| 31st August, 2000 |
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As reported in La Gazzetta dello Sport, Baggio insisted that if he stayed in Italy, he would prefer a club that's closer to home, otherwise he would consider a foreign club, especially French or Spanish. In this case, the recent increasing chance for Reggina is gone once again.
Below are some pictures. The first 6 are from Marcus Walkin, webmaster of Roberto Baggio 2000. The remaining one is from Gurkan. Thanks to both Marcus and Gurkan!
Also, there are 2 new wallpapers designed by Antonio. Click here.
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| 29th August, 2000 |
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 According to Calciatori.com, Baggio might join Reggina on Friday. But this is probably just a rumour. Another thing is that Roby wants to play in the Champions League, therefore he is still trying to find a bigger club.
Sergey A. Irinarkhoff sent me another picture. Thanks to Sergey!
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| 28th August, 2000 |
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After the meeting between Baggio and Foti in which the Reggina president proposed that Roby could stay in Caldogno from Sunday evening to Thursday morning (basically it's from Monday to Wednesday), the Southern Italian club suddenly get a chance back for signing Roby. According to Corriere dello Sport, Baggio's agent Petrone said that if Roby stayed in Italy, Reggina would surely be in consideration.
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| 27th August, 2000 |
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As reported in Calciatori.com, Baggio met Reggina president Foti yesterday evening. Reggina will be able to pay him 4 billion a season until the year 2002, with assistance from Inter. But since the distance between Caldogno and Reggio di Calabria is almost the whole length of Italy, Foti has proposed this to Roby: he can stay at his home in Caldogno from Sunday evening, after a Serie A match, until Thursday morning, then travel to Reggio di Calabria to join the training session.
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| 26th August, 2000 |
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According to Calciatori.com, Baggio will meet Reggina president Foti next week. Reggina is the only Italian club that is seriously thinking of getting Roby, and with Inter Milan's help, they have no problem over the salary matter. But Baggio had said that he won't join Reggina.
On the other hand, on 3rd September, the Italian national team will play their first World Cup 2002 qualifying match against Hungary. Roby is not in Trapattoni's squad.
There is an article written by Gabriele Marcotti in CNNSI.com. Click here. Thanks to Prakash Albert for telling me about this.
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| 25th August, 2000 |
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 Baggio's first preference surely is Udinese, but wage is a major problem. As reported in Tuttosport, Baggio demanded 5 billion Lira, while the Udine club would like to set a ceiling that is lower than this, in order to stabilize the wages of their young players.
The first picture here is from Sergey A. Irinarkhoff. Thanks to Sergey once again! The second one is from a RAI report video clip about Inter's president Moratti, inside you can see a scene that many supporters are watching Baggio outside Inter's head office. Here is the video clip in Real format.
| Stream | Download |
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| 24th August, 2000 |
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Just receive an article from Paiman Lalla. Inside there is a message from Vittorio Petrone, Baggio's agent, he said "my concern is whether to accept those offers from Spain, France, England and Japan, or wait and see what happens. Roberto wants to stay in Italy and for now is training on his own. One thing is for sure: he won't go to Reggina. With regards to Udinese, we're waiting for a proposal from that club. Everyone must be quite clear that if they want Baggio in their team, they must bear the cost. Anyhow, Roberto is calm, he's not in a hurry and is sure that before the Italian League begins some important club will make him an offer, maybe they'll do that when they begin having problems." Thanks to Paiman Lalla!
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| 24th August, 2000 |
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According to Calciatori.com, 3 hours before Udinese's match began on Tuesday, Baggio went to meet the team's general director Pierpaolo Marino and coach De Canio, to discuss about some tactical issues. While there will be no problem on the tactical side, they are still in negotiation on the salary side. Now the situation is that, Udinese will have extra revenue from playing in the UEFA Cup, and in the Calciatori.com report, it said Roby would be willing to accept 4 billion Lira annual wage.
On the other hand, Corriere dello Sport reported that Turkish club Galatasaray was ready to offer Baggio 8 billion Lira per year.
One final thing, Inter Milan wasted Baggio's 2 goals against Parma, they are now out of the Champions League after losing to a Swedish club without scoring a goal.
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| 23rd August, 2000 |
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As reported in Calciomercato.com, Baggio went to Udinese's Friuli Stadium to watch them winning a place in the UEFA Cup. This shows that Roby is really seriously considering a move to Udinese.
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| 23rd August, 2000 |
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 Here is a picture scanned and sent to me by Sergey A. Irinarkhoff from Moscow, Russia. Thanks to Sergey!
There was a poll at Inter official site that asked the people what did they think about Baggio, 3998 participants voted for their preference, and here is the result:
~ He's a champion and he's worthy of more consideration
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58%
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~ He's not in his best shape anymore but he could be important
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16%
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~ Lippi had his good reasons to exclude him
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21%
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~ His use limits Recoba's playing
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5%
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Thanks to Ramakrishnan Parthasarathy for telling me about this.
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| 22nd August, 2000 |
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Datasport reported that Lens coach Courbis had admitted he didn't want Baggio.
In Calciatori.com, it said that Roby was in between Udinese and Reggina. For Udinese, they are in the UEFA Cup, it is an ideal choice for Roby, but salary is a problem, and the owner of the club said that they would not consider Baggio; while for Reggina, salary will not be a problem since they've got some help from Inter, but Baggio had clearly stated that he won't go there. Also Reggina has assigned no.10 to one of their players, so if Baggio goes there, he may not get the no.10 jersey.
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| 21st August, 2000 |
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As in a Football365 report, Baggio was the only commendable player for the FIFA World Stars in the charity match against France.
On the other hand, lately Roby is linked to French league leader Lens, the coach of the team, Rolland Courbis said that he was looking for an attacker and that the negotiation with Baggio was underway. Roby's demand for 6 billion Lira yearly wage shouldn't be a problem, since Lens had sold several players over the summer.
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| 19th August, 2000 |
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After Baggio's announcement that he could leave Italy, some European clubs are now linked to him, they include French team Paris Saint Germain, English team Arsenal, and 3 Spainsh teams Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia.
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| 18th August, 2000 |
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 3 Agence France Presse pictures of Baggio in the FIFA World Stars vs France charity match on Wednesday.
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| 18th August, 2000 |
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There are 2 news articles about Baggio in ZoomSoccer. The first is titled "Baggio eyes France, England and Spain", and the second "Baggio bitter about Lippi". As in the first article, Baggio had rejected a move to Reggina, and had said that he could move out of Italy, this surely gives hope to foreign clubs. Click here.
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| 17th August, 2000 |
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 Here are 2 more pictures of Baggio in the FIFA World Stars vs France charity match, both are from Associated Press.
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| 17th August, 2000 |
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 In the charity match, Baggio played the whole 90 minutes and he was the captain of the World Stars. Here is a La Gazzetta dello Sport picture.
Earlier there was rumour that Fiorentina was back for the hunting of Roby, but according to Datasport, the coach of the team had declared that Baggio didn't re-enter their plan.
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| 17th August, 2000 |
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World and European Champion France beat FIFA World Stars 5-1, Baggio scored a penalty kick that gave the World Stars their only goal after the French took 5.
As reported in ZoomSoccer a few days ago, Baggio said "I'd like to find a place in Italy where I could play, preferably not too far from my hometown near Vicenza in the North." And about Inter, he said "I don't care about what happens at Inter Milan anymore. The past is past and now I'm entirely focused towards finding a good team."
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| 15th August, 2000 |
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 2 La Gazzetta dello Sport pictures of Baggio training, in preparation for tomorrow's FIFA World Stars vs France charity match.
Also, there is a new wallpaper designed by Kori Marica from Japan. Click here.
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| 13th August, 2000 |
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As I was told by Cristina from Reggina, everyone there dreamed of Baggio. She told me that Roby once said he might consider moving out of Caldogno if the team was far away. And in Reggina, not only their supporters wanted Baggio's arrival, even the players were having the same thought. Possanzini said "it's my dream, he's my favourite footballer. Score with his help would be wonderful!" Another player said "I hope he'll choose Reggina, supporters will be very happy and so do we!" Normally during a training session, there are over 1,300 people watching, imagine if Roby is there. Possanzini joked that "there are a lot of people waiting for us. For him, he'll need an underground way to leave the training ground!"
While reported by CanaleSport.com, Baggio's chance of joining Udinese was not over yet, but the contract would become 5.5 billion Lira per year, half billion less than his expectation. To win a place in the UEFA Cup would help the club to acquire Roby.
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| 12th August, 2000 |
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Baggio played in an exhibition match between Lunigiana sweethome and the National Singers earlier this week. The result was 4-3, with Roby scoring the winning goal for the sweethome. As reported in Calciomercato, after the match he said "it's always nice to play, even if it's just an exhibition match. In such a difficult moment, in the field for 90 minutes allow you to forget the present, and to reassess some situations that seem do not belong to your life."
According to Corriere dello Sport, Diadora was trying to put some pressure on Napoli and Udinese to acquire Roby, but both team kept their position firmly. The newspaper also reported that English Premier League club Bradford was interested in Baggio, but the chance of him going there is slim.
On the other hand, Tuttosport reported that Perugia was considering the purchase of Roby again.
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| 12th August, 2000 |
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Baggio is a family man, so he doesn't want to leave Italy. A Goalnetwork.com report emphasizes these 2 points. Roby said "wherever I play next I don't want to be too far from home. Udinese would be a good solution - the only problem is, they haven't made an offer." He also stated that he didn't put money in the first place, he said "if it were just a matter of money then I could have taken up any number of offers from foreign clubs. But my family comes first which is why I want to play close to home. I'm patient. I can wait." Now Reggina is the only club that is interested in Baggio. But as you can see from the map of Italy (Click here. Source: The University of Texas), Vicenza is in the north, while Reggio di Calabria is near Sicily island.
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| 11th August, 2000 |
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Here is a Real format movie from RAI. Inside are scenes of Baggio at the training field in Caldogno, and an interview done by a RAI reporter.
| Stream | Download |
Click here to download RealPlayer.
All 4 pictures here are from RAI.
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| 9th August, 2000 |
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Barcelona is surely a good team, but Baggio may find 2 difficulties if he goes there, first is that he needs to learn Spanish, second is that he needs to fight for a first-team place. Barca have so many attacking players, Enrique, Rivaldo and Overmars, etc. And recently it was reported that they were bidding for Arsenal French forward Henry. So the situation there won't be much better than the one at Inter. But if he stays in Italy, only Reggina want him, because they have the assistance from Inter over the wage issue.
Hiren Jansari from Sweden wrote a document, it contains some data and analysis. Click here.
And there is a new wallpaper designed by Alex Buccheri. Click here.
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| 7th August, 2000 |
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These days Baggio is training by himself near his home.
A surprising news, Udinese is out of Roby's transfer list. As reported by Sportal, the major shareholder of the team had said that their plan was based on young players, and having Baggio would break the plan.
So now it seems that Barcelona has a better chance of getting Roby, as his agent Petrone said that the Spanish club was ready to offer the 2-year contract. In addition, he said that the soccer level in that country had been growing, and Baggio wanted to join a team that would have a good chance of winning any trophy.
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| 6th August, 2000 |
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On 16 August, France and FIFA World Stars will play a charity match at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille, the purpose is to raise funds for SOS Children's Villages. It is also a farewell game for Laurent Blanc, Roby's teammate in Inter Milan, as he had announced his retirement from the national team. In this game Baggio will be a member of FIFA World Stars. Other famous names in the World Stars include Nakata, Leonardo, Redondo and Weah.
About Udinese, because Diadora is the sponsor of the club, this may help resolving the salary problem for purchasing Roby.
There are 2 new wallpapers designed by Jaber. Click here.
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| 5th August, 2000 |
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As reported by Calciatori.com and Sportal, Spanish club Barcelona had announced their interest on Baggio, and they were ready to talk to his agent Vittorio Petrone and to make an offer. Barcelona's advantage over other teams will be the opportunity to play in the European Champions League, also the 6-billion-Lira-per-year salary demanded by Baggio is not a problem at all. However, the real obstacle is the fact that Roby doesn't quite want to move and play in a foreign country. This reason makes Udinese his first preference. Another reason for him to choose the Udine team will be due to the fact that Zico, his childhood idol, once played for that club.
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| 4th August, 2000 |
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According to Calciatori.com, if Reggina successfully purchase Baggio, with the assistance from Inter Milan, then the contract will be a 2-year one that worths 6 billion Lira a year. It also reported that Roby might have an answer to Reggina president by 18 August.
On the other hand, Udinese's chance of playing in the UEFA Cup is getting bigger, also their budget is in surplus, so the demand for Baggio grows again.
There is a new wallpaper designed by Alex Buccheri. Click here.
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