Summer Mercato 2011

[fLame]

Well, Aquilani, Taiwo, Mexes and El Sharaawy - is a solid transfer campaign.

Galliani's biggest fault is that he shouldn't have talked about "one star signing" when we obviously haven't planned to make one.

[mihan]

I'm sure somebody else has stated in previous post but at the moment I'd love to reiterate that good players come cheap when the new season is all set and they are totally out of their teams plan, like Ibra and Binho. Aquilani is no doubt one; Lass now the other, he's fishy coz he jumps out without a clue; Montolivo leaving free will be too big a shame to Corvino, he's another one; ah, I shouldn't forget Kaka but he's in another catagory barring his form. Ganso and Fabregas is never in the radar at the end of Aug. Just my brainstorm doesn't come with anything surprising.

[Hitman]

what do you mean a solid campaign?

Our LB position was terrible last year, and now it's mediocre.
Our midfield was horrible last year and this year its...the same horrible players minus Pirlo (the most creative of the bunch).
Our offensive midfielders were... o wait, we dont have any. And we will continue not to have any. Prince sucks over there, and Seedorf is great at LM we should not move him from there.


I just am so scared to see Milan perform during the season. Our midfield will be soooooo terrible, will have zero creativity, will have no QUALITY, key word that Allegri/Galliani been using all summer.

Gatdayum. This really sucks.

[Gabriel426]

Just saw the Zapata thing a few pages. My take on him is that he is not on e level of Silva but certainly has the physical tools to be up there while Mexes is really what u see now. Is Zapata better than Mexes, I rate them about the same, also pls don't say Zapata has done nothing internationally or at club levels.....since he plays for Columbia and Udineses.

Aqua is a solid player, he is like a more offensive Ambro, sort of like he does everything above average but nothing great. I think he is the perfect player for Barca or Real but not someone Milan should sign unless Hernanes and Hamsik comes to Milan or something. Having said all that, he won't improve the squad much beside adding depth.

As for the youth movement that someone said, well, if that is the case, what's the point of signing Ibra and Robinho last summer? Should they just kept Hunter and Borri since both of them are cheaper?

What I really think happened was that, Berlu did probably was going to keep only one of Ambro, Gattuso and MVB, while keeping Slowdorf as a bench player like ManU with Scholes. While the signings were suppose to be Hamsik, Ganso and another all purpose midfielder to add depth. Something must happened and Berlu just said, no more spending, just get me some bargain players. I never believe the Cesc and Pastore rumors since Cesc is Barca bound while Zamp will never sell to Milan. However, I did believe in the Hamsik rumors since I do believe those were more than rumors as I am sure these reporters can link any top players to Milan but it was only Hamsik that seems to be the real deal with Riola this and that....being his agent..... As for Ganso, I just think it was one of those signings that Riola and Galli had been working on since Jan, and I even believe that Milan actually bought the 45% and 10% that is own by a company and Ganso himself, bc it seems possible. You look at how Milan spent their money last summer, then in the winter and then the money on El Shaarray, there is no way they are playing the cheap cards. Since Robinho last summer was unnecessary and it cost Milan 18 mil, while MVB Cassano, Urby, Dilac and Legro might came for pretty much free but Milan did needs to pay their salary. U can argue that Cassano and MVB were needed, but certainly not the other three, and their play time showed that. Then this summer, Mexes might be free but his wages is about 8 mil a per with tax, that's abit much for your 3rd CB and it is really not a huge upgrade from Yepes. Taiwo is a good buy but if they go to e cheap and youth option earlier, they will just convert Urby to play that spot or continue with Antonini and Zambro. These signs point to Milan is willing to spend, but it seems like al of a sudden there is no money and even Galli comes out and say that Serie A is in trouble and it might even be behind France in a few yrs....

[fLame]

Our LB position was terrible last year, and now it's mediocre.

Mediocre? You have seen 0 minutes of Taiwo in actual games. And you already try to say he is mediocre.

The brutal truth of this life is: there are 2-3 clubs that can afford and are stupid enough to sign superstars for their weak positions (aside from ManCity and other sheikh clubs). That will be Real, Barca, etc (with Dani Alves and Coentrao signings).

I wouldn't want Milan to get reduced to this.

One example i would like to state is how ManUtd signed Chicharito for less than 10 millions... and now he is their superstar!
While the supposed "superstar" Berbatov who they signed 30 MILLIONS!!!! is mediocre at best. Go figure.

I just am so scared to see Milan perform during the season. Our midfield will be soooooo terrible, will have zero creativity, will have no QUALITY, key word that Allegri/Galliani been using all summer.

Gatdayum. This really sucks.

What in the world are you talking about bro? We have recently beaten both Inter and Juve (our biggest competitors this year?) without even fielding our best squad and without fielding the new signings.

For CAM we have Boateng and Cassano. Cassano actually played as a CAM a couple of times last season, one time coming on as a substitute and assisting two goals.

Also, we will most likely sign Aquilani and maybe someone else if we are lucky.
Italy NT with Aquilani and Montolivo in midfield recently outplayed Spanish NT.

Yet, your write them off as second rate players before seeing a minute of their play in official games.

I rest my case.

[Gabriel426]

Well I would not say Taiwo is mediocore, he is pretty solid and is a good signing. I would actually rather have Milan getting Taiwo as LB than paying 20 mil for it, since I do wish them to spend that 20 mil on a mid.
As for ManU signing Chicharito, well, he cost them 15 mil, while ManU also spent 7 mil on Pepe in the same yr. Berba was not a bad player just not worth the 30mil price tag.

As for Monty and Aqua leading IT over Spain. Mate, as much as I am proud of someone beating Spain, that's a Spain B team and their coach is actually playing around with new players and formations, while Prandelli is going all out for the win. It was just a friendly match and even the IT media did not hype the team too much, mind you is is also the same media who praised IT team like they just won the WC after a game against Estonia.

[WCmilan]

http://www.footballpress.net/?action=read&idsel=90949

That is all the info on all our injuries, some of them seem pretty serious

[Gabriel426]

I guess Milan lab will soon announce that they will be signing two WC Champions MD along with a Mr. X to treat all it's injuries. Then they will just end up with a few fresh grad MDs due to the taxes in Italy and the fact that they don't currently own the Milan Lab building.

[Aficio]

Zapata: I was a bit harsh on him. He couldn't win with Udi or Colombia, but he hasn't won any personal prize, not even nominated, IIRC. Besides being injury-prone, he is also error-prone.
He conceded a unforced own goal (1:41):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXgupLw1jcM
He made a bad decision on debut day (Villarreal part):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristian_Zapata
We shouldn't pay 8M for him when Yepes and Mexes are free and Ely is promising.

Taiwo: From what I saw, he is a slow decision maker. That could be costly. He can cover it with concentration and his physical advantage, but a slow thinker like him will find it hard if he wants to help the attack.

Robinho: I think without him and with Huntelaar, we still won the Scudetto, but Binho brings the dynamism to Milan, and we lacked that.

Seedorf: He is intelligent, but lazy. We should use his brain by playing some working bees around him. Binho (mentioned above) and Boateng are two great bees. Rino and Flamini can help sometimes. A match with Seedorf and 2 of Binho, Boateng and Rino/Flamini is safe. This season we will have another interesting player: Kingsley Boateng.

Aqua & Monty: They are cheap & free addition. The ratio of success is 1:2 can be counted as high.

Viudez, Caraciolo, Grimi, Montelongo, Mattioni, Gourcuff,... are not cheap & free addtion. None cost more than 1.5M. They are young players, and the success rate for them is very low.

[Siregar]

How come with only Aquialnai (if he comes), Taiwo, Mexes and El Shaarawy we have A SOLID TRANSFER CAMPAIGN? What are the reasons? Number of transfers?

We had Zambrotta last year and he did not bad last season (but also not great). We add Taiwo who could be better than Zambrotta but also worse. He was pretty unknown and a free transfer player. It is unfair to judge him right now but it is very normal to doubt him since, as I wrote, was pretty unknown (in term of solid or great performance). Him as starter for LB could benefit us since he is much younger but still the improvement is still not very significant because Zambrotta not a bad fullback. Mexes will be only a backup for CBs so he will add almost nothing in term of giving advantage for startin line-up. El Shaarawy is still a kid, he could play well but he should not be counted as starter, we should just let him play comfortably with the team. Aquailani still talented player although he is 27 years old. Ok, we should not judge him now but we have to be realistic, he is not Pirlo's replacement, not from the point of quality or even the position they play. Aquilani could bring positive value for the team but still it is not what we DO need. It is just a shame he comes PROBABLY to save the management's face, a panic buy for the promises Berlusconi and Galliani made.

We loose Pirlo and we don't have proper replacement. Even with Pirlo in the team, we still lack of creativity or offensive midfielders (I don't count Emanuelson, he is just there because he is free, at least until now). Boateng as has been said by other poster is not the player who we can rely on to bring Milan to the glory, but he could give a hand for us since WE DON'T HAVE OTHER PLAYER who can play there (CAM, not striker who is played in CAM position).

So, I still can't find the reason why those transfers make our transfer campaign a solid one. We are not Genoa, although we don't spend and as big as before, we still Milan, a big club who are 1-2 level above mediocre or small teams in Serie A. Those transfers make teams like Lazio, Udinese etc probably solid but not Milan.

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I guess Milan lab will soon announce that they will be signing two WC Champions MD along with a Mr. X to treat all it's injuries. Then they will just end up with a few fresh grad MDs due to the taxes in Italy and the fact that they don't currently own the Milan Lab building.

What is MD?