Summer mercato 2020

[Sleeping Giant]

I think we should have asked Inter Milan for Milan Skrniar on dry loan, he is great RCB, Inter Milan would not had said No to us.

[Demonbanana]

Btw, I saw this article on Milannews and they listed the 10 best free agents that can still be signed:
Mario Balotelli

Mario Mandzukic
Kwadwo Asamoah
Mario Götze
Nathaniel Clyne
Hatem Ben Arfa
Ezequiel Garay
Fabio Borini
Jack Wilshere
Daniel Sturridge

Borinho is without a club???
Also, weren't we recently linked to Sturridge? Was that. Mirabelli link?
I'm a little surprised Wilshere is still without a club.

And I'd probably think about Asamoah as a Theo back up. 

Great earlier post! Very insightful and pretty much spot on. Some posters here think Calabria can fill in LB but let's see.  I still think we might try for Belotti next year.


As for FA, Mandzukic interests me as vice-Ibra but can also go wide. 

Asamoah could be handy too.

[Demonbanana]

All the CB we got link to. That's quite a mess! I am sure some might of been media speculation but we got no one for various reason.

Pezzella
Fofana
Milenkovic
Tomiyasu
Rudiger
Simakan
Ajer
Kabak
Nastasic

[Demonbanana]

MN-Romagnoli should be available for the Derby.

[porcho]

Halilovic in Milan headquarters discussing termination of his contract.

That would be great.

That's it, right? Window closed at 8pm CET?

Last update is that Halilovic rescinded his contract

I think looking at the team department by department and rate how good the departments are, rather then look at this transfer window in isolation, is a better way to judge the managment. I think this is a better way to comprehensively look at Maldini's work and progression towards building a good squad, since it's been said repeatedly that it'll take time to build a competitive squad. 

GK:
G. Donnarumma
Tatarusanu
A. Donnarumma

-I'd say we don't lag behind anyone in Italy in the GK department. It was good piece of business to lower the wage bill by finally getting rid of Reina permanently. Tatarusanu will be good enough to be Gigio's back up.
Rating: 9 - no club in Italy can claim to have a better GK department at the moment. (Maybe Juventus due to Szczesny and Buffon's experience, but it's highly debatable). We did what we had to here, and there wasn't big need to do much. Let's see if we'll now renew Gigio's contract. 

RB:
Calabria
Conti
Dalot
Kalulu

-Everything here, imo, will depend on Calabria. Both him and Conti finished last season in good form. Above average, but actually Conti seemed to be the better one. Still, the way Calabria has played at the start of this season is better then any RB we've had in a long time. He's playing out of his skin. He's possessed. So the fact that the management has "gambled" on him is jus that. A gamble. Maybe this will finally stick and Calabria will finally fulfill his promise. I don't know anything about Dalot. Kalulu is obviously super highly rated, but I think it'll take time for him.
Rating: 6.5 - On the whole, we have great depth. But very unknown quality/consistency, and Calabria will have to carry his form into December for me to be convinced.

LB:
Theo
Dalot (?)

-Horrible depth because I think Dalot is mostly a RB...although apparently he's played both sides. We have potentially the best starting LB in the league. Bench however is another matter.
Rating: 6 - because if Theo goes off injured, we'd be in deep shit. I'm hoping Dalot is adequate back up. I don't know enough though.

CB:
Kjaer
Romagnoli
Gabbia
Musacchio
Duarte

-I know this was outlined as a need, but I don't think it was that desperate. Kjaer-Romagnoli is one of the better CB duos in the league. They've proven that now. Gabbia's growth has been exceptional. He's one of the players that's really twice the player he was just 6 months ago. I'm excited to keep seeing him develop and I'm glad that he'll get the opportunity to do just that since we didn't buy anyone. Musacchio as 3rd/4th choice is better then most teams in Italy. Again, maybe 3/4 teams can say they have a better CB department in terms of individuals.
Rating: 7 - Reliable starting CBs (Kjaer-Roma). Experienced back up (Musacchio) and a very talented rapidly improving 20 year old (Gabbia).

CM:
Bennacer
Kessie
Tonali
Krunic

-Bennacer and Kessie can be compared with any CM duo in Italy. I don't feel they are inferior to anyone. Tonali is that youngster that everyone wanted. Undeniable talent, but very young. It'll take time, but he's already shown improvement and development. Krunic is the weak link and he should have been upgraded. All in all, we have decent cover, but I do think we needed a little something extra in place of Krunic.
Rating: 7.5 - the 2 starters are as good as any. Tonali is great for rotation and will only become better. I have a feeling come January, he'll be twice the player he is now. Krunic should have gone and we should have gotten a true DM in his place. I feel like we should have done better here....but again, it's all contingent on whether we get injuries or not...so in the end, it may turn out to be irrelevant.

ACM & Wings:
Calhanoglu
Brahim Diaz
Rebic
Leao
Hauge
Saelemaekers
Castillejo
Maldini

-We have everything we need here. Diversity in terms of players being able to exchange positions. Players that score, players that press, energy, you name it. It's funny how all of a sudden, the weakest player there (not counting 18 yr old Maldini) is Castillejo...whereas a year ago he would have been seen as possibly the strongest. This is a testament of the improvement in this department whether it's been through signings or simply growth of the players.
Rating: 8 - I think we have one of the most exciting attacking lines in Italy and beyond. There is a little bit of everything in there and the intensity with which we attack is electric. It's direct, with pace and with intensity. 

CF/ST:
Ibrahimovic
Leao
Rebic
Colombo
Maldini

-We didn't get a "like-for-like" for Zlatan. But we all know that when Zlatan is fit, he plays. He may be rested once or twice in the season, but other then that he will always play. So not sure what the point of getting a player to sit on the bench 95% of the time is. Especially when we have Leao and Rebic who can play up there. With Ibra, we have a top CF even at his age. He's proven that now. Without him, it all depends on how well Leao will do in deputizing. If he can do what he did the other day vs Spezia in a consistent manner (score a goal or 2), then we'll be fine. In any case, once we extended Zlata, I never really felt like this was a position of great importance in terms of a purchase.
Rating: 8 - Ibra is top. Leao and Rebic, somewhat unknown up there in terms of how they'll do leading the line on their own. Playing with Zlatan is one thing. Playing instead of him and leading the line is another. Still, few CFs are as good as Zlatan and in general, the department is good. Not having Ibra due to injury is obviously an issue....but we've shown we can beat lower table teams without him, so I think we'll be fine. 


So my ratings are considering Serie A. I believe, compared to the rest of Serie A, this is where we stand and I think the squad is good enough to achieve CL qualification. We'll see if adjustments will have to be made in January, but until then, as long as we can consistently destroy the likes of Bologna/Crotone/Spezia....then we'll be in the top spots.

Good write up. I would add that Dalot can comfortably play LB and RB but I'm not much of a fan. i just don't think he's that good but maybe he can prove me wrong.

I do feel like a lot of the players we were after were dependent on selling some players. We'll see how we go come Jan.

We still have a few players we need to sell before we can get good replacements for them. I'd still love to see us get Ajer and it's a possibility. If Laxalt does decent there we could use him in negotiations. But we'd still need to find a home for Musacchio/Duarte first.

[reza]

Who were we trying to sell? Of those that stayed I only heard Conti rumours in the last ~2 weeks. There was no rumour of Calabria, Samu, etc. Even Krunic rumour stopped couple of weeks ago.

[porcho]

Btw, I saw this article on Milannews and they listed the 10 best free agents that can still be signed:
Mario Balotelli

Mario Mandzukic
Kwadwo Asamoah
Mario Götze
Nathaniel Clyne
Hatem Ben Arfa
Ezequiel Garay
Fabio Borini
Jack Wilshere
Daniel Sturridge

Borinho is without a club???
Also, weren't we recently linked to Sturridge? Was that. Mirabelli link?
I'm a little surprised Wilshere is still without a club.

And I'd probably think about Asamoah as a Theo back up. 

Gotze signed for PSV.

As others have said. Asamoah and Mandzukic would be decent signings. 
Not sure the club would go for either but I would definitely go for Mario as a Zlatan backup. Colombo doesn't seem ready yet.

Poor Abate is still a free agent since last year, yet no Italian club bought him. Feeling extremely sad for him.

I was convinced he would have signed for Monza.

[porcho]

Who were we trying to sell? Of those that stayed I only heard Conti rumours in the last ~2 weeks. There was no rumour of Calabria, Samu, etc. Even Krunic rumour stopped couple of weeks ago.

Not sure we were actively pushing to sell many players but we likely had players in mind that we didn't get because we didn't have interest in those players. Krunic, Conti(Injured), Musacchio(injured), Duarte(shit), Samu(doesn't want to leave). 

We likely would have been more desperate for a CB had we sold Duarte and/or Musacchio.

[hwmook]

That would be great.



Good write up. I would add that Dalot can comfortably play LB and RB but I'm not much of a fan. i just don't think he's that good but maybe he can prove me wrong.

I do feel like a lot of the players we were after were dependent on selling some players. We'll see how we go come Jan.

We still have a few players we need to sell before we can get good replacements for them. I'd still love to see us get Ajer and it's a possibility. If Laxalt does decent there we could use him in negotiations. But we'd still need to find a home for Musacchio/Duarte first.

I also doesn't think Dalot is that good after scouting him on YouTube.   He lose the ball way too easily, doesn't pass the ball well.

[Demonbanana]

CM: AC Milan want to accelerate for the renewal of Donnarumma. The club's plan is clear: a 4-year contract extension with a salary increase to reach €8M net + bonuses. The real issue to be solved, however, is the release clause that Raiola would like to insert in the contract.