Juventus Target Fernando Meira
After last week’s speculation regarding Mario Gomez and a move to Juve, key defender Fernando Meira is the latest Stuttgart player linked with a move to Italy.
zoom - galleria A report in the newspaper ‘Público’ claims that the Portuguese player is poised for a move to Juventus. AC Milan and Real Madrid are also stated as showing an interest in the 29 year old Stuttgart captain.
"The interest of these big clubs is there. That is all i can say. It would be an honour to play in Italy next season, the same would apply to Spain.
"If the club had the wish to sell me, then i would definitely go" Meira is reported to have said.
He extended his current contract with the Bundesliga side in March 2006 until 2010. He was a key player for the Swabians as they clinched the Bundeliga title last season.
Mathew Burt
მე როგორც ვიცი ეს კაი მცველია არ აწყენდა იუვეს
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Portuguese midfielder Tiago has been snapped up by Juventus as the newly-promoted Bianconeri prepare to challenge once more for the Scudetto. Tiago has gone from SuperLiga to Premiership to Ligue 1 and will now hope to win medals in Serie A. Goal.com profiles this highly-rated heir to Portugial's "golden generation"...
zoom - galleria Early Years
Tiago Cardoso Mendes was born on 2nd May 1981 in Viana do Castelo, a resort town in northern Portugal. His first steps towards footballing success were as a striker in junior football, but he was converted into a defensive midfielder at his local club, Sporting Braga, with whom he turned professional in his late teens.
Tiago came to prominence with Sporting Braga B, the reserve team of Sporting Braga, during the 1999-2000 season, and progressed to the first team during the following campaign, helping Braga to a 4th-placed finish and qualification for the Uefa Cup and attracting the interest of larger Portuguese clubs along the way. Tiago made more than 60 league appearances for Braga, but in December 2001 he was transferred to Benfica.
In his full first season with the Eagles of Lisbon (2002-03), Tiago scored 13 goals in 31 league games as Benfica finished second, and in November 2002 he was called up for his international debut in Portugal's friendly against Scotland.
With Benfica, Tiago won his first club honour, the Portuguese Cup in 2004. He did so amid high drama as Benfica came from behind to beat FC Porto in extra-time. Porto, under Jose Mourinho, had won the Portuguese SuperLiga title and were soon to be crowned champions of Europe, so Benfica's victory denied them an historic treble.
But Mourinho had been impressed by the midfielder's effort and desire, and when Jose was appointed manager of Chelsea in the summer of 2004, he made Tiago one of his early transfer targets. On 20th July 2004, having made 95 appearances and scored 19 goals for Benfica, Tiago Mendes signed a three-year contract with Chelsea for a fee in the region of €15 million (over £8 million).
ესეც ჩვენი ტიაგოს დოსიე თუ დადო ეს ინფო მანამდე არ ვიცი ვინმემ ყოველშემთხვევაში იყოს მაინც
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To England, France….& Italy
As Mourinho's sixth signing of summer 2004, Tiago missed Chelsea's first game of the 2004-05 season but quickly established himself as a key member of the squad, scoring on his away debut against Crystal Palace on 24th August 2004.
At the other end of the campaign, Tiago produced a stunning long-range effort, one of Chelsea's goals in a 3-1 victory over Manchester United on 11th May 2005 as the Blues stormed to their first top-flight English League title for 50 years.
Tiago was a regular in Chelsea's three-man midfield that season, missing just four Premiership matches, making 51 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring 4 goals and winning a Carling Cup winner's medal as well as a Premier League championship medal.
However, when Mourinho bought Michael Essien from Lyon in August 2005, Tiago's first team opportunities were compromised, the Ghanaian displacing him in the pecking order. After bidding an emotional farewell to Stamford Bridge, Tiago flew to Lyon and successfully passed a medical with the French champions, Lyon. He signed a four-year deal for a €10.1 million (£6.82m) transfer fee. Mourinho later confessed that letting Tiago go was a big mistake.
At Lyon, where he was initially deployed as the holding player in a four-man midfield alongside Juninho, Mahamadou Diarra and Florent Malouda, Tiago enjoyed an outstanding first season (2005-06), scoring 7 goals in 37 appearances. He scored twice against PSV Eindhoven to take Lyon to the Champions League quarter-finals, and hit the winner against Troyes on 1st April as Lyon clinched a fifth successive Ligue 1 title. Ironically, Tiago's impact at Lyon was such that the team had scarcely missed Essien.
When Diarra left for Real Madrid the following season, to be replaced by Jeremy Toulalan, Tiago assumed greater authority in the Lyon midfield. He won his second consecutive Ligue 1 title and helped take Gerard Houllier's side to the Coupe de la Ligue final, where they surprisingly lost to a last-minute goal against Bordeaux. Tiago scored 6 goals in 40 appearances in his second season in France.
But on 17th June 2007, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas confirmed that the Serie A giants Juventus and AC Milan were both chasing Tiago's signature, and that a sale was imminent. The Portuguese star officially signed for Juve on 21st June for a fee
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ტურინის იუვენტუსის ფანკლუბი.FORZA JUVE!, ბებერი ქალბატონის ფანებო აქეთ. VOL.8
