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Disqualified for seven months for using banned substances and subsequently released from London, Romanian striker Adriano Mutu's transfer to Turin has indeed become more complicated than it seemed at first.
Last week, the leading team in the Italian championship, "Juve," announced Mutu's acquisition, but the deal was stopped upon realizing that the player had not yet received a release from the English Football Federation, and furthermore, the Romanian does not have citizenship of a European Union country, therefore he is considered a foreigner.
According to the rules of the Italian football league, since "Juventus" club has already used up its foreign player limit, the Turin team cannot acquire another foreign player unless he moves from some Italian club. Therefore, the player will initially transfer to a team that has not used up the limit, and then will be able to move to "Juve."
"Mutu will temporarily belong to Livorno, and later, after all formalities are settled, they will transfer the player to us," said general director Luciano Moggi at a press conference. "This is a technique used by many Serie A clubs, for example, Inter did the same with C. Gamarra."
Moggi admitted that they had been trying to sign Mutu for a long time, and now that they have succeeded, they will not engage in player purchases or sales until the summer. The director of the Italian club also denied rumors that Chelsea is demanding compensation for the player's transfer.
"We have tried to acquire Mutu for a long time, but initially he was too expensive, then there were intense negotiations for the player's loan, but Roman Abramovich changed his mind at the last minute. However, now the opportunity arose, and we took advantage of it. Juve has already sold Iuliano to Mallorca and loaned Legrottaglie to Bologna, so our transfer campaign is over. By the way, we owe Chelsea nothing, as it is a matter between the player and the club," assured Moggi.
It is believed that in return for this service, Livorno will receive one or two young players from the Turin giants in the summer, most likely David Chiumiento, who is currently on loan to Siena.
