Winter Mercato 2014

[ACM2023]

First thing Seedorf does is to renew Urby's contract... Not impressed so far.

First thing Seedorf does is to renew Urby's contract... Not impressed so far.

I totally agree with you. Other names linked with us, be it coaches, directors, or players, might or might not succeed here; but after seeing Urby the last two and a half years, I think I can safely say he fails to prove his worth in each and every position he's deployed and therefore should be released when his contract runs out next June. Fingers-crossed this rumor is nothing but pure invention.

I see what you try to say there. I myself have some concerns and reservations. When van Gaal became the head coach of Barcelona, I think he acquired a whole bunch of Dutch players (at least 6 or 7?). We could be in a similar situation soon, from the current and prospective players to assistant coaches. Of course that is quite normal for foreign coaches (Rafa Benitez too, everywhere he goes, he takes with him a lot of Spanish players) and I am certainly no oranjephobia , but I just want to make sure that we get them based on quality and quality alone.

I hope that my doubt would soon be cleared.

[slifersd]

Di Marzio said we and Inter are interested in Cesar Henrique Martins, a 20 year old, 190 cm high, centre back. The good news is no, his contract isn't going to expire this summer. The rather bad news: his club, Ponte Preta, is currently second from bottom in Brazilian serie A, conceding 55 goals already from 38 games (Livescore).

He would be perfect for our team. Lord knows, we are striving to concede more goals than we already have.

[reza]

I guess old mentality will remain, at least for some time(?) Half of Saponara and some money for Parolo.

But also something about Mexes and Zapata leaving and getting likes of Doria and Essien

[reza]

^ Those are stories on milannews by the way,

[WCmilan]

I read about the Essien and Doria rumors, they've intensified over the past few days in their own separate articles as well.

I cant say much about Essien, he's a great player but he's old and his wage will be another burden. If it's a loan for the rest of the season or a free transfer I wouldn't mind at all.

On Doria, I'm not sure it would be the best idea to sacrifice Zapata&Mexes to rely on Doria, a player who although is touted to be the next big thing, obviously may not live up to that standard, and even if he does it will take him some time to develop and in that time we'd really only have Rami and Bonera. I'd get rid of one of Zapata or Mexes to make room for Doria, and get rid of one of Nocerino or Muntari to make room for Essien.

We need a bulk clean up of crappy players and replace them with good players, but if we're going to get rid of say Nocerino,Muntari,Saponara to make room for Essien or Hernanes, it isn't the smartest plan out there. Sure, we'd improve in quality, but those are both two short term solutions. And it seems like these short term prime-aged+ players are the only ones being linked to us, other than Maher and Doria. Finally, players like Parolo shouldn't even be considered, I've seen two full 90 minutes matches of him, and I shit you not, from what I saw he is not much better than Nocerino if at all.

[Nalx]

First thing Seedorf does is to renew Urby's contract... Not impressed so far.

I totally agree with you. Other names linked with us, be it coaches, directors, or players, might or might not succeed here; but after seeing Urby the last two and a half years, I think I can safely say he fails to prove his worth in each and every position he's deployed and therefore should be released when his contract runs out next June. Fingers-crossed this rumor is nothing but pure invention.

I see what you try to say there. I myself have some concerns and reservations. When van Gaal became the head coach of Barcelona, I think he acquired a whole bunch of Dutch players (at least 6 or 7?). We could be in a similar situation soon, from the current and prospective players to assistant coaches. Of course that is quite normal for foreign coaches (Rafa Benitez too, everywhere he goes, he takes with him a lot of Spanish players) and I am certainly no oranjephobia , but I just want to make sure that we get them based on quality and quality alone.

I hope that my doubt would soon be cleared.

Ah yes, I remember that too. Van Gaal brought Kluivert, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Litmanen, Reiziger, and other Dutch players too. Only the first two could be deemed successful though. He was allowed to do that, I think because: 1. his Ajax won UCL with these players as its backbone, 2. Barca's own infatuation with Ajax total football ever since Cruyff's days and 3. with Van Gaal, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Other than surrounding himself with players familiar to his style, sometimes I think the reason a manager likes to buy players from his country is simply because he really knows its pool of talent. You mentioned Benitez (Xabi at Pool, Callejon and Higuain at Napoli). Another good example is Wenger who have keen eyes for relatively unknown French players. Anelka and Adebayor were at PSG and Monaco youth/reserve teams, Viera barely played at Milan, and Henry was deemed a flop at Juve, when he bought them.

If Seedorf is to buy Dutch players, let's hope his reason is more like Benitez/Wenger than van Gaal.

[Stitch]

Litmannen isnt Dutch

[Nalx]

Yes, I know he's Finnish. Apart from the nitpicking, you do get my gist, don't you?

[Aficio]

Well, Seedorf left Milan for only half a year, so I think his friend network here still remains very strong. And he is also very good at winning hearts.

I don't get the idea of buying Dutch players to control the locker room better.

[Jay Crisp]

He left for a 1year 7 months and hes ducth so its only natural we ger linked to 88K dutcg players.
Its pretty clear theres no plan to actually go on a rebuilding mission now ,at best itll be Essien or another freebie maybe Parolo.
I wouldnt expect too much now or in the summer