Palermo Trio: The Rise of Javier Pastore, Josip Illcic and Armin Bacinovic

Three Palermo Starlets shoulder the Rise of the Aquile.

by Rhydon Atzenhoffer
March 17, 2011

Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Palermo finished fifth last season to tie their highest table position since achieving promotion to Serie A in 2004. The Aquile (Eagles) have been in fine form this season, aside from a recent five game slide.

Their last five games have included four losses where they were held scoreless, and the team has not registered a goal since their 2-4 loss to Fiorentina back on February 13th. Over this same time period, Palermo has allowed 13 goals against, and has seen a dramatic slide in their table position, now knocked down to 10th. In all, they dropped 15 potential points, vital games lost that could have had them sitting in fourth place had they turned them into victories, and built upon their sold defeat of Juventus on February 2nd.

Nonetheless, the young midfield including three rising stars ages 21 and 23 has been the driving force of the Sicilian club all season. The future of the club looks bright if they could hold onto them all, but the summer transfer window looms and could see at least one of them leave...........READ MORE AND START SLIDESHOW

Liverpool looks to Youthful Future

Article first published as Liverpool Looks to Youthful Future on Technorati.
The Reds Look at Signing Three Young Starlets to Bolster their Future for Success

by Rhydon Atzenhoffer
February 9, 2011

Anfield is again alight with transfer rumors as the latest reports have the Reds looking to add another three youngsters to their squad as the look to fulfill the new owners philosophy of developing talent into the squad.

Swapping Pink for Red?

23-year old Palermo starlet Josip Ilicic has been linked with Liverpool following the latest reports from givemefootball.com. The news brings to light that he is a prime target identified by Damien Camolli, the Reds Director of Football Development.

The young Slovenian has scored 8 goals this season in 23 appearances in Palermo pink. He is also being tracked by Chelsea, AC Milan, and though it is said Tottenham have also inquired about the midfielder, Ilicic's agent has yet to say Spurs have made any contact with them regarding a move to White Heart Lane.

Ajax Amsterdam also looks to be the target of another Liverpool transfer as the Reds have been eying up a 10 Million offer to take Danish international midfielder Christian Eriksen to Anfield.

Danish Acquisian

The Dane was the youngest player to feature at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at only 18 and has 10 caps for his county. This season he has made 30 appearances for the Ajax first team scoring twice for the Dutch giants this campaign.

It is thought that Ajax manager Frank de Boor is more likely to let Eriksen leave his club now, than perhaps allowing the departure of any of his other current starts such as Gregory Van Der Wiel, while still being able to help his club balance their books.

The other youngster on the radar for the Reds has already turned down a move to Merseyside this summer. 19-year old Real Madrid signing Sergio Canales has made 4 appearances for Los Blanco's this season.

A product of Racing Santander's youth development program Canales he earned 32 appearances for the La Liga first team and 28 for second tier Racing B scoring a total of 10 goals.

Merseyside for Madrid

As one of Spain's up and coming U-21 national team players it will be interesting to see if the Reds can pry him away from Madrid and Jose Mourinho. But who is to say the Portuguese manager will survive till next season.

These three targets continue to back the new owners philosophy at Anfield to buy youthful talent to develop into stars the Liverpool way, and allow bigger spending in one or two key positions of need over time allowing more players to be created in the image of Reds football.