Serie B club Catania have approached Liverpool about their new signing Gabriel Paletta.
Liverpool signed Paletta from Argentina's Banfield betting earlier this year and manager Rafa Benitez is keen to have him join preseason on Merseyside. Paletta carries an Italian passport, which means there will be no work permit problems for the young centre-half.
However, Catania hope to convince Liverpool to let them take Paletta on a 12-month loan for next season.

The last line of the UANL Tigres hymn goes something like this: With pride and with honor, together we go to victory, the team and their fans.
TO WIN!...
Goalkeeper Edgar Hernandez’s will and Carlos Ramirez’s timely goal helped the university squad do just that, as they edged Universidad Catolica 1-0 and moved through to the Copa Libertadores final sixteen.
The feline goalkeeper was a key player in the narrow qualification to the knockout stages of the most prestigious Latin American soccer club competition, proving last year’s quarterfinals run was no fluke.
Cubs’ 2005 Roar
One of the youngest teams in First Division, as they were born in 1958, the Nuevo Leon Autonomous University’s first international appearance ever was just last year.
They won the Interliga tournament in the US and hit the ground running into the Copa Libertadores, getting out of a tough group which included seasoned international competitors such as Peru’s Alianza Lima and Argentina’s Banfield.
Then the upstart cubs upset ’04 champs, Colombia’s Once Caldas to make it to the quarterfinals, where they fought bravely against the eventual champions, Sao Paulo.
No fluke
Proving last year’s romp was no joke, the cats won the Interliga tournament again, this time beating Nuevo Leon nemesis, Monterrey.
Tigres won arguably the best game of the tournament, a 5-4 track meet against Colombian Deportivo Cali at home after staring at an 0-2 deficit.
In their most complete game, they shut down high-powered Corinthians, knocking out Argentine ace Carlos Tevez in the process.
Pulling out all the stops
Needing a win to qualify, as the Chileans had a 10-7 points edge, Hernandez did the unthinkable:
Late in the game he left his net to help the team score the winning goal, which motivated them to do just that against a pesky U Catolica, a few minutes into injury time.
“You don’t think about it, suddenly you’re motivated, and it’s those small things that build the team’s confidence,” said Hernandez. “I think everyone’s efforts were rewarded by our qualifying.”
One of the most consistent of all the Tigres, Hernandez said he checked with his manager “Tuca” Ferreti before taking off. “He turned his head, checked the clock, then gave me the sign to go.” He added that scoring a goal would’ve been nice but injecting enthusiasm into his team was equally important.”
Carlos Ramirez, who is getting used to coming through in the clutch, and scored the crucial goal, gave credit to his teammate, Julio Cesar Santos, for setting him up.
“Half the goal is his (Santos’s) and half mine,” said Ramirez, adding that the team is not done. “There’s still work to do, all we did was advance to the next round.”
Glad about seeing the fans’ enthusiasm, Ramirez modestly quipped, “I’m not the hero, we are all heroes.”
Tuca
For the Tigres coach, Brazilian born Ricardo Ferreti, the team had the ability to win all along, they just lacked the aggressiveness to put away the opponent.
Tuca knows about winning: as one of Mexico’s most winning active coaches, he was the last coach to win a championship with Chivas of Guadalajara in ’97, before winning a pair of championships in Toluca, and was a player/coach with UNAM when they won it all in ‘90/91.
“It was a painful win because it came in the stoppage time, but I think the team always had the ability in their hands,” said Ferreti, who refused to comment on which tournament the team will focus on.
“In the second half we had other chances, and finally, when we thought it was all over, we made the play and got the ticket. It would have been unfortunate had we not made it.”
Sweet Sixteen
With a healthy ‘Chamagol’, who has three goals in the tournament, Walter Gaitan as stout as ever in the middle, and the always tough Hernandez minding the nets, the Tigres can give Libertad fits, the only question is whether they’ll be able to do it in Paraguay, away from Universitario Stadium.
Just like last year, we’ll once again see the ferocious Tigers show their fangs in the quarterfinals.

ARGENTINE police arrested 123 fans after 15 people were injured in an armed clash between fans of Boca Juniors and rival team Rosario Central on an Argentine highway, the country's police told media on Monday. The police said the gunfight began at midnight on Sunday, close to the General Lagos toll on the Rosario-Buenos Aires highway, when Boca Juniors fans returning from a Boca-Colon match in the Buenos Aires state city of Santa Fe, ran into followers of Rosario Central returning from a Rosario-Banfield spreads match in greater Buenos Aires. The police arrested fans and took them to the Rosario Country House police station, and carried the injured to the Clemente Alvarez and Centenario hospitals. Only three of the injured were severely hurt, suffering bullet wounds to the head. They were looked after in the San Nicolas Hospital intensive care unit. The incident is similar to an April 2003 fatal clash between fans of Newell's Old Boys and River Plate, on Highway 9, close to the Buenos Aires state city of Zarate, which killed two Rosario fans and left 13 more people injured. In the 2003 case, fans were travelling to away games: to Rosario in the case of River and to Buenos Aires for a Boca match for the Newell's fans.

Argentine soccer team Velez Sarsfield, with nine Libertadores Cup points, is looking likely to win through to the knockout stage of the Cup, as it welcomes Peru's Universitario, with one point, to its grounds on Tuesday.
The game, which is Velez's fourth match in Group Five, will begin at 7 p.m. local time (2200 GMT), with Paraguay's Ricardo Grance as referee.
Velez has won all its matches to date, beating Universitario 1-0 at home, a loss which has put the job of Universitario's Argentine manager, Juan Amador Sanchez, under pressure.
Although a long way ahead of the rest of the group, Velez, which is managed by Miguel Angel Russo, will still be hungry for a win; teams with high scores in the first phase of the competition start the knockout phase with an advantage.
Velez is also doing well in Argentina's domestic league tournament, having just beaten Banfield 1-0. Velez is now only three league points behind current leader Boca Juniors, which did not qualify for the Libertadores Cup.
This year is the ninth time the Buenos Aires team has played in the Libertadores. It won in 1994 under Carlos Bianchi's management.
Universitario has taken part in the contest most often of any team in Peru, playing 25 times, but has never lifted the Cup. The team is missing many of its most important players -- including Luis Guadalupe, Gregorio Bernales, Jose Pereda, Jose Mendoza, Paolo Maldonado and Juan Flores -- leading to a poor recent performance, winning two games and losing four, incluing a 1-0 loss at Friday's match with Universidad San Martin.

Boca Juniors had two players sent off for the second weekend in a row but still managed to beat Banfield 2-1 in the Argentina championship on Sunday.

Lanus hammered River Plate 4-1 while Newell's Old Boys held arch-rivals Rosario Central 0-0. River, Boca and Newell's are now level at the top of the Clausura championship with 25 points from 13 games.
Boca went ahead in the 15th minute when Banfield defender Marcos Galarza deflected Martin Palermo's shot into his own net.
The game seemed to turn Banfield's way in the 50th minute when Daniel Diaz handled Jose Sand's goal-bound shot on the line and was sent off. Jose Datolo fired home the penalty to equalise.
In the 72nd minute, Boca midfielder Federico Insua was given a second yellow card for diving, leaving his team with nine men.
But Banfield failed to capitalise and Boca snatched a last-minute winner when Hugo Ibarra's long-range shot caught goalkeeper Cristian Lucchetti out of position.
'The team was extraordinary, it's not any team that can do this,' said Boca coach Alfio Basile.
'The refereeing today was a disaster and I'm not just blaming the referee, but also the linesmen.'
River, unbeaten in their last 10 matches, found themselves 3-0 down at halftime away to Lanus.
Sebastian Leto fired Lanus in front with their first real attack in the 20th minute, Danilo Gerlo headed into his own net and then Agustin Pelletieri made it 3-0 a minute before the break.
Ernesto Farias tapped in from close range to the reduce the deficit six minutes after the re-start but Cristian Fabbiani restored Lanus's three-goal advantage in the 75th minute.
Meanwhile, Newell's and Rosario both appeared happy with a point in a dreary 0-0 draw.
Racing Club, coached by former Argentina captain Diego Simeone, remain bottom of the table after a 2-0 loss away to Argentinos Juniors, their ninth defeat in 13 outings.
Racing's frustration boiled over when Sebastian Romero was sent off in the 85th minute and Diego Menghi followed a minute later.