The inevitable become official this last weekend when Palermo was relegated from Serie A.
Palermo will feature in Serie B for the first time since they won it way back in 2003-04. Coincidentally, Luca Toni of Fiorentina scored the goal last Sunday to send Palermo down, and he was the catalyst for their Serie B winning campaign, scoring 30 goals to earn promotion for the first time in more than 30 years.
As with most relegated sides, sales of high-end players are unavoidable. But the rosanero have an extra little wrinkle to deal with, as Serie B will be implementing a salary cap for next season.
The salary cap will limit the wage expenditures of Serie B clubs, who have often overspent in their attempts to achieve promotion, and suffered devastating financial losses. As a whole the league is already reporting losses above €50 million for this season alone.
Palermo’s wage structure was built to be a mid-table Serie A side, a team that owner Maurizio Zamparini thought should have been in the hunt for European berths. Now they’re a Serie B team. The fiscal reality will soon set it.
Palermo has had a great run of turning players for profit — Salvatore Sirigu, and Javier Pastore were recently sold for big dollars to French giants PSG. The Sicilian outfit has a long track record of doing great bit of business and always had new youngsters in line waiting to fill the void. Edinson Cavani, Andrea Barzagli, Luca Toni, Amauri, Fabio Grosso — the list of stars that have worn those beautiful pink shirts through the years is a long one. This is a team that knows how to find talent.
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Moving forward, you have to think that the first and the most obvious sale will be Josep Illicic. The young Slovenian burst onto the scene this season, and was the reason Palermo extended their hopes for safety until May. He was their leading scorer with 10 goals, and opened a lot of eyes toward the end of the campaign. There will be plenty of teams vying for his signature.
Goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino will be another hot commodity, as he has proven to be one of the more underrated Serie A ‘keepers in recent years. At 34, he has plenty of experience and could be a useful signing for a team such as Inter Milan who may sell Samir Handanovic to one of the many European giants seeking his services. Sorrentino would also be a goalkeeping upgrade for Napoli, Roma, and Udinese. The trouble is Sorrentino signed a three and a half year deal with Palermo in January.
Abel Hernandez has been a quandary for Palermo since they purchased him in 2008 from Penarol in Uruguay. He is a striker with pace, impressive technique, and superb aerial ability. Unfortunately he hasn’t really been able to show it yet. His best season came as a 19-year old during the 2009-10 Serie A campaign, when he scored seven goals in 21 appearances, but he has been a disappointment since and hardly got onto the field this season.
Paulo Dybala was dubbed by Zamaparini as “the new Aguero.” The Palermo owner obviously did not help matters putting that kind of pressure on the youngster – he showed a bit of that promise when he scored a brace against Sampdoria in November, but has failed to do much since.
Lastly, but surely not least, is Fabrizio Miccoli. Since joining Palermo in 2007, he has become the club’s all time leading scorer, and the face of the franchise. He scored only seven times this season, a far cry from what he has accomplished in recent years. At 33, he may be on the decline, but still has immense technical ability to shed defenders, and a shot most strikers would kill to have.
There will be many more Palermo players on the transfer block A. Salvatore Aronica, Massimo Donati, and Andrea Dossena are all veterans that could be useful to mid-table sides in Serie A, but Illicic has shown the potential ability to become a superstar. He’s the prized asset.
Zamparini will have his hands full trying to juggle the salary cap. Players will have to be offloaded, and even though he has already stated the rosanero will come right back up, it won’t be easy.
Let the fire sale begin.
Dan Riccio is the host of the European Football Weekly podcast on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. Listen to the podcast HERE and follow Dan on Twitter.