By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Simone Pianigiani seems to be targeted by many teams, despite the fact he has one more year on his contract with Montepaschi Siena. And there is a reason for that and its the rumors concerning Monte dei Paschi Bank withdrawing from being the main sponsor of the team, which eventually will have to relocate from the city of Siena. We asked from Gazzetta Dello Sport’s Luca Chiabotti to help us understand what’s going on and here are our conclusions.
First of all, its true Pianigiani signed till the summer of 2013 with Siena, but its also true he has a new agent (Vera Vakunenko, former CSKA Moscow‘s vice president and member of ProStep Sports Agency).
Ιn past months we read a couple of times GM Ferdinando Minucci saying Pianigiani is tired, after five years, with a lot of hard work in Siena and in Italian national team, the last couple of years. As he quoted «I have a contract with him, but if Simone ask me to leave, we will make a deal». And whoever read this line twice was sure that the ideal situation for Minucci would be a resignation from Pianigiani, so he won’t have to pay him any compensation and he will be able to cut the budget, which is going to be smaller than this year.
Of course the situation of Monte dei Paschi, the bank which gives the 70% of Siena’s budget, is not the best. But at the same time, nobody believes MPS is going to abandon Siena. Although you be sure thing that a lot of Siena’s sponsors who give money, after MPS’s… requests, will leave and that means the budget is going to be reduced by 30% and it will reach 12 million euros. Not a bad number, considering what’s going on all over Europe.
The big question is what will happen if Monte dei Paschi collapses? It’s the worst case scenario, but it’s not something you can bet it won’t ever happen. For now, the bank’s main object, reportedly, is to cut around 1500 employees and if they do that of course lots of people will wonder how they can fire so many employees and at the same time keep giving money to a basketball team?
As it was reported on Sunday, David Moss signed for two more years with Siena (and will be paid 250.000 euros per season) a move that it’s all about value for money. So, Moss has a good… balance and that’s why got an offer and an extension. We cannot say the same thing about Bo McCalebb (he has a contract with a big buy out) or Rimantas Kaukenas, David Andersen and Kšyštof Lavrinovic (they all have big contracts, the kind Siena no longer wants to keep on their budget).