Bologna complete Zaccardo swap

Bologna FC have swapped Cristian Zaccardo for US Palermo defender Vasile Valentin Nastase.

Swap deal
Defender Zaccardo will make his way to Sicily to join Francesco Guidolin's Palermo, who won promotion to Serie A at the end of the 2003/04 season, while the Romanian Nastase will join Carlo Mazzone's Bologna on a two-year contract. No financial details of the deal have been disclosed.

Youth international
The 21-year-old Zaccardo was a member of the Italy side who triumphed at this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and has been capped 42 times at junior level for Italy since 1997. In three seasons at Bologna he has played 79 games scoring twice.

Romanian campaigner
In what proved to be his final season with Palermo, Nastase played 16 games as the club won promotion to Serie A after a 31-year wait. He had joined the club from FC Genoa 1893 in 2002 having originally played in Romania for FC Dinamo Bucuresti.