12-28-2013, 02:41 PM
Thanks for the replies guys, would love to see more responses as always. Xu, thanks for the nice words, I just love to discuss football and Milan (yes, even in these sad times). I know your feeling though, time is very limited for me too (my 3 month old son makes sure of that) and I tend to just get maybe 30 mins in the day to post on the forum. Thing is, I love reading the various opinions here, because we actually get consistently intelligent discussion. If I wanted just activity, then obviously R&B forums are a good place to go, but truth is I don't have time to trawl through 50 nonsense posts to find 1 good one all the time.
Anyway, back to the topic. Xu, I think Rami came on loan so we may not get him next summer. LOL at your reason for Muntari not being wanted
As for my thoughts, I'll start with who should stay from the current squad:
GK:
- Abbiati: I'd keep for one more year.
- Gabriel: I'd see if we can use him to get Perin and get him consistent play time.
- Coppola: Keep as 3rd choice
- Amelia: Sell
DEF:
- Abate: Renew if possible
- Bonera: Keep
- Constant: Sell
- De Sciglio: Keep
- Mexes: Sell. Imo way overrated, ill disciplined and costly.
- Silvestre: Send back to Inter.
- Vergara: Send out on loan for experience
- Zaccardo: Sell
- Zapata: Keep
- Rami: Depends on how well he does between January and June. I believe he's on loan, so it comes at no extra cost.
MID:
- Birsa: Sell
- Cristante: Keep and offer a more important role, even if not as starter
- De Jong: Keep, if he's prepared to accept he's not a definite starter
- Urby: Keep
- Montolivo: Keep
- Muntari: Keep, but as a backup as he should be
- Nocerino: Sell
- Poli: Keep
- Saponara: Keep
- Honda: Keep
ATT:
- Balotelli: Sell
- El Shaarawy: Keep
- Kaka: Keep
- Matri: Sell
- Niang: Maybe look to loan again to get more playing time
- Pazzini: Keep
- Robinho: Sell
That's a squad of 31, which is too big. I would look to reduce it to 25, which will be more manageable, but also we can reinvest in wages what we save in new players. I would look to get Nainggolan (without sacrificing Cristante) and Jorginho, who I have said many times I think could be fundamental for us and should be a priority, for midfield. Keeping Montolivo, De Jong, Muntari (as a backup at most), Poli, Cristante and Honda should give the platform for a balanced midfield with decent quality.
In goal, I'd try to get Perin, looking to maybe actually give half of Gabriel and some money to Genoa for half of Perin. Perin's going to have 2 years as a starter in Serie A next summer, while Gabriel could use game time (which I can see him getting at Genoa). Perin would come with the potential to be our number 1, fighting to start with Abbiati, who would . By doing this, we invest in the long term for one of Perin or Gabriel to be our starter in the future.
In defence, a lot depends on how Rami does. If he does well, we sign him permanently to fight for a spot with Zapata. If not, defence requires a new starting CB. Bonera for me is now important and a starter as he's the only cB with decent tactical knowledge and is the last of the old Milan group (passing on his experience). He would be our leader at the back. I am also with Reza that we need to trust our youth products and given we should be looking to promote 1 youth player every year, Iotti seems a good bet. He'll be 18/19, is a part of the Italian U19 set up and looks to be our most promising young defender. Unlike Albertazzi and Ely, I would rather we develop him in the senior set up ourselves than send him away on loan and into obscurity. Finally, in defence we need a new RB backup and a final CB backup (or if cheap I'd consider keeping Silvestre). Unfortunately, I just don't think we'll have good CBs for next season as that's going to have to be an area which we take more time to develop. I'd maybe keep Urby as LB backup, despite not liking him as a defender. That said, his contract runs out so maybe a signing like D'Ambrosio makes sense.
Finally, in attack I'm just not happy with Balotelli and so I'd sell him. I think at a minimum we can get 30m for him, but if his world cup is good, we can look to get more, which should get reinvested towards one top forward and help towards Nainggolan/Jorginho. I personally like Lukaku, who is still really young but a very consistent goalscorer (averages 1 in 2 in the Premier League for a long time now), is a stout professional and imo could become a Drogba like player for the future, even better imo despite being incomplete at this point. Some questions are raised about his technical quality though, so I'm not averse to alternatives if there are players who aren't well known yet. I'm unconcerned about getting someone so young as well, as with Kaka and Pazzini, we have experience up front to rely on as well.
The final squad (age in brackets) would be:
GK:
- Perin (21)
- Abbiati (36)
- Coppola (35)
DEF:
- Abate (27)
- Bonera (32)
- Zapata (27)
- Rami (28)
- De Sciglio (21)
- Urby (27)
- Iotti (18)
- Backup RB (??)
- Silvestre? (??)
MID:
- Cristante (18)
- De Jong (29)
- Montolivo (28)
- Muntari (29)
- Poli (24)
- Honda (27)
- Nainggolan (25)
- Jorginho (22)
ATT:
- Saponara (22)
- Kaka (31)
- El Shaarawy (21)
- Lukaku (20)
- Pazzini (29)
Average age: 25.9
For me, realistically we can look to build this squad by the end of next summer, without trying to revolutionise the squad completely, but at the same time, I think this squad can challenge for Serie A. Balotelli would be sacrificed to make way for long term projects and development of the overall squad. By selling him, at a minimum I'd expect we'd get 30m. Add sales like Constant, Zaccardo, Robinho, Nocerino, Birsa, Mexes and Matri and we should make a fairly significant sum (I'd say at least up to 10m), never mind the amount saved in wages as we reduce the squad size. Mexes and Binho alone are making 4m per year each, but in total these guys cost over 10m a year in salaries. All of this should cover the cost, or the majority of the cost, of Lukaku, Jorginho and Nainggolan.
The other thing I've tried to do is weed out the probematic/ill-disciplined characters in the current group. Mexes, Balo, Constant and Robinho. The odd one like Muntari remains, but it's hard to get rid of all players. At least Muntari doesnt seem just lazy.
As for coach, I think Prandelli is the one I like most out of realistic possibilities. In addition to this, I want us to reinvest in Milanlab. Everyone knows about our injury issues in recent years. This correlates to 2 things, one being Jean Pierre Meersseman was no longer full time at Milan, but also significantly I remember someone (I think Meersseman himself) saying Galliani cut funding in for Milanlab towards the end of the Ancelotti era.
Anyway, back to the topic. Xu, I think Rami came on loan so we may not get him next summer. LOL at your reason for Muntari not being wanted
As for my thoughts, I'll start with who should stay from the current squad:
GK:
- Abbiati: I'd keep for one more year.
- Gabriel: I'd see if we can use him to get Perin and get him consistent play time.
- Coppola: Keep as 3rd choice
- Amelia: Sell
DEF:
- Abate: Renew if possible
- Bonera: Keep
- Constant: Sell
- De Sciglio: Keep
- Mexes: Sell. Imo way overrated, ill disciplined and costly.
- Silvestre: Send back to Inter.
- Vergara: Send out on loan for experience
- Zaccardo: Sell
- Zapata: Keep
- Rami: Depends on how well he does between January and June. I believe he's on loan, so it comes at no extra cost.
MID:
- Birsa: Sell
- Cristante: Keep and offer a more important role, even if not as starter
- De Jong: Keep, if he's prepared to accept he's not a definite starter
- Urby: Keep
- Montolivo: Keep
- Muntari: Keep, but as a backup as he should be
- Nocerino: Sell
- Poli: Keep
- Saponara: Keep
- Honda: Keep
ATT:
- Balotelli: Sell
- El Shaarawy: Keep
- Kaka: Keep
- Matri: Sell
- Niang: Maybe look to loan again to get more playing time
- Pazzini: Keep
- Robinho: Sell
That's a squad of 31, which is too big. I would look to reduce it to 25, which will be more manageable, but also we can reinvest in wages what we save in new players. I would look to get Nainggolan (without sacrificing Cristante) and Jorginho, who I have said many times I think could be fundamental for us and should be a priority, for midfield. Keeping Montolivo, De Jong, Muntari (as a backup at most), Poli, Cristante and Honda should give the platform for a balanced midfield with decent quality.
In goal, I'd try to get Perin, looking to maybe actually give half of Gabriel and some money to Genoa for half of Perin. Perin's going to have 2 years as a starter in Serie A next summer, while Gabriel could use game time (which I can see him getting at Genoa). Perin would come with the potential to be our number 1, fighting to start with Abbiati, who would . By doing this, we invest in the long term for one of Perin or Gabriel to be our starter in the future.
In defence, a lot depends on how Rami does. If he does well, we sign him permanently to fight for a spot with Zapata. If not, defence requires a new starting CB. Bonera for me is now important and a starter as he's the only cB with decent tactical knowledge and is the last of the old Milan group (passing on his experience). He would be our leader at the back. I am also with Reza that we need to trust our youth products and given we should be looking to promote 1 youth player every year, Iotti seems a good bet. He'll be 18/19, is a part of the Italian U19 set up and looks to be our most promising young defender. Unlike Albertazzi and Ely, I would rather we develop him in the senior set up ourselves than send him away on loan and into obscurity. Finally, in defence we need a new RB backup and a final CB backup (or if cheap I'd consider keeping Silvestre). Unfortunately, I just don't think we'll have good CBs for next season as that's going to have to be an area which we take more time to develop. I'd maybe keep Urby as LB backup, despite not liking him as a defender. That said, his contract runs out so maybe a signing like D'Ambrosio makes sense.
Finally, in attack I'm just not happy with Balotelli and so I'd sell him. I think at a minimum we can get 30m for him, but if his world cup is good, we can look to get more, which should get reinvested towards one top forward and help towards Nainggolan/Jorginho. I personally like Lukaku, who is still really young but a very consistent goalscorer (averages 1 in 2 in the Premier League for a long time now), is a stout professional and imo could become a Drogba like player for the future, even better imo despite being incomplete at this point. Some questions are raised about his technical quality though, so I'm not averse to alternatives if there are players who aren't well known yet. I'm unconcerned about getting someone so young as well, as with Kaka and Pazzini, we have experience up front to rely on as well.
The final squad (age in brackets) would be:
GK:
- Perin (21)
- Abbiati (36)
- Coppola (35)
DEF:
- Abate (27)
- Bonera (32)
- Zapata (27)
- Rami (28)
- De Sciglio (21)
- Urby (27)
- Iotti (18)
- Backup RB (??)
- Silvestre? (??)
MID:
- Cristante (18)
- De Jong (29)
- Montolivo (28)
- Muntari (29)
- Poli (24)
- Honda (27)
- Nainggolan (25)
- Jorginho (22)
ATT:
- Saponara (22)
- Kaka (31)
- El Shaarawy (21)
- Lukaku (20)
- Pazzini (29)
Average age: 25.9
For me, realistically we can look to build this squad by the end of next summer, without trying to revolutionise the squad completely, but at the same time, I think this squad can challenge for Serie A. Balotelli would be sacrificed to make way for long term projects and development of the overall squad. By selling him, at a minimum I'd expect we'd get 30m. Add sales like Constant, Zaccardo, Robinho, Nocerino, Birsa, Mexes and Matri and we should make a fairly significant sum (I'd say at least up to 10m), never mind the amount saved in wages as we reduce the squad size. Mexes and Binho alone are making 4m per year each, but in total these guys cost over 10m a year in salaries. All of this should cover the cost, or the majority of the cost, of Lukaku, Jorginho and Nainggolan.
The other thing I've tried to do is weed out the probematic/ill-disciplined characters in the current group. Mexes, Balo, Constant and Robinho. The odd one like Muntari remains, but it's hard to get rid of all players. At least Muntari doesnt seem just lazy.
As for coach, I think Prandelli is the one I like most out of realistic possibilities. In addition to this, I want us to reinvest in Milanlab. Everyone knows about our injury issues in recent years. This correlates to 2 things, one being Jean Pierre Meersseman was no longer full time at Milan, but also significantly I remember someone (I think Meersseman himself) saying Galliani cut funding in for Milanlab towards the end of the Ancelotti era.