Francesco Lodi is being courted by both Milan giants according to Sky Sports Italia. The 28 year old midfielder has been a constant in the Catania midfield this season and has scored 4 goals in 19 appearances.

Catania however, are not surprisingly reluctant to let their set piece specialist go, insisting that they will not sell until the summer. It seems as though both Milan clubs will try and test the resolve of the Sicilian side this January even though they may have to pay over the odds to do so.

With public finances a mess and so many proposed stadiums rejected, it is no wonder that many believe Italy are incapable of regenerating her football arenas. However, after the recent success of the Juventus Arena and the new Stadium Law, the new projects may soon become a reality.

Juventus have been the trail-blazers in the Peninsula, building a superb state of the art stadium without breaking the bank. This also was off the back of the Calciopoli scandal and this smart move has now catapulted the club to one of the top teams in Italy. With high attendances generating big profit from ticket sales along with the extra match day revenue the ‘Old Lady’ has also proved that she is wise.

Clubs in Italy can now hope to be bolstered by the new Stadium Law that is soon to come into play. This is a piece of legislation that has been in place for two years but has yet to be finalised. Now the current government are hoping to get the law passed before the Stadium Business Summit that will take place in Turin in May. This summit will in turn hope to show the world what Italy’s intentions and clear cut plans will be in relation to this matter.

The Stadium Law itself hopes to give the private sector the chance to develop these new Stadia as they work alongside the local authorities. This will mirror the government’s plan that they have for the rest of the country although much will depend on the cooperation of the regional authorities. The description given of this law that will generate this boom in Stadia construction has been called a ‘PPP Finance model’.

Italian clubs all around the peninsula are now ready to start implementing the plans that have been festering in their archives for years. No better example that clubs believe that it is the time to act could be found this week than in the actions of Cagliari President Massimo Cellino. He decided to pull out a revolutionary plan against his local authorities this week due to the fact he was so unhappy with the lack of renovation work on Stadio Sant’Elia. He has also been frustrated with the lack of progress over the years on his new stadium proposal. Therefore Cellino decided to have the weekend’s match against Inter moved to Trieste 1,133km away.

This echoed recent comments made by Ugo Cappellacci, president of Sardinia’s regional authority, who said that Cagliari’s recent game against Cesena was: “an exciting show in a desolate arena” and that it was “inadequate for the needs of the team, fans and Sardinia.” Despite support from the Mayor, Cellino thought that after his recent plan to build near the airport had been blocked, drastic action was needed.

Catania are another club who have had problems with their stadium although this has mainly been the result of violence. Nonetheless in an attempt to create a better environment for football to be watched, Nino Pulvirenti, President of the club has suggested a 30-35,000 capacity venue to be erected at a cost of 80-100 million Euros. This new arena would contain space for municipal offices which are thought to be of interest to the local authorities.

Read more at http://www.footballitaliano.co.uk/p6_66_6950_is-italy-preparing-for-a-stadium-overhaul.html