Cagliari put Italy WCup keeper Marchetti up for sale

Serie A minnows Cagliari have put Italy goalkeeper Federico Marchetti on the transfer list after the player admitted he wants to leave the club.

Marchetti played in all three of Italy’s World Cup matches in South Africa following a herniated disc suffered by first choice stopper Gianluigi Buffon.

And having had such a taste of the big time, Marchetti told the press that he wanted to move on to bigger and better things.

Cagliari have now said he can leave, although club president Massimo Cellino expressed his disappointment with the way the player went about things.

“He expressed his desire to go through quotes in the press,” said a club statement. “The club has done everything to accommodate him and should he leave Cagliari the new goalkeeper will be (back-up Michael) Agazzi.

“Cagliari are not looking for a first choice goalkeeper.”

Fans were hostile to Marchetti during Cagliari’s first pre-season friendly at the weekend after the 27-year-old let it be known that he was upset at not joining Sampdoria who play Champions League football next season.

“I was hurt by Marchetti’s quotes,” said Cellino. “It would have been better if he’d first expressed these feelings to me.

“I didn’t like reading certain things in the paper.”

Having started his career at Torino in 2002, Marchetti got his big break at Serie B Albinoleffe and in 2007/08 he was named Serie B goalkeeper of the year.

That was enough to convince Cagliari to snap him up, initially on loan, but following a meteoric rise to the Italian national team, Marchetti is sure to be one of the hottest properties on the market.