Fresh from his cracker of a goal against Milan (Reserve XI) for Inter 2nd XI in the Trofeo TIM last night, Alvaro Recoba is the centre of increased speculation about his future. The Uruguayan scored the goal that sealed another (meaningless, waste-of-space) pre-season tournament triumph but today speculation has picked up as to his whereabouts come the start of the season.
It is unclear just how many strikers Mancini can keep happy this season, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Recoba will stay with Inter, at least for the first half of the season. Injuries and suspensions are par for the course as far as the nerazzurri are concerned so at least with him (and Adriano) still on board, the options are there. Other than that, the possibilities for Alvaro are as follows:
* Torino - Favourites for his signature (especially on a loan deal), mainly due to the man-love between Recoba and coach Walter Novellino, which harks back to heady days at Venezia in 1999.
* Napoli - Seemingly linked with a number of fringe players from Inter at the moment (Cesar is another strong case at the moment), some sections of the Italian press seem to believe that this deal is only a case of crossing the 't's and dotting the 'i's.
* Spain - Atletico Madrid were close to a deal earlier in the week and there is every chance that this will be resurrected. Other than that, Villarreal is usually a popular refuge for South American players in Europe.
If Recoba goes, it will be one of many cases of "What Might Have Been" in and out of the blue and black doors of the Giuseppe Meazza over the Moratti years. On the odd occasion, the Uruguayan has been exceptional (his performance in the come-from-behind 3-2 win over Sampdoria in January 2005 springs to mind). His problem though has been that this kind of performance has only occurred on that odd occasion.
Time to move on, Alvaro.