Summer mercato 2015
Not sure what it was that the bleacherreport piece said about him. Nobody is Pirlo-esque to be honest. Pirlo's passing range and vision as we all know is second to none. I'm a little confused at the "dribbling forward and creating havoc" part. I have followed Gundogan for a long time, and although he is not a bad dribbler, he certainly isn't an aggressive dribbler that causes chaos with his dribbling. His passing range is very good and his vision and creativity is of very high level. He is very competent with the ball in his feet and rarely loses it even under heavy pressure. He can play as a regista with his qualities, as a double pivot, or as a mezzala. Perhaps he can even be a trequartista but he hasn't really played there and obviously it is something untested. His best position imo is a regista or a mezz'ala. He is highly technical and will be able to set up our plays and connect the attack to the defence with ease, pressed or not. Might not exactly be the "last ball" type but certainly that very important ball that comes before the last pass that many of us forget so many times.

I think Gundogan is very different them Witsel. Witsel is more of the physical mould of a box to box. Gundogan on the other hand is the technical type of a box to box (if we are going to call him that). I think where some of our oppinions (not just me and you, but in general on the forum) differ is that I believe that we need a crafty, technical player more then a physical type of player in the midfield.

By the way, sorry to go in depth about Gundogan as I know you've seen him play and have your opinion of him. I just wasn't sure that I completely agree with what the bleecherreport had to say about him and about what we would be getting with him.
No problem. Actually, since i live in USA, between work and family, I don't get to watch a whole lot of European games, and don't have a very strong opinion on Gundogan at all. I have seen him play before, but certainly not often enough to form a very informed opinion of him. Especially since he was out injured for so long too. Ashamed to admit it, but most of the opinion I have on him are based on the things I read (I read more than that one article though), lol.

Honestly, our midfield has been so inadequate the last few years that we can realistically get anyone and he'd be a huge upgrade. We need technical B2B type, and we also need physical type too. Like I said, Gundogan, Kondogbia, Witsel, or even guys like Moutinho, I am ok with all of them. Just bring in quality players and I'd be ok with it.
If a "gift" was to come, I'd expect it's Ibra and wouldn't think of it being anyone else. I'm not a big fan of the gifts anyway personally, I've usually felt it was more about signing a name and a marketing move than it was about building something.

On the midfielder debate, I think Isco has the ideal profile to fit into this team, but I also think it's near impossible to get him right now. I really like Gundogan, but I think he's at his best as a regista, as well as being somewhat similar in his game to Bertolacci, so it might be a little difficult to fit both in the starting eleven. It's not impossible by any stretch, but getting the right balance is very important and both would need to make sacrifices to their normal game to work together.

My personal view is Milan missed the boat in not going after Allan this summer, he had qualities and energy that this team could seriously benefit from and for the most part, he's a low risk high reward signing given his history in Serie A and the price he went to Napoli for.
While I do want Ibrahimovic, I don't want him to be the gift of this mercato. The gift I want is a world class midfielder, even one who could be world class like Witsel who is still an upgrade. I'm happy with anything at this point that improves our midfield, because its needed work for a long time.
What I meant is that I see a "gift" being Ibra, but that's not to say a player like Witsel won't come, he'll just be considered another top signing like Bacca or someone. The gift as I see it is someone who the club will milk the marketing for and be the marquee signing for this mercato.

I'm still confident that by the end of August, we'll have Romagnoli, Ibra and probably one high level midfielder. I also expect the Ibra scenario will drag on until near the end of the mercato, and it will probably end up as a media frenzy.
(07-29-2015, 04:06 AM)nefremo Wrote: Not sure what it was that the bleacherreport piece said about him. Nobody is Pirlo-esque to be honest. Pirlo's passing range and vision as we all know is second to none. I'm a little confused at the "dribbling forward and creating havoc" part. I have followed Gundogan for a long time, and although he is not a bad dribbler, he certainly isn't an aggressive dribbler that causes chaos with his dribbling. His passing range is very good and his vision and creativity is of very high level. He is very competent with the ball in his feet and rarely loses it even under heavy pressure. He can play as a regista with his qualities, as a double pivot, or as a mezzala. Perhaps he can even be a trequartista but he hasn't really played there and obviously it is something untested. His best position imo is a regista or a mezz'ala. He is highly technical and will be able to set up our plays and connect the attack to the defence with ease, pressed or not. Might not exactly be the "last ball" type but certainly that very important ball that comes before the last pass that many of us forget so many times.

I think Gundogan is very different them Witsel. Witsel is more of the physical mould of a box to box. Gundogan on the other hand is the technical type of a box to box (if we are going to call him that). I think where some of our oppinions (not just me and you, but in general on the forum) differ is that I believe that we need a crafty, technical player more then a physical type of player in the midfield.

By the way, sorry to go in depth about Gundogan as I know you've seen him play and have your opinion of him. I just wasn't sure that I completely agree with what the bleecherreport had to say about him and about what we would be getting with him.

Gundogan has been used as a trequartista for the German national team, and he did really well those couple of times. He's on a really low salary at Borussia given his quality. I think he's currently earning 1.5mln euros, that's pathetic given what players are earning these days. I would pay him up to 6mln euros/season and I'd pay 40m to Borussia for him if need be. At this point, he's the only player who's remotely available that fits what we need. Verratti is impossible, I would never let a player like that go if we had him, but he is my dream signing for our midfield.
Forza Milan
Haha good one Reza!
Gundogan is currently on €5.4m after Tax IIRC he signed a new contract in June.His €1.5m salary was from a contract in 2011.
He is also 110% unrealistic.If he leaves he'll go the EPL UTD most likely or another high profile team.When he was talking with teams he wanted €8m a year after tax.
Id like him here too but lets be realistic.
If we are talking about the "gift" as in the last-minute big-name addition, I would rather him be Ibrahmovic. He should find it rather easy to adjust and adapt, while any other big money purchase could be just big money wasted.