In Defence of Fabio Cannavaro

By: Daryl | May 19th, 2009

Most fans would be pretty damn happy if Fabio Cannavaro signed for their team. The 35 year old defender may not be quite the same one man tackling machine that he was in 2006, but he’s not exactly Titus Bramble either. In many ways he’s exactly the sort of player that Juventus need if they’re going to challenge Inter and Milan next season, especially as his signing will reunite Canna with his international defensive partner Giorgio Chiellini. And yet…

… Cannavaro’s return to the bianconeri on a one year contract has so far received a massive thumbs down from Juventus fans.

For those with short memories, Cannavaro was one of the Juve players who jumped ship when Juve were forcibly relegated to Serie B after their managing director Luciano Moggi was found guilty of match fixing in the Calciopoli scandal. Juve fans have never forgiven him.

He wasn’t the only one to leave in the summer of 2006 though. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira went to Inter, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram went to Barcelona, while Emerson joined Cannavaro at Real Madrid – and that’s just the most high profile departures.

True, some big names did stick around for the Serie B battle. Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi, Gigi Buffon and Alex Del Piero all deserve credit for their loyalty. But that doesn’t mean the players who left are all traitors.

Cannavaro spent just two seasons at Juve (2004/5 and 2005/6). Arguably the two best seasons of his career, in which he won two Serie A titles. Or so he thought. Juventus (and therefore the players) were stripped of those two titles, meaning the two years Cannavaro spent at Juve were (sort of) taken from him.

I understand why Juve fans were angry at him for leaving, but from an outsiders perspective I can certainly appreciate why the then best defender in the world didn’t want to play in Serie B for a club who were at that time disgraced. In many ways Cannavaro’s return is proof that Juve have put those dark days behind them and re-established the club’s reputation.

Here’s what the man himself had to say when asked about the fans’ negative reaction:

“I am sure I will be able to convince even the most skeptical fans thanks to my hard work, professionalism and passion with which I will approach this new adventure.”

Who knoes? Maybe a Cannavaro determined to prove himself and win over angry Juve fans might be a Cannavaro capable of reproducing some of that 2006 form…

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Category: Serie A

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giampiero

Alessio is right

We would also do better by giving Ariaudo some playing time.
Dan

someone link us a good Cannavaro highlight video.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

i dont see much of fiorentina, so whats the general consensus on gamberini, is he any good?
Kasia

I'm with Alessio as well.
Also, I disagree with the argument that Canna playing with Chiellini will help Italy. Are they really going to call up the 37 years old defender for the WC? Is he the best Italy has to offer?
HolyMann

im with Alessio on this 100%, and not to mention that by signing him, Juve will probably not sign another proper center back this season....i really hope he rots on the bench, legrottaglie deserves much better then being left behind on the bench.
Madridista

I, for one, can't see what Juventus is getting out of this. Cannavaro is a good defender, but he's not what he once was, and Juve can do better - they would surely have no problem signing someone younger and not so past his prime. And on top of all that, Canna comes with baggage.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

i still hate ibra even more. if canna does well then good for him. either way we need criscito or somebody to play, not inspire our bench. do you think there is any chance canna survives to the WC2010?

ps, its funny how you have seperate comments for different statements, ;)
Stephanie

I'm a Juve fan and I'm all for him returning to the club. He isn't a traitor. He did what was best for himself as a player and I don't expect anything other than that from any footballer. I would never expect a Footballer of the year to play in the Serie B and he has had great success at Real Madrid and it's not for me to begrudge him of his success whether it was with Juventus or with a different team.

Cannavaro is world class and I'm certainly excited to see him link back up with Chiellini and Buffon in the back. This is one of the worlds best national teams backline and I think the Juve fans that do not accept him are being selfish. This is potentially a really great move for the club and I'm excited to see how it will work. Canna also has the will to drive and will push his team mates to work harder.

I think a one year contract is appropriate for him, he certainly has aged, but Juve are smart to take advantage of a free transfer for him when he could have been sold for much more.
Rob

I think the thing that Cana got right was to go abroad. Ibra looks a bit worse because he left Juve to join a direct rival, I think as a Juve fan I'd be more annoyed at him.

Anyway, maybe Cana will find his feet back in Serie A, because he hasn't really had the best time at Real anyway.
Tommy Wong

Can somebody tell me if all the transfer gurus in Italy smoke massive amounts of dope? The top teams in Italy should be setting their sights on players of a higher caliber than this. Juventus are doing Cannavaro a huge favor by taking him back. Not the other way around.
Al

He also mentioned a few times that he wanted to win the Champions League. It would have taken 2 years for Juve to get back into the CL, so choosing to go to a monumental club (ick) to play some European football and try his luck abroad at least once is nothing to get mad at him for.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

give him a chance, we have the new cannavaro (chiellini) and it wont hurt to have the original however old he may be.
Francesco

I'm not a Juve fan, so I'm not bitter towards Cannavaro, but I have to say I could understand his decision to leave back in the summer of 2006. Here was a player who even back in 2006 was thought to be on the downside of his career despite playing two awesome seasons with Juventus and he came out of the World Cup on top of the world as a hero of Italy's triumphant victory. So who could blame him for trying to find a little more success before he got even older and into his real decline (which looks to be happening now). It will be interesting to see if we can see the Cannavaro of old one more time next season. And this transfer helps Italy, because Cannavaro and Chiellini will now be playing together every day, which will help them form a great defensive partnership that should lead Italy at the back in South Africa.
Drabik

Bramble isnt as bad as he used to be. He has been a consistantly good performer this season. I can see why Juve fans would be angry at Fabio, but he is still a great talent, and if he can improve the team in some way, then you have to accept that.