Summer Mercato 2022

[Zio Fester]

[Zio Fester]

@FabrizioRomano
Enzo Fernández deal, official and  now confirmed by Benfica statement. River Plate to receive €10m plus €8m add-ons for one of the most talented players in Argentina.

Absolute bargain.

[Artan]

Good player, would have wanted him instead of Renato Sanchez. Or maybe after all we will stick with Rade Krunic at the end, who knows

[reza]

This is now bordering on irrational panic

[slifersd1]

This is now bordering on irrational panic

Next report, "AC Milan bathroom ran out of toilet paper, Redbird is beyond broke and has to sell everyone to prevent bankruptcy" lol

[Zio Fester]

@footballitalia: Monza have announced the signing of Andrea Ranocchia and are reportedly in talks with Juventus, Atalanta and Real Madrid to further strengthen the team.

70+ year old Uncle G more active then Maldini & Massara...

[nefremo]

It's interesting to note the differences between Galliani and Maldini. Galliani enjoys the media spotlight. Always sending cryptic messages and having fun with the whole thing. Some times speaking the truth and sometimes just toying with people. You could see him meeting with agents and players in the open and he would feed material to the media. It would usually make for a fun summer, although in the later G years most of it was just to create buzz around the team. Berlusconi had no interest in investing in the players G was talking about negotiationg with. So in that regard, there was a lot of misleading happening by G and a lot of disappointments from the fans because of this.

Maldini on the other hand is always silent. When he speaks, he doesn't say a whole lot and doesn't give much away. It makes for a boring summer for sure . But at least, he's not misleading the fans. I mean, if not for some pictures taken from Massara meeting with Roma, we would never have known anything. Also, Maldini has been in Casa Milan for 2 full days in a row apparently, and not a single comment from him. I can't imagine G doing that. He would instead purposely come out the front door just so he can give a statement.

Anyhow....I wonder which people prefer (not which director, but which method)? I gotta say....I am a fan of the way Maldini does work. To the point. Silent. Only speaks when needed and when he does, you know it's not games. Yes, it's a bit boring at times, but in my older years I don't mind that.

[Zio Fester]

@DiMarzio : Milan did not give up the objectives Botman , Renato Sanches and De Ketelaere . The operations are alive, the hope is to be able to complete them.

[reza]

Anyhow....I wonder which people prefer (not which director, but which method)? I gotta say....I am a fan of the way Maldini does work. To the point. Silent. Only speaks when needed and when he does, you know it's not games. Yes, it's a bit boring at times, but in my older years I don't mind that.

The fun would be for fans but I doubt other teams' directors and may be even agents were happy. In the times when Berlusconi would splash the cash the 'unhappiness' wouldn't matter but when less cash I think we lowered our chances of signing some players.

@DiMarzio : Milan did not give up the objectives Botman , Renato Sanches and De Ketelaere . The operations are alive, the hope is to be able to complete them.

Bargaining and trying to get a good deal can not go on forever. You tell Lille or whoever here is 30 and they say no, you don't wait more than 1 week after the no. This is not the B&G last minute Nesta signing era, football is different and the team is very very different.

[nefremo]

Which is why it makes no sense for Lille's answer to be a simple "no". These days clubs rarely even negotiate directly. It's all agents and intermediaries. So Botman's agent brings an offer of 30M from Milan and Lille tells him to go and bring a better one. They don't reject it. They just want more. Agent may or may not bring in a bigger offer, but than you also have the player in the equation and his will does matter a lot. He is the one that has to sign a conctract elsewhere after all. There are plenty of games and outcomes on the table. Agent may bring Newcastle's 40M offer on the table, which is better for Lille, but player says no.
Now to make it even weirder ....does the player say no because he REALLY doesn't wanna go to Newcastle? Or is he now playing on both fronts and maybe tries to squeeze more money out of Newcastle in his own contract. The only person that knows this is the agent. And I think in playing poker across multiple scenarios, it takes time. In the meantime Milan is probably also looking for alternatives. So now the agent doesn't know at what point Milan will pull out and just sign someone else (Maignan/Dollar situation)...which in turn will cause Botman to lose all leverage with Newcastle.


And who knows....there was news today again that Lille won't "officially" sell anyone until July 1st as that's when their new fiscal year starts. Maybe this is true after all. Who knows!? If so, all this silence makes sense. Only, journalists have to "sell papers/get clicks" so they can't wait. They have to keep the mill running and come up with something every day.