Strange moves afoot

Anglo-Italian transfer deals were unexpected

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By Brian Glanville, World Soccer

ITALIAN comings and goings. Sometimes strange. Such as the acquisition by Perugia of the 21-year-old Jay Bothroyd from Coventry City -- and Chelsea's signing of the 30-year-old Chievo keeper, Marco Ambrosio.

Mind you, Bothroyd's signing by Perugia seems highly orthodox by comparison with that of Colonel Gaddafi's son, and the expressed desire of the ever-flamboyant, klaxon-horned president Luciano Gaucci to recruit a female player.

Forever at odds with the authorities, a president once in trouble for giving racehorses to referees, Gaucci presumably in the latter instance only did it to annoy, because he knows it teases. At the highest level, women footballers are no more equipped to compete with men than women tennis players or boxers.

Bothroyd, though, is another matter, potentially a real coup, and you wonder why a Serie A Italian club homed in one footballer who, however undoubtedly talented, was hardly a name to conjure with in English football.

You may remember that after various spats at Arsenal as a teenaged center forward, Bothroyd climbed out of the black hole which is the Arsenal youth scheme -- not Ashburton Park -- and escaped to Coventry, with mixed success. His almost casual talent was manifest, but the fans subjected him to vicious barracking, and now he is scoring for Perugia.

Ambrosio was a rather surprising transfer, Chelsea feeling they needed back up for his fellow Italian, the gifted Carlo Cudicini. They already had the Austrian Macho from Sunderland and were hot on the trail of Leeds United's Nigel Martyn. Word was that Ambrosio hadn't been convincing in the preseason period. Well, I saw him in action for Chelsea in the second half of last Saturday's friendly at Crystal Palace and he looked fine to me.

Playing behind what became a three-man defense in the second half, which gave him minimal protection, he made a couple of fine saves from a rampant Dougie Freedman.

He has certainly been around in his career. Born in Brescia, he wasn't picked up by the local club. A couple of spells with Atalanta brought him no appearance in Serie A. Indeed he had to wait till 1997 to make 10 starts in two seasons with Sampdoria. There followed two C1 seasons in Tuscany with Lucchese, then Chievo picked him up as cover. If I were Chelsea, I would keep him, even if he didn't cost millions.

ARSENAL seem doomed to move from Highbury, but who knows where? Now Spurs alas may have to move from White Hart Lane. Daniel Levy, their main man, had made it known that staying there would depend on a new tube station being built at Northumberland Park, but now it won't be. Could one, save the mark, see Spurs and Arsenal sharing Wembley Stadium in their desperation?

They have, of course, shared before -- at White Hart Lane. This happened in the last world war when Arsenal were bombed out of Highbury, which was turned into an ARP center, and moved to Tottenham till football officially resumed in season 1946-47.

Meanwhile Spurs, though they have let Steffen Iversen go, following Les Ferdinand out of the door, are buying strikers galore. Glenn Hoddle says cheerfully that to have no fewer than four of them -- Portugal's impressive young Helder Postiga, Bobby Zamora from Brighton, Ireland's Robbie Keane and now Frederic Kanoute from West Ham -- is good for competition. I'd call it over egging the pudding, especially when midfield and defense are hardly impeccable.

It seems unlikely that Spurs will use more than two strikers at a time. How will those on the bench feel?

ONE of them certainly will not be Mateja Kezman, who showed Spurs what might have been in last Sunday's friendly at Tottenham, when he materially helped PSV Eindhoven to a 2-0 win.

Recently Kezman had said that he wouldn't go to Spurs because they were not sufficiently ambitious. Spurs retorted that they'd not bid for him in the first place.

Always somewhat a recalcitrant figure, he was sent off in no time at all when Yugoslavia brought him on as a sub in the Euro 2000 tournament. A refusenik for Serbia's international team after Dejan Savicevic had dared to sub him, it will be interesting to see whether he will deign to return to his country's team at home to Wales on August 20, now that Savicevic has resigned to be replaced by Ilya Petkovic.

GOOD luck to little 5-foot-4 Alan Wright, who has just joined Middlesbrough from Villa, at 31-years-old. I've always felt he didn't get his due as an attacking left back, deserved a chance in an England team so short of such players. And what a goal he not long since banged home at Tottenham!

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

Brian Glanville is Britain's most celebrated football writer. He also writes a monthly column in World Soccer magazine.

His latest book, a fully updated edition of THE STORY OF THE WORLD CUP is available in all good bookshops. Readers of worldsoccer.com can buy this highly-acclaimed history of the World Cup and enjoy a 10% discount by clicking here.