<p>Bari, a city on the heel of the Italian boot, is an excellent market for Serie A and Italian soccer and the type of club that should be a mainstay in Serie A.&nbsp;&nbsp;The metropolitan area is home to over 1.6 million Italians&nbsp;and Stadio San Nicola was one of the modern stadiums built prior to the 1990 World Cup in Italy.&nbsp; So the <em>Gilletti</em>‘s promotion to Serie A in 2009 was a financial boon for Serie A, and the fans responded to the promotion by averaging more fans per game last season than Juventus.&nbsp; The club also performed well on the pitch, challenging early in the year for a European tournament spot before finishing the season in 10th place.</p>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 5px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/bologna-bari/image/7646981?term=Bari" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/7646981/bologna-bari/bologna-bari.jpg?size=234&amp;imageId=7646981" alt="Jan. 24, 2010 - Bologna, Italy - epa02003819 AS Bari&apos;s Brazilian striker Vitor Barreto celebrates after scoring against FC Bologna during the Italian Serie A soccer match at &apos;Dall&apos;Ara&apos; stadium in Bologna, Italy, 24 January 2010. Bologna won 2-1." width="234" height="351" border="0"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>But like all smaller clubs who overachieve and display quality talent, Bari&nbsp;has been&nbsp;raided by the larger clubs.&nbsp; Rising star Leonardo Bonucci was <a href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=807976&amp;sec=transfers&amp;root=transfers&amp;cc=5901" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold to Juventus</a> in a highly publicized move (for quite a sum of money), leaving a gap in the Bari backline.&nbsp; In addition to the Azzurri defender, Bari also <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&amp;sl=it&amp;u=http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Perinetti&amp;ei=xos8TKL3PIG78ga2_s2mBg&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=translate&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=8&amp;ved=0CDAQ7gEwBzgK&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3DGiorgio%2BPerinetti%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26prmd%3Do" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost its sports director</a> Giorgio Perinetti, who was instrumental in composing&nbsp;a roster&nbsp;for a successful campaign despite the club losing its manager and going through a potential sale in the first few months of the Serie A season last year.</p>
<p>But new&nbsp;sports director&nbsp;Guido Angelozzi has immediately made his mark upon the squad.&nbsp; In a move that is critical to the team’s success, he negotiated a co-ownership deal with Udinese to retain top goal scorer&nbsp;Vitor Barreto, allowing Bari to retain its most proficient offensive weapon.&nbsp; <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">In addition, the club has refused to sell defender Andrea Ranocchia so far this offseason.&nbsp; Ranocchia was brilliant next to Bonucci and is a potential backline contributor for the Azzurri in Euro 2012</span>. <strong>Update: </strong>Looks like Bari needs another defender – Ranocchia taken back from loan by Genoa and is now co-owned by Genoa and Inter.</p>
<p>But standing pat was not enough for this club; to offset the losses suffered this offseason the club needs to be active in the transfer market.</p>
<p>So far, Angelozzi and manager Giampiero Ventura have secured two players to help the offense.&nbsp; The first was Abdelkader Ghezzal from Siena.&nbsp; Ghezzal was last seen playing for Algeria in the World Cup, where he received a red card in the US match.&nbsp; He is just blooming as a player after struggling in Ligue 1 early in his career – last season he scored five goals in twenty Serie A matches.&nbsp; Bari gets Ghezzal for two players who were unlikely to be major contributors for next year’s squad.&nbsp; The second player is midfielder Nico Pulzetti from relegated club Livorno.&nbsp; Pulzetti had a down year in Serie A last year one season after he was instrumental to Livorno’s rise to Serie A.</p>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/sports/peace-cup-aston-villa/image/5750522?term=giovinco" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/5750522/peace-cup-aston-villa/peace-cup-aston-villa.jpg?size=234&amp;imageId=5750522" alt="Juventus&apos;s Giovinco during the Final of the Peace Cup at La Cartuja stadium in Sevilla, Spain, August 2, 2009. UPI/Paco Puentes Photo via Newscom" width="234" height="353" border="0"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>And Bari may not yet be done.&nbsp; <a href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=808639&amp;sec=transfers&amp;cc=5901&amp;cc=5901" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN is reporting </a>that Bari is pursuing Sebastian Giovinco to boost their attack.&nbsp; The midfielder is an up-and-coming star who was relegated to the bench for most of last season, but has excelled on the Italian Olympic team as well as the U-21 side.&nbsp; “Formica Atomica” is a future member of the Azzurri who will excel if given the opportunity to direct the <em>Gilletti </em>attack with Ghezzal, Barreto, and Edgar Alvarez.</p>
<p>The club could use another defender to pair with Cristian Stellini and Salvatore Masiello.&nbsp; They cannot replace a Bonucci, but another center back would go a long way to maintaining their quality defending in front of Jean-Francois Gillet.&nbsp; This is an important season for the <em>Gilletti</em>.&nbsp; The club has traditionally jumped up and down between the leagues, but it has the fan base and finances to not only be a top flight club, but a contender for a European spot.&nbsp; If they sign Giovinco and shore up their defense, there is no doubt they can be contenders for a European tournament spot.</p>

Bari Positioning Itself for a Top Six Finish

Bari Positioning Itself for a Top Six Finish - World Soccer Talk

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Bari Positioning Itself for a Top Six Finish