Making the right decision

The first three months of the season in Italy were characterised by the Antonio Cassano saga.

Roma had made various bids to convince the player to extend his contract which expires next June. Talks fell on many occasions but Roma's hopes not to lose Cassano for free remained alive.

Last week, the striker was unveiled as Real Madrid's latest signing in the January transfer window. Days have now passed but doubts persist whether this move was beneficial to all parties, particularly the player and his former club.

Roma had signed Cassano from Bari, in 2001, for a fee estimated to be Lm15 million when still 18 years of age. Now, the cash-strapped club from the capital have sold Cassano to Real for a fee in the region of Lm2 million.

Although the price is far below the market value the player would have fetched under normal circumstances, Roma have to be grateful to Real for paying this 'nominal' fee because otherwise, they would have 'lost' him for free in six months' time.

Cassano was a flop at the Olympic Stadium. Roma did not get a cent in return for their hefty investment. In terms of silverware, the Giallorossi remained empty-handed. Cassano had to be the one who could win the games and trophies for Roma but he turned out to be more of a protagonist off the field. His bust-ups with different coaches were there for everyone to notice.

His immature behaviour in the dressing room was very noticeable and fueled internal rifts.

If I had to describe Cassano, I would define him as a natural talent... period. He is not an accomplished player... far from it. To be a star on the field, one has to have the skill, the character and leadership qualities. Cassano has the skill but none of the other qualities.

This argument brings us to whether or not the 24-year-old Cassano will be better off with Real.

From a financial point-of-view, the four-year contract he has just signed looks very rewarding. However, one should not be short-sighted to stop at the financial figures only because there are other considerations to be taken into account.

At Real, Cassano will find an unsettled team. Since parting with coach Vincente Del Bosque, Real have lost their winning allure. Brazilian replacement Wanderlei Luxemburgo was ineffective and so was Arrigo Sacchi's one-year stint as Director of Football.

Real are 13 points behind Primera Liga leaders Barcelona, meaning it will be very difficult for them to recover lost ground and mount a serious challenge for the championship.

Lately, Real have erred in some transfers. Instead of bolstering their defence and central midfield, they concentrated mostly on acquiring lateral midfielders and strikers. In the meantime, they lost players like Esteban Cambiasso and Claude Makelele.

Over the years, club president Florentino Perez adopted a policy to recruit only 'galacticos' but has inevitable turned the central midfield and defence the weakest departments in his team.

Real's new coach for next season has yet to be unveiled. Fabio Capello is being mentioned as one of the possible candidates to fill the vacancy at the Bernabeu.

One has to see whether Cassano will feature in the plans of the next Real coach. For the time being, or at least until Raul and Ronaldo make their return from injury, regular football looks guaranteed.

Many contend that with Cassano's move to Real, Marcello Lippi has regained another option in attack in his build-up for the World Cup even though Italy did not need his services to qualify.

Lippi is spoilt for choice in attack and by including Cassano in his squad, the Azzurri coach would seriously risk having internal rifts in Germany.

Indeed, it will be interesting to see how Cassano fares in Spain from now till May.

Serie A statistics...

1st win for Messina in three league visits to Empoli's Carlo Castellani stadium as the southerners inflicted on Mario Somma's team their sixth defeat in their last seven outings. Messina commanded operations from start to finish and their second away win of the term (following the 2-0 victory over Lecce on October 30) was never in jeopardy. Roma continued to show signs of recovery as they registered their first win in two league visits to Treviso. Roma's third straight positive result coincided with Treviso's second defeat on the trot.

2nd consecutive defeat for Samp-doria as the Blucerchiati went down to Livorno for the first time in seven league meetings at their Luigi Ferraris stadium. Roberto Donadoni's Livorno fully deserved their third straight away win which kept them in the hunt for a Champions League slot. Prior to Sunday's match, Livorno's only positive result in six visits to Sampdoria came on January 18, 1948 (1-1 in Serie A). Fiorentina have perhaps bowed out of the title race after a 1-1 draw at struggling Reggina. This was Fiorentina's third successive away draw and the fifth game in a row in which current top marksman Luca Toni failed to score. Reggina have collected only three draws in their last four outings.

3rd win on the trot for Milan, who beat relegation-threatened Parma 4-3. This was Parma's first defeat after two successive draws and a win. Milan's narrow win, coupled with Inter's draw at Siena, enabled the Rossoneri to leapfrog their city rivals in second place. Like Juventus, Milan have won all their first nine home outings of the season. To date, Parma have managed only two wins in 16 league visits to the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, the latest being on December 22, 1996 (1-0). Parma, together with Cagliari, Ascoli and Reggina, still have to record their first away success of the term.

7th away win for Juventus despite Palermo's stiff opposition last weekend. It was not easy for a depleted Juve side, particularly because Palermo were after a victory following successive defeats to Livorno and Fiorentina. But in the end, Juve's willpower to conserve their assuring lead at the top and avenge themselves for last season's 0-1 defeat at the Renzo Barbera stadium paid off.

9 defeats and one win in their opening 10 away fixtures of the term is Lecce's meagre record away from home so far. On Sunday, Silvio Baldini's side were no match to a determined Chievo as they remained in deep relegation trouble. New signing Luca Saudati from Atalanta did little to ignite Lecce's blunt attack. Almost 12 years have now passed since the last time Chievo and Lecce shared the spoils at the Bentegodi stadium (0-0 in Serie B). Lazio continued from where they had left off last year as they pursued with their unbeaten home run by beating Ascoli 4-1. Before Sunday's victory, a Lazio home win over Ascoli had been missing since April 14, 1990 (3-0 in Serie A). Ascoli's only win in 11 league visits to the Olympic Stadium dates back to February 10, 1980 (1-0 in Serie A).

10 years had to pass for Cagliari to return to winning ways against Udinese at their Sant'Elia stadium as the Sardinians came from behind to record their third straight home victory. Siena and Inter figured in the only goalless draw of the day. The final score confirmed Siena's truly dire home record with Inter, against whom they have never won in three meetings (two draws and one defeat). Following the past weekend results, Inter slipped 10 points behind Juventus and are now third in the standings. Siena's third successive game without a win (two draws and one defeat) coincided with Inter's first draw after six straight wins.

31 goals were scored on the 18th day: 16 coming from the hosts and the remaining 15 from the visitors, who managed no fewer than four victories. Foreigners contributed with 12 goals while there were 20 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 475. Five players - Sergio Pellissier (Chievo), Adrian Mutu (Juventus), Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno), Zlatan Muslimovic (Messina) and Marco Marchionni (Parma) - grabbed a brace each. Antonio Langella (Cagliari), Igli Tare (Lazio) and Andrea Zanchetta (Chievo) came on as substitutes and found the net. Parma's Giuseppe Cardone committed the only own goal of the day in favour of Milan. In the scorers' sheet, Juve's David Trezeguet is still one goal short of Toni who tops the list with 16 goals. No penalties were awarded in the past weekend. Meanwhile, four players - Giampiero Pinzi, Christian Obodo (both Udinese), Francesco Pratali (Empoli) and Francesco Flachi (Sampdoria) - received marching orders. Parma's Mario Beretta became the latest coach to be ordered off his bench.