Micah-Christenson
According to Gian Luca Pasini, SuperLega defending champions Lube are reluctant to extend the deal with the U.S. setter Micah Christenson.
It is unknown if they are unhappy with his performances this season or they are only adjusting the financial details of the new contract with the player.
So far in the 2017/18, Christenson had the best points and kill blocks per game average in February.
See our sections – Transfers – Done Deals and Transfers – Rumors.
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Thats crazy they hire Leal then release Micah, that would hurt lube if they release Micah , he played well for lube but its not just lube year to win trophies
If this is true, it’s ridiculous. Micah is one of the best setters in the world, who has proven himself playing for Lube for last few years. This would only make sense if he wants to leave for Asia to make more money, and now Lube is trying to make it look like they don’t want him anymore. There are only a few setters of his level in the world like Bruno, William, Giannelli and I am not sure any of them will be available next season.
Re: @former_player
bruno contract with modena will end this season he already express that he want to stay in modena but i know they will extend his contract. so it will be a stupid decision for lube if they realease micah they sign LEAL now they will release there good setter lube will suffer a big adjustment next season if ever grebenikov in trentino and they will release micah. that was the biggest mistake of lube they let grebenikov sign in trentino now they will release micah because they sign leal why not just release SANDER.
Most likely adjusting to pay him more rather than lose him to the open market. Christenson is a top 3-5 setter in the world and Lube is lucky to have his services.
The problem for Lube right now is the lack of good Italian players in their team. They have Juantorena and Cester/Candellaro as starting seven Italians, the rest are foreigners. Lube has to puzzle right now to build up a team that’s according to the rules of the Italian league and for that they need to release one player of their current starting six.
If I’m correct, they have renewed with Sokolov and Stankovic is still under contract so they need to or release Christenson and replace him with an Italian setter (Travica perhaps) or put Stankovic on the bench which doesn’t seem very likely to me.
Re: @synlerak there is no problem with lube roster only sander and christenson are considered FOREIGN PLAYERS if you are a volleyball player from europe you won’t be considered to be a FOREIGN PLAYER it was on the rules of EU. so there is no problem if they renew SOKOLOV and STANKOVIC still under contract the problem is lube is trying to sign LEAL so they might be thinking of releasing the two americans, lube already said they are still thinking SANDER future with them. so if they want to release micah its because of LEAL.
Re: @deejae69
Christenson and Sander are American, Sokolov is Bulgarian, Stankovic is Serbian, Gebrennikov is French and Juantorena, Candellaro and Cester are Italian. The ones that are NOT Italian are considered to be foreigners for games in the Italian league. There need to be at least 3 italian players in starting seven in a game and here is now the problem.
Re: @synlerak
ok so that’s your belief so how can you explain this have you watched trentino volley game. they start with LANZA (ITA), GIANNELLI (ITA), EDER(BRA), KOZAMERNIK (SLO), TEPPAN (EST). KOVACEKIC (SRB) CHIAPPA(ITA) so they played with 4 foreign players and 3 ITALIANS, then one of LUBE’S game they start with SANDER, CHRISTENSON, SOKOLOV, STANKOVIC, JUANTORENA, GREBENNIKOV, CESTER so again 4 FOREIGN and 3 ITALIANS. there is a rules in EU that any volleyball players that lives in EUROPE are not considered a FOREIGN PLAYER.
Re: @deejae69 Stankovic does not start if Kovar does not start. Candellaro starts if or Kovar or Sander starts.
Teppan does not start without Lanza and Hoag starts with Lanza or Vettori.
Never heard of the EU rule you are saying. I think the number of foreign players depend on the league and not on EU.
Re: @deejae69 can you make that clear because I might not be aware of this detail in the rules: Is a player with a nationality from a country of the European Union considered an ‘Italian’ or is that already the case if the player is simply from a European country? Is this a new rule, because it always seemed to me that this, like you’re claiming it to be, was never the case. By your logic that means that for Trentino you have Kozamernik and Teppan as ‘Italian’ players because they’re from Sovenia and Estonia respectively (members of the EU, Kovacevic as well if for being European) and for Civitanova that Sokolov and Gebrennikov are ‘Italian’ for the same reason (including Stankovic if it is simply for being European). But I’ve never seen Civitanova play with Sander and Stankovic at the same time in the Italian league (provided that the rest of their starting seven wasn’t any different). Either it was the case that Sander was substituted by Kovar or Stankovic by Candellaro.
Not sure what rules of the Italian league you are referring to but Stankovic is 33 and Micah is 25. On top of that Micah is one of the best setters in the world, and Stankovic is past prime. IMHO, he is the first candidate to be released if the issue is number of foreign players
I believe as long as you are not Italian, you are considered a foreign player in Serie A1.
This is actually the reason brought up by Dick Kooy when he changed sport nationality (from Dutch to Italian). As according to him, getting an Italian sport nationality, he will be able to play as a local player in Serie A1.
Currently, a rule that 3 of the starting 7 must be Italians.
For Lube: They usually have Juantorena, Cester and Kovar as those people and sometimes Candellaro.
I actually don’t quite believe that Lube will release Christenson, he is a top setter. He would be so hard to replace. However, if Lube is really keen on pursuing Leal, they will need to make room for one of the 4 starting positions for the foreign player.
I think the best decison for them is to release not the setter BUT their FOREIGN STARTING LIBERO, that is GREBENNIKOV. I believe Jenia is the only starting libero that plays in Serie A1 that is not Italian. I’ve read somewhere that they are looking at having Fabio Balaso replace him.
If this pushes thru, Lube can now have a starting 7 consisting of Juantorena-Leal (RECEIVERS), Christenson-Sokolov (SETTER/OPPOSITE), Cester-Stankovic/Candellaro (MIDDLE), Balaso (LIBERO). There’s even a rumor going around that they will get Lisinac. This could be done as the trifecta of Italian players is already completed with Juantorena, Cester and Balaso.
The team that actually would face a bigger problem is Perugia. It seems like Zaytsev is definitely leaving the team. They are stupid for letting this happen. Right now they have Ivan Zaytsev , Massimo Colaci and Simone Anazani as their 3 Italian starters. If Perugia will now get Leon, they need to find a QUALITY ITALIAN that can fill in the void left by Ivan.
They kept Russell, which is a brilliant decision. He’s young and he is on the ups. But he’s American. They renewed with Atanasijević and Podrascanin. I’m not sure with De Cecco if he’s already renewed but he’s also not Italian. One of these four would definitely need to give way for Leon.
Re: @Adrian Masacupan
De Cecco is renewed until 2020.