Now that Pinto has signed, a quick recap.

By: Jeremy | August 15th, 2008

Okay. It was a busy transfer period. Gustavo Pinto just signed, after being turned down by Caruso, and barring the semi-miraculous, there will be no more. So just for the fun of it I thought I would run down who is new and who is gone.

IN:
German Caffa, G, San Martin (T); brought in to start
Juan Insaurralde, D, Chacarita Jrs; spot starter and cover
Sebastian Grazzini, M, Sestresse (Italy); depth
Pablo Monsalvo, M, AIK (Sweden); depth
Gaston Machin, M, Independiente; brought in to start - may prove to be the biggest signing
Ernesto Cristaldo, M, Cerro Porteno (Paraguay); depth
Walter Fretes, M, Cerro Porteno (Paraguay); brought in to start
Cristian Fabbiani, F, CFR Cluj (Romania); brought in to start and be the big signing
Leandro Armani, F, Tiro Federal; will be given a chance to start
Sebastian Peratta, G, Velez-Sarsfield; competition for the #2
Luis Escalada, F, Gimnasia (J); not really sure on this one - potential starter or enganche
Gustavo Pinto, M, some Russian club; depth
Diego Barreto, G, Cerro Porteno (Paraguay) - actually returning from a loan deal; compete for #2
Cristian Trombetta, D, Nueva Chicago; is he still with the club? was he ever with the club?
Guido Barreyro, F, Sparta Prague (Czech Rep.) Loaned to Tiro Federal. Future starter.

And OUT:
Justo Villar, G, Vallodolid (Spain); Big loss. Team leader and fan favorite.
Santiago Salcedo, F, River Plate; The other big loss. Second in the league in goals scored last season.
Nico Cabrera, M, Velez-Sarsfield; never got along with Caruso
Marcos Gutierrez, G, San Martin de Tucuman; left after Caffa was signed, so a keeper swap happened -nothing against Gutierrez, but I think Newell’s got the better end of the deal.
Cristian Llama, M, Catania (Italy);
Martin Seri, M, San Martin (SJ);
Adrian Lucero, M, Racing;
Miguel Torren, D, Cerro Porteno (Paraguay);
Pablo Vazquez, F, Nuevo Chicago

They are still lusting after Miguel Caneo, but Boyaco Chico (Columbia) appears to have set a price of $2,000,000 for him. Good luck, senor Lopez, with that one. Newell’s has asked for another week to try and find the cash.

It appears that the Barrientos and Pillud deals aren’t going to happen now. Oh well, neither one of them got me super excited. All in all, I think it is a stronger side than last season. Sure we lost Justo and Sasa, but Caffa appears to be the real deal, the defense is intact from last year and added to this season, and the midfield is markedly improved. If the new strikers can manage to share the load between them, then it will be a pretty exciting team.