Riccardo Montolivo

[Aryagorn]

Riccardo Montolivo (born 18 January 1985 in Caravaggio, Province of Bergamo) is an Italian-German footballer who plays for Serie A club Fiorentina (in which he is the captain) and the Italian national team. He is the prototypical Italian "regista". A playmaker with plenty of technique who has superb passing skills.

Riccardo Montolivo is widely regarded as one of the rising stars of Italian football, a status he has underlined with some fine performances of late. Habitually in the right place at the right time, the central midfielder offers defensive security and an extra option going forward, and possesses the long-range shooting skills to test any goalkeeper.

Montolivo began his career as an 18-year-old in Serie B with Atalanta, the club that nurtured him as a youngster. He played 41 times in the Bergamo outfit's promotion-winning season of 2003/04, scoring four goals. His top-flight debut came against Lecce in September 2004 but despite some excellent displays and three goals in all, he could not prevent Atalanta from going straight back down again.

Sold to Fiorentina, the tactically astute Montolivo immediately forced his way into the first team and showed how hard he can strike a ball by scoring against Ascoli with a screaming shot measured at 117 kmh.

Montolivo was an ever-present in all Italy's youth teams between 2001 and 2007 and made his full Azzurri debut in the October 2007 friendly against South Africa. A last-minute discard from Roberto Donadoni's 23-man pool for UEFA EURO 2008, the Viola man consoled himself with a place in the squad for the Beijing 2008 Men's Olympic Football Tournament and was recalled by Marcello Lippi to the senior team for the South Africa 2010 qualifier against Bulgaria.

Good BTB player

 

[La Furia]

Ricky Monty is a great kid and insanely talented, but frustratingly inconsistent. He's better off in an attacking role but is willing to track back and has played centrally for Fiorentina when needed. I haven't seen those powerful shots he's been using for Italy in a while.

I'm thrilled he's getting so much time for Italy and really getting positive recognition. Like all Fiorentina players he's available for the right price, but as he recently was given the captain's armband he wouldn't be cheap.

 

[Aryagorn]

oh he's captain now!? nice

 

[La Furia]

Yup; with Dainelli sold and Jorgensen returning to Denmark, Ricky was elected captain. He seems to finally be developing some assertiveness, his biggest weakness has always been a willingness to take a passive role and be too unselfish for his own good.

 

[iced1776]

I tried to watch as much Fiorentina as possible last season because they play very exciting attacking football, hopefully I can follow them more closely this season. Furia, do you know anything about their new coach? Is he looking to offload some players?

 

[Super Pippo]

Arsenal are reportedly making him their favoured replacement should they agree a deal with Barca for Fabregas. I read a rumour about Milan interested also, but they seem to have shifted to Veloso of Sporting Lisboa, surprise as Montolivo is Lombard, though his form last season was not of the standard he is showing with italia recently.

 

[AnfieldEd]

Milan should make a move for him Sergio. Seriously.

 

[Super Pippo]

Still needs to be seen how desperate his club will be for the cash since their patron moved on, if he can be got a good price who knows.

 

[La Furia]

The financial status of Fiorentina is stagnant but stable. Corvino and ADV have both said 500 times that no starter will be shipped out unless they request it. The club is looking to make money off a team stupid enough to want Mutu or one of their shit defenders. Supposedly the team is willing to sell Vargas or Frey first if an irresistable opportunity shows up, no one is untouchable but Ricky and Jovetic are the closest thing to untouchables right now. If Milan wants Ricky they could probably pull off a move, but Corvino would likely look for a deal that makes the Melo one look like great business.

As far as the coaching situation at la Viola goes, Mihajlovic is a massive gamble to me, but at least he's known to prefer a positive 4-3-3 and is familiar with the league. His lack of big experience as a coach is very worrying, more so than political differences with the fan base. If the Mihajlovic gamble fails expect a fire sale next summer; anyone who wants Ricky is better off waiting for now.

 

[Super Pippo]

Melo deal was once in a lifetime for Viola, they had the good fortune of doing business with the most stupid board they ever had in Torino and then the most stupid manager they ever had playing him out of position which made it look even better for you.

Milan, or any club will not be taken for such a ride by Corvino, so don't expect mega money for any of their players, especially now that everyone know they have to sell some players.

 

[La Furia]

Melo deal was once in a lifetime for Viola, they had the good fortune of doing business with the most stupid board they ever had in Torino and then the most stupid manager they ever had playing him out of position which made it look even better for you.

Milan, or any club will not be taken for such a ride by Corvino, so don't expect mega money for any of their players, especially now that everyone know they have to sell some players.

Well I don't expect Milan to be as big of suckers as Juve is, but the club has been intelligent enough with their money to avoid desperation fire sales. The only way anyone is going to get Ricky for cheap is if he forces his way out.

Speaking of, his agent dismissed the Arsenal link as bullshit by the English media.

 

[Super Pippo]

We will see, for sure they didn't come from nothing to CL on their own, it was Della Valle and his shoe shine box money that did, which they don't have anymore without a new patron. Plus stupid plans for a new (smaller) stadium and (ridiculous) theme park.

Are they going to keep their promise of paying Mutu compensation to Chelsea on his behalf as well?

 

[La Furia]

We will see, for sure they didn't come from nothing to CL on their own, it was Della Valle and his shoe shine box money that did, which they don't have anymore without a new patron. Plus stupid plans for a new (smaller) stadium and (ridiculous) theme park.

Are they going to keep their promise of paying Mutu compensation to Chelsea on his behalf as well?

The Della Valle's still own the club, all that happened was DDV stepped down from direct administration because his mouth was causing him trouble. It hasn't affected their patronage in any way, at least not yet. The new stadium plan is frozen anyway because Firenze doesn't have the money right now. If even the Europa League can't be reached next year then finances might be grim, but while there won't be free spending this summer the club isn't broke yet.

As far as Mutu goes I think he lost a lot of his support. The club is trying to sell him, which for obvious reasons isn't that easy, but they refuse to give him up for less than 8M.

 

[Super Pippo]

Of course, with France winning the Euro bid, the government funding for the new stadium would have gone. Good to be honest, only thing I like about the club is Stadio Franchi.

If it were me, i'd put him on sale for 0. And even then I can't imagine who would want to take on his contract.

 

[La Furia]

Of course, with France winning the Euro bid, the government funding for the new stadium would have gone. Good to be honest, only thing I like about the club is Stadio Franchi.

If it were me, i'd put him on sale for 0. And even then I can't imagine who would want to take on his contract.

Last I checked some Turkish team was interested.