PotD: The Goran Pandev Question

By: agiamba | October 13th, 2009

So this summer, Lazio striker Goran Pandev basically demanded an exit from club, expressing his desire to play for a big club and compete in the Champions League. Sensing some tremendous publicity from a falling-out, Lazio president Claudio Lotito said “Show me the money bitches” and slapped a 19million euro price-tag on his registration. Since then, he has been frozen out of Ballardini’s squad, threatening lawsuits here and there, but mostly praying for the January mercato to open.

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So the question, I pose to you, Juventus Offside readers, is should we move for him? We’ve been linked to him a lot in the last few months. Here’s the breakdown of the pros and cons as I see it-

Pros:
-He’s a pretty good striker, with about a 1:3 goal ratio for Lazio. He’s got a pretty decent shot, and doesn’t seem to mind running at players.
-It would be a pretty cheap signing- his contract expires next summer so Lazio will probably try and off him for whatever price
-Should we wait till next summer, he would be available on a free transfer
-He’s a hard worker and fairly experienced at the club and international level

Cons:
-Is the dispute mostly his fault, Lazio’s, or both? I wouldn’t want to see that kind of situation at Juventus
-Is he a top-class striker or is he just a “good” one?
-Do we want an ex-Interista? Inter is also supposedly interested in him
-Do we need another striker? (Basing your vote on Trez’s departure is fine, just state so)
-With Zebina still around, will rogaine relocate from the San Siro to a stand outside of Vinovo?

So I turn to you all, to vote on it. I’ll express my choice in the comments section, as I hope you will explain your vote too!

Should Juventus move to sign Goran Pandev?(polls)

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Category: Team News

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Jorid

Armando: Patrick Helmes, Andriy Voronin = SHIT. Kiessling would be a gamble, could turn out good, he's a big boy and very good physically. The rest you got mostly good points.
Robee

alex, you really saying you don't think Sissoko is Juventus quality ? Jezus, the guy has played with us for over 1.5 years now and almost every match, he has been a beast in midfield, going for every ball and adding some grinta. He has made a few errors, but you are too easily forgetting that he is also a player with an incredible growing-margin. Without any doubt he is one of the best midfielders in our team. His perfomances in black and white speak for itself. Just a few things he has to filter out of his game like bycicle kicks in the area for instance, and he will be great, once again.
alex

andriy voronin?
Armando

I think these would be some good moves in the upcoming transfer markets:

-Sell Poulsen, Molinaro, Almiron, one of our many right backs, and one of our many strikers. And let Caceres go back to Barca on loan at the end of the season unless he really has a breakout season. Possibly sell De Ceglie and Tiago too, depending on how this season goes for them.

-Buy a great right back (Christian Maggio, Philipp Lahm, or Andreas Beck), a great striker (Patrick Helmes, Mauro Zarate, Stefan Kiessling, or Andriy Voronin), and most importantly, a CREATIVE MIDFIELDER.

Fact is, we all know about Camo's injury problems, and when Camo is injured or not playing, we're sometimes just too predictable in midfield, though if Diego's there then we're definitely NOT predictable, but still, what if theyre both out? Nedved's gone now, and Camo and ADP still have a while, but are eventually gonna need a replacement. ADP has one up and coming with Giovinco, and i think a perfect one for Camo would be Marko Marin. The kid is amazing, Messi-like even. What do you think?
agiamba

Eh you're all the same...
Vinod

Alessio, I just spotted a boo-boo: the link on 'Inter' points to the Lazio Offside. Now I know you don't like us, but... :)
Vercingetorix

sorry, he is NOT Juventus quality....
Vercingetorix

No, Pandev is a quality player, but he is (as Alessio pointed out) Juventus quality. From an economic/performance standpoint, he would be a terrific buy next summer. However, we have Trezeguet (he won't leave if he has a good year), Iaquinta, Amauri, ADP, and Giovinco. I will repeat what other repeatedly have mentioned here, we need to invest in defense.
Pablo

I'd say "Yes, next summer", from an economical point of view. He is good enough to be re-sold in one year for at least 10 mil (15 if he actually plays and have a fairly good season). So we will pay him like 3 mil per year, spend nothing on him and re-sell him for 15 mil. I could live with that.

What we should actually do in Juanuary is buy Giovinco. Or just pretend to. We could spend 5 mil in re-buying Giovinco as a striker instead of a midfielder, so everybody will be happy:
- We will buy the striker we need.
- Giovinco will play (since we are spending money on him, so he have to play).
- And we will be spending the money everybody wants to spend even if we don't need to. Juve could even give ME the money, since it was my idea :p
agiamba

If there's one player I'd pick from Roma it'd be De Rossi. But we all know it's never going to happen. DailyMail is tabloids, it's international week, etc. He would leave Serie A if he left Roma, I think.

yet you defended molinaro and sissoko more than a few times? hmmmm

Look, they are on the team. And they are not as bad as people generally make them out to be, especially Sissoko. Would I sign Molinaro if I knew how he played? No. Sissoko? Maybe. There's a big difference between "Gee, Poulsen played pretty good against Livorno" and "Yes, I think he is Juventus quality." You're inferring they are the same, they are not.
idze

watch pandev on that video
idze

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
jed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/spo...

just thought i should stop by and post this here, lol
j

ranieri wants molinaro! take him away!
j

i would say NO to pandev, we have 4 quality strikers that should last us for at least 2 seasons. i dont think pandev is that kind of world class striker, like a young van nistenrooy or rooney, etc, that is a MUST-have player. moreover we should give giovinco a chance to play up front as second striker if we really lack the players to do that.
Justin

Alessio, Jesus Christ that Rogain joke caught me so off guard that I think I pissed a little while laughing.

My 2 cents: NO we shouldn't sign him. There is already a stain with him being Interista and though I'm not closed to the possibility of players behavior improving, logic points that he also might become a problem inside the dressing room if any conflict arises. I'm also unsure about his quality - he seems good but I'm still unsure if he's really top class. We already have enough strikers at the moment and I'd rather invest on a different position, like a true creative midfielder or that damn right back.

But then again, if he went to us for free, I would not mind.
alex

"I have doubts whether Pandev is good enough to play at Juventus"

yet you defended molinaro and sissoko more than a few times? hmmmm

if pandev joined i could see giovinco leaving as well. do you think ciro will ever try him out as a supporting striker?
Juventus Shirts

I think he would be a good signing who would keep our current strikers on their toes, if we can get him cheap or even for free in the summer he would be a good signing .
papai

Nnahoj - I agree. Dzeko is awesome, and he is on fire in the bundesliga right now. But getting him to juve is a different matter, he will command a mindboggling price track
ricci

wow that Pandev - Zebina crack was pure class
Joe

if anyone is going to buy him i would put my money on milan because they are soooooo bad in the goal department i think they'll go for anything right now...
Franco

Please sign him so he can piss off from Lazio!!!
Nnahoj

One thing I agree with Robee about, Edin Dzeko is pure class! He's a complete striker; powerful and great with the ball at his feet or in the air. I would love to see him at Juve in the near future. If we need to sell Amauri and Trez to do so, so be it. In my opinion, he's the closest striker resembling Marco Van Basten at the moment.
gaetano

don t think we should buy him...should save money plus trade with poulson and zebina for someone like rossi or di natale...hell even gila scores goals with iaquinta...even non italians like fabiano or nilmar would work...bottom line to win football u need to put the ball in the back of the net so we definitely need a new man up front...pandev isn't good enough,has a huge ego,and is actroublemaker!this problem isn't all lottitos
o_man

anyone other than crappy Amauri please
Anthony

I said no because I think Juve need to invest in other areas first. We don't really need to invest in a new striker until 2011 at the earliest (unless Trez decides to leave). We need to bring back Criscito, buy a new RB to replace Zebina, buy a new CB to replace the retiring Cannavaro, and buy a new midfielder (regista or CM) to replace Poulsen.

Once Juve do all that they should start looking at strikers. And when they do eventually have to start looking at strikers, they should make it a really good investment and not just sign a "good" striker who is available for a cheap price like Pandev. I would only take him now if Trez really does decide to leave because then we could use the extra depth. I believe Trez will stay at least another season though.
Ivo

I would just hate it to see him do this to our non-existent defense wearing an Inter jersey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Robee

And if our beloved captain really decides to hang up his boots, then let us step into negotiations over Cassano; in the meantime, start saving some cash, cause he will not be transferred cheaply :)
Ivo

My opinion is obviously super biased, but I would actually like to experiment with Pandev at Juve. He can be a support striker to Ama or Iaquinta when Del Piero is tired (which unfortunately will be often). He is also eligible for the Champions League, and given his "i dont respect nobody" attitude he would help us in that respect.

He is also very skilled technically, practically made for Italian football. He only went to Inter to get out of Macedonia, so i don't care that he was an Interista.

And lastly, he is probably going to steal Giovinco's place but that place is Giovincos to earn and he hasn't yet so yeah. Worst thing in the world is it doesn't work out for him at Juve and he can be easily laid off summer of 2011.

Get him in January so he can help us in the Spring, as with our medical team we will have lots more injuries. We can prolly get him for 5 mil. euros which is nothing.

My cousins live 10 minutes from where he grew up so I know him and he can be a scumbag. But he knows he is going to warm the bench at either Juve or Inter so if he decides to come, he wont be throwing a fit. We really have nothing to lose if we get him, apart from a few million euros which we seem to be unwilling to spend on a defender that plays with his eyes open.
Robee

I like him as a player, but his character stinks, it's an interista and hell, we don't need a mediocre addition, not at all...
If you want a striker in support of a deep man, don't say Cassano, don't even mention Rossi and start looking at Giovinco !! He can lift the game and give each and everyone of our strikers a rebirth. And in January our captain will be sharing his class, anyway ;).

If Trezeguet leaves: two names I would love to see in black and white: Dzeko or Luis Fabiano; 2 strong and complete strikers who can create something themselves...
agiamba

Not entirely alone, Nnahoj, 46% said they want us to sign him whether in January or in summer. They just need to comment below and say why!

Vince, I agree with what you say but Lazio certainly would not ask for 19mil in January.
Vince

I voted no, because we want a top class striker in the mold of Del Piero. While Pandev is close to that standard, I wouldn't say he is the top of what we could get. At 19mil why not invest in an italian... and I know i know we have said it more than once before but I mean Cassano or Rossi. I prefer Cassano but I would not be disappointed with Rossi. I also voted no assuming Trez is leaving and that ADP's injuries are more of a trend now as opposed to the exception. So I say move for Cassano in January to cover ADP and let Inter pick up Pandev to warm their bench.
Nnahoj

I guess I'm alone on this one.

By the way, the Inter link in the article actually goes to the Lazio Offside.
Papai

not good enough IMHO
we need someone like rossi, or maybe try and snatch mecheda from man u.
But more than forwards, we need a solid cb, a right back and criscito :)
nick

http://freefootballstream.blog...
mohd

Villarreal the Spanish team is doing very bad at the moment and if we wait till and of the season i do not think that they will ask more than 25 million tops
agiamba

I voted no, because I have doubts whether Pandev is good enough to play at Juventus. I imagine he would be relegated to a bench role, which he probably would not be satisfied with. I agree in the next year or two, we need to think about signing a new striker, but that's not a concern for now or next summer, and that's one we should spill out on.

I agree with hant00 and HolyMann that next summer we need to work on defense. I prefer Ranocchia over Kjaer.
hant00

if Amauri is still barren come December, i'd say we make a move. Otherwise, let's just invest more on defense. Or medical facilities.
Nnahoj

I voted yes and in January.

I think we really need more depth up front. Seeing the dearth of goals from our strikers - and also the fact that the age of our strikers range from 29-35 - a fresh face would be more than welcome. My only worry would be that he hasn't played for the season because he was frozen out. But other than that, like Alessio said, he's good, should be relatively cheap and is experienced (and still fairly young at 26). So I would be all for that signing.
HolyMann

really see no point in getting him unless we go for him in summer for a short term solution (for a year or 2 TOPS) so we can splash some money in the defensive department....