And Finally, D’Allesandro Goes to Inter.

By: Mauro | July 22nd, 2008

Today, San Lorenzo finalized Andrés D’Alessandro’s transfer to Internacional of Porto Alegre. The transfer had been on ice since last week and San Lorenzo has completed their involvement. Now, the player and his new club await a fax confirming the transfer from his old club in Spain, Real Zaragoza. D’Alessandro will be in Porto Alegre to sign his new contract tomorrow.

The investment group that fronted San Lorenzo the money to buy half of D’Alessandro’s transfer made their money back (€3,500,000) and Zaragoza sold the other half to the Brazilian club for much less than they had wanted to.

Inter is reinforcing their side with the Copa Sudamericana on the horizon. D’Alessandro will be joining fellow Argentine Pablo Guiñazu for whom they recently rejected an offer from Al Jazzira from the United Arab Emirates league.

The operation was completed for €6 million total and the player’s contract will be for $1,500,000 a year. He was transferred from Zaragoza at the call of former San Lorenzo coach Ramón Díaz.

D’Alessandro came up the youth ranks at River Plate replacing Pablo Aimar as the main play maker for the team. He was an integral part of the Argentine U20 squad with whom he won the Youth World Cup in 2001, winning his starting spot by coming off the bench in early matches. His great play earned him a transfer to Bundesliga club, Wolfsburg, for a then club record of €9 million. He failed to settle in completely and the constant manager changes didn’t help him either.

He sought out first team football with Portsmouth in the Premier League for a short, half season on loan where he impressed Harry Redknapp but ended up moving on and played the following season with Zaragoza, also on loan, where he was lined up next to Aimar. Zaragoza then purchased his transfer from Wolfsburg for the following season. But failure to get along with the current coach forced him to look towards Argentina with the hopes of finding the regular playing time that could possibly earn him a spot on the Argentine national team. And that’s when he landed at San Lorenzo.

D’Alessandro’s a gifted left footed midfielder with an eye for setting up his teammates in the penalty area and he possesses a wicked outside shot. He also has the ability to create his own space with smart footwork and has a great finishing ability. He’s a bit of a hothead and has had himself sent off in a few important matches but there’s no questioning his speed off the ball.

In my opinion, he reached his best form during the time he was with River Plate and when he played in the Youth World Cup of 2001. He basically needs to be able to take the team on his shoulders. In Europe, teams are no longer assembled around one player and, I believe, that’s why he failed to really become indispensable to his clubs the way he had been at River Plate.

Good luck Cabezón.

Read up about Copa Sudamericana news, notes and transfers on the CONMEBOL website. And check out the Copa Libertadores 2009 wikipedia page to see which teams have qualified or are going to qualify for the 2009 edition.