirmation from Oddo himself that he expects to leave. Nevertheless it must be a difficult decision for him. Over the summer he stated that his primary reason for wanting to play at Milan was so he could play in Champions League. Halfway through the season, with the rossoneri in the 12th spot of the classifica, a move to Milan would only guarantee Massimo two Champions League matches over the next season and a half. Regardless, the money could be lure enough. Milan has promised him €7.5M over three years, compared to about €1.5M that he would receive through 2008 with Lazio. Truth be told, this would be the best time for Oddo to be a little shrewd and bargain with Lotito. The money could take him away from Lazio to an uncertain future (at least in the short run) with Milan. Now Massimo can put his own offer on the table: a contract extension and pay raise with Lazio that will get him the best of both worlds. Unless he really just prefers black and red stripes.